China’s Dianping.com Expands Into Singapore

Chinese classified information site Dianping.com has inked a strategic deal with Singapore Tourism Board to provide various services to Chinese tourists visiting Singapore. The two parties will combine resources to cover dining, hotel, traveling, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment. Dianping.com will integrate information from tens of thousands of Singapore vendors, providing tickets of over 60 popular […]

Alibaba Tries To Find The Best Way To Manage Its Growth

With its stock price dropping in the U.S., Alibaba Group announced plans to launch a dual-city operations strategy to better manage its varied assets. The company will base itself in Hangzhou and Beijing dual-center strategy. Beijing will be its base camp to promote its strategy execution and business development in the northern areas of China. […]

Tmall.com Teams With Oil Giant For Mobile Payments

Chinese B2C e-commerce platform Tmall.com and China National Petroleum Corporation’s Hunan branch will integrate their resources to launch a mobile payment service model. Tmall.com, which is a subsidiary of Alibaba, said that the company will integrate Alibaba’s ecosphere to help CNPC Hunan implement an “Internet Plus” transformation that includes an online store, mobile payment, big […]

Uniqlo Closes Chinese Internet Shopping Retail Site

Days after a sex video filmed in Uniqlo’s Beijing store blew up the Chinese Internet, the Japanese apparel retailer says it has closed its flagship store on JD.com. The store was shuttered on July 20, 2015, after only three months of operation. On April 8, 2015, Uniqlo and JD signed a cooperation agreement and Uniqlo’s […]

Former Ctrip VP Appointed CEO Of eLong

Chinese online travel service provider eLong.com has appointed Jiang Hao as its new chief executive officer. The company also appointed Zhou Rong as chief strategy officer; and promoted vice president Gao Yan to senior vice president. Meanwhile, Cui Guangfu, former chief executive officer of eLong will continue to serve the company as a consultant. Jiang […]

China’s Online Travel Sector Finds Big New Investment

Who said only Ctrip and eLong ruled the Chinese Internet travel world? LY.com, one of China’s many privately-run travel booking websites, announced that they have gained over CNY6 billion new investments from Wanda Culture Industry Group, Tencent Industry Win-Win Fund, and CITIC Capital. As the lead investor, Wanda Culture Industry Group invested CNY3.58 billion in […]

Alibaba Will Offload U.S. Assets

Alibaba has agreed to sell four of its American e-commerce assets to U.S.-based social shopping platform OpenSky. Alibaba will give OpenSky 11main.com, Auctiva, Vendio and SingleFeed in exchange for about a 37% stake in OpenSky. No financial details or exact timing on the deal are yet available, according to reports in foreign media. 11main.com is […]

Foreign Governments Join Chinese E-commerce Leader To Promote Global Trade

Alibaba is working directly with foreign embassies in China to expand its influence and sales potential around the world. The e-commerce company has opened 11 official country pavilions on its Tmall Global platform and cooperative partnerships between Juhuasuan, Alibaba’s group-buying platform, and 26 foreign embassies in China. A total of 11 countries, including United States, […]

NetEase Forms Internet Tourism Company With HNA

China’s Hainan Airlines Tourism Group and Lede Technology, a subsidiary of NetEase, have formally signed a cooperation agreement in Hangzhou to establish a new online travel company. Financial terms of the arrangement were not immediately available. HNA and NetEase had previously signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement in December 2014. Based on the framework agreement, […]

JD.com Formally Launches Cross-border E-commerce Platform

Chinese B2C e-commerce provider JD.com formally launched its cross-border Internet shopping services, which allows Chinese users to conveniently purchase quality products from many countries and regions such as the U.S., France, U.K., and Japan. This new platform will first offer over 150,000 kinds of products and 1,200 brands in 450 stores. Those products cover maternal […]

Japanese E-commerce Firm Makes Chinese Rebate Investment

Japan-based Rakuten has taken a minority stake in Fanli.com, one of China’s online rebate and rebate-based flash sale companies. The C-series round values the Chinese online shopping company at approximately USD1 billion. As part of this investment, Kevin H. Johnson, CEO of Ebates, a Rakuten Group company, will join Fanli’s board of directors. Rakuten’s investment […]

China’s Leading Classified Information Websites Announce Merger

Chinese lifestyle service platform 58.com announced a merger with its classified information listings competitor Ganji.com. According to the agreement, 58.com will acquire an approximately 43.2% fully diluted equity stake in Ganji.com for a combination of share consideration and cash, including approximately 34 million newly issued ordinary shares and USD412.2 million in cash. Meanwhile, the two […]

Amazon’s Flagship Store On Tmall.com Begins Trial In China

Amazon China Z.cn announced that its official flagship store on Tmall.com has started trial operation and will be formally launched in April 2015. This flagship store will initially provide Chinese netizens with directly procured imported products, including shoes, food, wine, kitchenware, and toys. Products sold on Amazon’s Tmall flagship store will be delivered via Amazon […]

Possible Class Action Suit Against Alibaba For Disclosure Failures

Alibaba and its executives may feel the sting of American jurisprudence as law firms line up for possible class action lawsuits in the United States against the Chinese e-commerce company. At least five law firms so far have expressed intentions to commence class actions against Alibaba. For example, a complain from Robbins Geller Rudman & […]

Baidu Also Wants To Own China’s Offline Reading World

If China’s top Internet search engine controls Chinese literature the way it delivers Internet search results, be prepared for Baidu.com to censor, misrepresent, and deliver books to Chinese readers in a way only a book-burner could love. Baidu is now extending its government-influenced Internet monopoly into the Chinese literature sector. Baidu Literature announced its establishment […]

58.com Delivers Common Chores Direct To Chinese Consumers

Chinese classified information website 58.com announced the launch of a new housekeeping service brand named “58 Daojia” and appointed Chen Xiaohua, chief strategy officer of 58.com, as chief executive officer of “58 Daojia”. 58 Daojia provides location-based service booking, on-site services, and online payment and reviews. This project was initially launched in July 2014. Currently, […]

Renren Kills Non-core Chinese Internet Businesses

Chen Yizhou, chief executive officer of Renren, says the company is planning to sell some non-core businesses to improve their profitability and they are also considering investment and expansion opportunities in America and Hong Kong. Chen revealed during an interview with local Chinese media that under the current model it is hard for the company […]

JD.com Teams With China Post To Expand O2O To Small Chinese Towns

Chinese B2C e-commerce website JD.com and China Post Group have reached a strategic deal to jointly develop an e-commerce platform targeting cities below third-tier size in China. With the cooperation, JD.com will provide various products, including PCs, digital products, home and kitchen supplies, and cosmetics, for China Post’s “people-benefit project”. Those products will reach 13 […]

Xbox One Starts China Sales Via JD.com’s Social Media Channels

With a newly-minted IPO under its belt, Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com Inc. announced today that is now taking pre-orders for Microsoft’s Xbox One gaming console. As part of an agreement between the companies, JD.com will have the exclusive right to accept pre-orders for Xbox One in China from July 28-30, 2014, through JD.com’s Mobile QQ […]

South Korea’s Lotte.com Inks Internet Payment Deal With China’s Alipay

Chinese third-party Internet payment company Alipay revealed that the company has reached a deal with South Korean website Lotte.com to provide a RMB payment channel to Chinese users who shop on the website. Furthermore, the products purchased on the website will be directly shipped from South Korea to China. Lotte.com and the Lotte duty free […]

PBOC Halts Virtual Credit Cards And Mobile Payments In China

The People’s Bank of China has issued an emergency alert to stop the use of virtual credit card products as well as two-dimensional code payments that are often used with mobile devices. Chinese Internet companies like Alipay and Tencent previously launched such services. However, neither company has given any comment on the situation. The emergency […]

Over 80% Of Chinese Families Shopped Online Last Year

China Central Television published a report on China’s economic life between 2013 and 2014 which shows that 81.52% of Chinese families had online shopping experiences in 2013. Compared with other consumer groups, university students and people in management positions shopped online more often, especially those in the 18-25 age demographic. By region, citizens in Hainan, […]

Internet Group Buying Service Ends In China

Chinese group buying service website Didatuan.com will formally close its group buying business on March 31, 2014, and will transform its brand to a new business model in the future. Founded by Song Zhongjie, former sales general manager of Google China, in July 2010, Didatuan.com completed its integration with Velo, a Chinese coupon provider, at […]

Suning Acquires Group Buying Site Manzuo.com

Suning Commerce Group confirmed that the company will acquire Chinese group buying website Manzuo.com for nearly USD10 million. According to a representative from Suning, as a new business model which integrates online and offline channels, the business has a broad market capability in China. Group buying is a catalyst that promotes the integration of online […]

Baidu.com Steps Into Sticky Rice In China

Chinese search engine company Baidu announced that the company has signed an agreement with Renren.com to acquire an additional stake in Nuomi.com held by Renren, making Nuomi.com a fully-owned subsidiary of Baidu. The deal is expected to be closed in the first quarter of 2014. In Mandarin Chinese, “nuomi” means “sticky rice”. Launched on June […]

JD.com Goes Social With Mobile Instant Messaging App

Chinese B2C e-commerce website JD.com announced the launch of its free instant messaging product “Jingdong Dongdong” for individual users. This product is mainly used for communications between individual users. It also has a customer service consulting function. JD.com previously released the PC beta version of this product and the one launched this time is an […]

China’s Weibo, Alipay Team For Internet Payments

Sina.com and Alipay.com announced that the two parties will realize full intercommunication between Sina Weibo and Alipay accounts to provide convenient Weibo payment services to users in China. With the cooperation, users will be able to complete online payments on the Weibo microblogging platform as well as use for offline daily retail consumption with the […]

Singapore Video Provider Partners With Baidu

Singapore video service provider Viki has formed a partnership with Chinese search engine Baidu. Headquartered in Singapore, Viki hails itself as the “Hulu outside America”. In September 2013, the company was acquired by the Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten for USD200 million. Viki is mainly engaged in providing high-quality movies and TV programs. With the help […]