Alibaba Group, operator of Yahoo China and the biggest online marketplace in China, said it has completed strategic investment in a leading Chinese community and listing Website, marking the beginning of a series of investments and acquisitions.
The company's move is expected to advance its e-commerce core business by providing buying information for consumers and business people and to catch up with eBay's Kijiji classified service.
Alibaba and its new partner, Koubei.com, Website consumers use to share information such as shopping and dining experiences. Industry observers estimated the investment will be between US$5 million and US$6 million.
"Community-based classified listings are an essential part of e-commerce," said Tian Jian, Alibaba's vice president in charge of the new investment department.
"With our investment in Koubei, we're opening up another channel to grow our existing e-commerce community of more than 40 million consumers and businesses in China."
Officials said the investment is only a beginning of their strategic expansion, using Tian's department to leverage Alibaba's financial resources in developing promising young companies that can create synergies with Alibaba's core businesses.
Yu Yang, president of the Beijing-based research company Analysys International, agreed the investment is good for Alibaba. "Apart from buying and selling products online, people also need a place to share information about service providers. But a relatively independent third-party platform is required to do the evaluation," Yu said.
Huang Yongtao, an Analysys analyst who specializes in community sites, said the listing sites, especially Shanghai-based dianping.com, have acquired strategic investment in the past two years. "Their business model is to charge stores for online promotion or charge big corporate buyers commission fees as their purchase agent," Huang said.
Koubei, which means "word of mouth" in Chinese, was founded in mid-2004 and has more than 2 million registered users in major Chinese cities.
Source:佚名