Alibaba suspends operations at LST platform as consolidation moves continue apace
- Ling Shou Tong (LST) is an online platform that helps mom-and-pop shops source their products
- The changes to LST come as Alibaba continues to rejig its e-commerce arm as well as other business units
Alibaba Group Holding is suspending the operations of a nine-year-old sourcing platform as the Chinese e-commerce giant continues to push ahead with a sweeping restructuring that began a year ago.
Ling Shou Tong (LST), an online platform that helps mom-and-pop shops source their products, will “temporarily halt operations” on March 30 due to “business adjustments after prudent considerations”, according to a message on its official website.
Operations in southwestern Yunnan province wound down last Monday although the platform is still running in certain areas in Guangdong, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces until next Monday.
The platform will continue to process orders that have already been placed as well as provide after-sale services, according to the LST message.
LST is a project under Alibaba’s e-commerce unit Taobao and Tmall Group (TTG), set up to target small convenience stores at street corners with digitised systems to manage supply, inventory and logistics.
