Chinese online e-commerce operator Alibaba has formally launched its Japanese edition, ushering in a new era for sourcing between buyers and sellers in Asia.

Wei Zhe, president of Alibaba's B2B business, says that Alibaba will actively explore the markets of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan and it will enter the Japanese market by setting up an affiliate company in Japan with business partners like SoftBank.

Wei says that apart from adding more client service centers in China's domestic market and abroad, Alibaba will focus on attracting more members and it will adopt the agent system in remote areas and regions where the Internet is less popular.

Over the past 15 months, Alibaba has opened 15 sales and client service centers in regions including Hong Kong. However, among Alibaba's 25 million registered members, less than 5% are paid users.