London, United Kingdom — November 14, 2025 — Leads & Copy — At its inaugural CoCreate Europe event in London, Alibaba.com launched ‘AI Mode,’ a feature integrating agentic AI capabilities directly into the user experience. This marks a new direction for AI-driven global trade and a key moment in the company’s transformation into an agentic AI-powered e-commerce platform.
The launch is announced amid strong platform growth, with European order volume up 57% year-on-year and the number of active suppliers worldwide up 50% compared to last year. According to the company, these increases reflect growing confidence among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in cross-border trade.
AI Mode, set to launch in December, seeks to change how businesses discover, evaluate, and engage with suppliers in the $30 trillion B2B market, according to the company.
Citing Forrester data, Alibaba.com says that almost 90% of B2B buyers now use AI tools in sourcing and evaluation. The company also cites McKinsey data indicating that AI drives more than half of all online searches.
Following a September 2025 announcement to augment its traditional keyword-based search with deep search powered by large language models, Alibaba.com is now integrating agentic AI capabilities directly into the user journey, according to the company.
Alibaba.com says that AI Mode will interpret natural language queries, analyze technical specifications, and automatically compare suppliers based on pricing, logistics, certifications, and production capabilities, delivering tailored recommendations. By connecting deeply with existing Alibaba.com services such as secure payment, Trade Assurance and after-sales support, AI Mode aims to enable a fully automated, end-to-end trade experience.
Kuo Zhang, President of Alibaba.com, said that AI is evolving into the operating system of the platform.
According to the company, AI Mode is powered by Accio, the world’s first AI-powered B2B search engine, launched in 2024 and now significantly enhanced. With advanced multimodal understanding, Accio can extract meaning from unstructured inputs, including product sketches, engineering blueprints, documents, certificates and factory capabilities and track records, and match them with relevant manufacturing capabilities.
Alibaba.com states that this capability unlocks what it calls the “hidden product shelf”: the network of specialized, custom, or regionally focused suppliers whose expertise remains invisible under traditional, keyword-driven discovery models. By surfacing these suppliers, AI Mode can help SMEs innovate and improve supply chain resilience.
Alibaba.com research conducted by Censuswide found that 90% of European SMEs cite product innovation as critical to their growth strategy, and 62% express confidence in using AI tools to drive innovation in design, sourcing, and production.
According to Alibaba.com, AI Mode is designed to help buyers navigate compliance, identify sustainable partners, and bring customized products to market faster, all without expanding internal teams.
Alibaba.com says that as it deepens its commitment to European SMEs, AI Mode empowers businesses to compete globally, innovate efficiently and source with greater intelligence.
Launched in 1999, Alibaba.com serves buyers and suppliers from over 200 countries and regions. Alibaba.com is part of Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group.
Source: Alibaba.com Source: Alibaba.com
