World expected a Chinese tech takeover. Alibaba can't even conquer Vietnam

The Chinese juggernaut handles more business than any other company. Yet like many of its compatriots, it has struggled to expand into new markets

Last year, Alibaba’s Vietnam operation put together a plan to win big in toilet paper.

In the company’s home base of China, toilet paper is a popular online purchase and volumes are typically huge. Staff bought hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth and offered it online at low prices, say people familiar with what happened.

But Vietnam’s nascent e-commerce market wasn’t like China’s. Shoppers didn’t rush to buy as much as projected, and Alibaba’s local subsidiary, Lazada, sold a fraction of the original targets, the people say.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has long ruled the world’s biggest online shopping market in China—and many