Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com are both owned by the Alibaba group, but they have two different business models. Alibaba.com is a business-to-business (B2B) site that provides a trading platform for both buyers and sellers to exchange information. The majority of companies provided by Alibaba.com are manufacturers or resellers who trade in large quantities. This site is appropriate for small to medium-sized businesses that are looking for either large quantities or highly customized goods.
On the other hand, AliExpress.com is better suited for the small business interested in sourcing smaller quantities of ready-made consumer goods. This site allows you to order as few as one item and make payment using credit cards, Western Union, or bank transfers.