As part of its plan to expand its presence in Europe, Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has appointed former Staples MD Amee Chande as its first managing director for the UK.  

Chande is also the former manager for Tesco‘s health business, Nutri Centre, having parted ways with the supermarket giant in March. At Alibaba, she will be tasked with increasing the e-tailer‘s presence in the UK as it hopes to attract additional retailers to the Chinese marketplace. 

Alibaba is China‘s biggest online commerce company, and now seeks to increase its ties to European, American and Asian brands, many of which are extremely popular in China. In August the company appointed Michael Evans, once an executive at Goldman Sachs, to focus its international expansion strategy. 

A number of British retailers are venturing into China, despite the country‘s recent economic troubles. Sainsbury‘s and Superdry