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Chinese Internet search engine Baidu (BIDU) (百度) wrapped up its Consumer to Consumer marketplaces (C2C) beta test by taking 40,000 seller applicants for its online trading platform.

After its roadshows in Beijing, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Wuhan, where the e-commerce development is relatively mature, the C2C business new comer received overwhelmed responses from suppliers. 

The company initially intended to accept 10,000 applications for beta testers.

For customers who apply and get approval, Baidu’s e-commerce platform will offer

Starting from October 2007, Baidu (百度) announced its expansion plan in the e-commerce sector and Li Yanhong, CEO of Baidu (百度), said in the second quarter of 2008 that the company’s e-commerce platform would be released before the end of the year 2008.

In the meantime, Baidu (百度) named its C2C payment platform “Baifubao“, which is seen as a major transaction tool for the C2C platform users. Although the details of the e-commerce platform has not been released, Baidu (百度) said earlier that it will integrate its various resources, including search engine, community and Baidu Hi, to create an efficient one-stop shopping platform for online sellers and buyers.

 

written by TG \\ tags: Baidu, Baifubao, C2C, 百度

Is it an act of committing suicide?!

Taobao.com officially blocks Baidu indexing her pages. The embargo news came yesterday took TG a surprise.  Given that Baidu (百度) is China number one search engine, it has a big pool of internet users in China and covers most of the web presence, blocking its service is like cutting off blood vessels supplying nutrition and oxygen to your body. Will Taobao be survived without blood flowing through her liver, heart and the other part of her body?

What happen after the news came out in Baidu (百度) search engine? TG input keyword “Taobao” and checked the result from  Baidu (百度) SERP, it still displays 11,100,000 pages, keyword “Taobao.com” only display one result.

There’s no doubt that a business decision has been made since  Baidu (百度) directs her challenge to Taobao’s core business line: Consumer to Consumer eCommerce model by launching her own C2C platform lately. Taobao did a merger with Alimama as part of her strategy to fend off potential competitors. 

Living in Hong Kong, shop owners always look for shops close to Mass Transit Railway (MTR) for convenience, for high traffic and turnover. If the store is not selling rare, unique items or providing outstanding services, shop owners will not take risk of moving too remote from high traffic area.

Will the forbidden city “Taobao.com” be able to draw traffic from somewhere else? TG is very interested in seeing it.

Related Articles:

• Who’re the big boys in China C2C marketplace?
• Baidu(百度) builds a strong case for C2C marketplace
• Titantic crash - Baidu Hi and Alibaba Ali Wan Wan(阿里旺旺)

written by TG \\ tags: Baidu, C2C, Search, Taobao.com, Taoboa, 百度

Taobao.com (81.5%),  Dangdang.com (16.6%) , Joyo.com (13.6%) are by far the largest market shareholders in China C2C marketplace. The findings was revealed by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) recent survey, which covered 19 key cities in China for the first six months of 2008.

CNNIC conceived that Taobao.com was still taking the lead in the market and would not be replaced by its competitors in a short time.

On the whole, the user penetration rate of Taobao.com was higher than that of the website ranking the second by nearly 65%. Taobao.com has formed certain scale effect and it is very difficulty for its first place ranking to be surpassed by another website in a short time.

At the five-year anniverary ceremony,  Alibaba (1688) group’s Chairman and Non-Executive Director  Jack Ma stated that the China internet company had planned to invest RMB 2 billion in the next five year.

The huge amount is the third and largest investment from Alibaba (1688) since the establishment of Taobao.com, far exceeding the 1.45 billion yuan it received from its parent starting from 2003.

Taobao.com is currently the nation’s dominant online retailer with 67 million registered accounts. About 10 million customers visit Taobao daily.

In the meantime, Joyo.com is picking up its speed and has reached the top ranking in B2C marketplace. Joyo.com  was owned by Amazon.com

written by Aliuser \\ tags: Alibaba, China Internet, CNNIC, Joyo.com, Taobao.com

There’s a will, there’s a way!

TG got an email from a friend who recommended a site created by a couple of illustrators, artists and painters with a diversified background. Although the site is selling T-shirts or other accessories, TG thinks it’s not the primary reason that the artists build the web site.

Rewards simply come from during the course of creation, self achievement and job satisfaction. 

Interesting illustrations and paintings you will see… perhaps you may be obsessed by one of those.

written by TG \\ tags: C2C marketplaces, Hong Kong

Listen to Baidu, one of the largest search engines in mainland China, to tell you why it keeps a fast pace to develop the Consumer to Consumer marketplaces (C2C).  

” Baidu C2C business is not a near-term revenue.., yet we’ve seen an increasing number of internet users looking for consumers products, information and services online. ” said Robin Li Jun Yu (李彦宏), Baidu’s chairman and CEO.

Mr Li noted that the C2C marketplace could not generate big profit to the company in the near future, however,  it has a strategic value to the future growth of the whole company.

“Pay Per Click” (PPC) business model has accounted for  80% of Baidu’s total revenue, Baidu put heavy weight on digging deep and exploring such advertising models as keywords pricing, banner and brand advertising in order to substain its profit growth over the years.

The more click-through of keywords or banners, the higher conversion value they can bring to the clients, then the higher prices Baidu can charge them. Mr Li foresee that Baidu can catch up with Google or Yahoo, which reap a bag of profit by charging eBay, Amazon or other eCommerce platforms using their keyword bidding system.

TG wrote a post about Baidu’s newest IM tool, which is an essential tool to penetrate into the C2C marketplace. How it becomes an integral part of Baidu C2C business model remains unclear though.

written by TG \\ tags: Baidu, C2C, China Internet, PPC, 百度

It’s definitely one of the most amusing posts I have so far. Shao lin Temple (少林寺) initiates a series of steps from product development to selling slippers, teas, T-shirts and even kung fu secret lessons so as to make foray into online business.

The storefront, which calls itself  Shaolin The Stage of Joy (少林欢喜地) is established in Taobao.com on May 22nd, 2008. The eCommerce conceptualization comes from the Shao Lin Temple’s focus on zen mediation life style. The store sells a selection of merchandising items including candle holders, notebooks, budda portrait and Shaolin clothing designed for zen training.  

TG would like to buy a couple of Shaolin’s best kept secret kung fu booklets - ( 少林武功医宗秘笈书功夫武术医学医科宗教佛教健身 ) so that I can play the role of Stephen Chow (周星馳) in his KungFu movie or I can be the begger who sells Kung Fu booklets to kids who dream to be Stephen, either way works for me!!  

written by TG \\ tags: B2C marketplaces, eCommerce, Taobao.com