Alibaba.com, a global business-to-business ecommerce company, announced the upcoming launch of its Buyers Basics training series that will teach entrepreneurs and businesses how to contact suppliers with confidence. Alibaba.com brings retailers together with suppliers on its global platform, and the training program is just one initiative as the company focuses on branding its service in the U.S., with new services rolling out later in the summer and a new U.S. microsite under development.

Alibaba.com recently announced a contest in which it will award a total of $100,000 to small business owners who see the recession as an opportunity to start a new venture. Alibaba.com's target audience is entrepreneurs and very small businesses. It has 1.25 million registered members in the U.S., and almost half are businesses from 1 - 5 employees.

Kelly Sang, General Manager of Alibaba.com Americas, said, "At Alibaba.com we know how difficult it is to start a business or take your company to the next level, and that is why we are very excited to kickoff our user training program with the Buyers Basics series. These continuing education webinars will allow buyers to connect with trainers in real time and help them take advantage of Alibaba.com's tools to reach their ideal supplier and grow their business rapidly."

The first two hour-long webinars will be led by Alibaba.com's Training Manager and be available starting in July. The first session, Sourcing Products, will cover the best way to find and contact suppliers. The second, Dealing With Suppliers, will delve deeper into the buyer/seller relationship and cover following-up and vetting suppliers, as well as, negotiating and closing the deal.

These two live webinars will be recorded and remain available for public viewing and revisiting at success.alibaba.com after the initial airing until the next live webinar takes place. Each webinar will be limited to 100 attendees and will feature special interactive tools such as live online chat, attendee polling and a community forum to encourage understanding and allow customization of the subject matter.

In addition to the Buyers Basics training, Alibaba.com plans to roll out a similar webinar series by the end of the year aimed at suppliers. Specific subject-related training for both buyers and sellers will be developed in the coming year as well. Topics may include tips for importing, how and why you should post a buying lead, how to reach your target audience, and more.