China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has opened an office in Australia.

Alibaba officially opened its first Australia-New Zealand headquarters in Melbourne over the weekend.

The Alibaba group's billionaire founder Jack Ma, hopes the e-commerce giant will help Australian and New Zealand businesses “share their world-famous products with billions of customers around the world”

The company says it already has over 1,300 Australian and 400 New Zealand brands on its Tmall and Tmall Global online stores.

Alibaba also has existing partnerships with Woolworths, Australia and a deal with Australia Post to connect Australian consumers with Chinese manufacturers.

With its first physical expansion in the region, the company says it will be able to tap growing global demand for products from Australia and New Zealand.

But the Australian Retailers Association is concerned.

Russell Zimmerman, executive director of the retail lobby, says Alibaba will bring new employment and competition in Australia, but Australian businesses will still struggle under pressures including the high cost of rent, penalty rates, and loopholes in GST rules online.