Key difference: Alibaba is a giant B2B commerce portal platform for global wholesale trade for bulk buying whereas Aliexpress is a B2C platform- a retail marketplace that offers products in small quantities.

Alibaba.com was established by the group of people in 1999, Jack Ma the Chinese business magnate one of them, as a China-based B2B marketplace. Most members of Alibaba are manufacturers, trading companies and resellers who trade goods in large quantities across countries. Aliexpress is more of an e-commerce website that sells goods in small orders, even one single item and is meant for B2C business (See B2B Vs B2C). Aliexpress was established by the Alibaba group in 2010 with the aim of providing a platform for different vendors - factories, wholesalers or distributors who can offer their products from a unit to a virtual buyer for their personal use who is outside of China. Difference between Alibaba and Aliexpress lies in their business models. Alibaba has a large number of products ranging from fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) to electronics and household goods. It also deals with industrial hardware that has varied and multiple uses and large demands in markets across the world. Alibaba does not only export goods from China but also from different countries. Over the years it has grown as an online platform for international global trade. Being a giant wholesale market for cheap products Alibaba is the most favored place for Dropshipping. Aliexpress is similar to Snapdeal and Amazon in many aspects (See Snapdeal Vs. Amazon). It has a global reach and it is meant to buy goods in small quantities or even single items that are shipped globally.