Besides smart phone penetration getting so high, what else is contributing to the growing rates of mobile shopping?
The big e-commerce platforms are
heavily promoting mobile shopping by providing discounts to those making purchases via their mobile devices.
Also, people are increasingly choosing
to spend the little free time they have to shopping through their mobile devices instead of stepping foot in shopping malls.
China E-Commerce
JD.com to Develop its O2O Model
Jingdong has signed with about 10,000 Chinese convenience stores to establish an innovative online-to-offline retail plan. These 10,000 convenience stores will cover 15 cities, and will include
brands like Quik, Good Neighbors, Buddies, C&U, and Meijiya. The deals will let Chinese customers buy items online and have them delivered or be picked up at physical locations. It will also
let them use online payment methods at the brick-and-mortar stores themselves.
China E-Commerce
JD.com to take a Leap into the Chinese Virtual Communications Industry
JD.com will be launching JD Mobile this May, which will include both products and numbers. JD.com recently revealed the brand logo and a sample SIM card designed for the line. The new logo will
have Joy, JD.com’s mascot dog on it, representing a link between the parent company and this new one.
China E-Commerce
Why Foreign Brands Use Tmall
When considering selling their products in China, foreign companies simply cannot ignore the influence and significance that Tmall has on the market. The site attracts hundreds of millions of
Chinese shoppers, a fact that should not be overlooked. Asos, having officially entered China a few months ago with a bit of a thud, has realized this and will finally be opening its official
Tmall flagship store in April, offering a 50% off cardigan sweater to attract customers. Tmall, with over 2,000 foreign brands and 70,000 sellers in total, dominates 45% of the B2C e-commerce
sales in China. Alibaba’s impending IPO, which is slated to be one of the biggest public offerings in U.S. history, has the potential to increase the platform’s exposure and allow it to more
easily attract foreign brands. With a growing Chinese middle class comes the desire for more foreign goods.
China E-Commerce
Alibaba Invests $692 million in Chinese department store chain
Alibaba has invested $692 million USD in InTime Retail, which has 28 department stores and eight shopping malls across the nation. The deal will let Alipay users pay in-store using their mobile
apps after syncing the app to virtual prepaid cards. Online changes will also occur. Tmall shoppers will be able to earn InTime member points at select stores, and InTime will ship merchandise to
online buyers from their physical stores. Doing this will shorten delivery times in some areas, and will also widen the range of international fashion brands offered to Tmall customers.
China E-Commerce
Tencent Invests in South Korean Mobile Game Company
Tencent has invested $500 million USD for a stake in South Korea’s CJ Games. CJ games develops both casual and more in-depth mobile RPG games. The casual ones are meant to be integrated with
Korea’s KakaoTalk and its social gaming functions. When the deal is finalized, Tencent will own 28% of CJ Games. Not only does Tencent have the country’s most popular messaging app, WeChat, is is
also China’s biggest gaming company. The deal could bring some of Korea’s games to China via WeChat.
China E-Commerce
The Growth of China’s Electronic Payments is Going Strong
The vice president of Baidu has announced that Baidu will be establishing its own mobile game division by merging its Duokoo mobile game business with its 91 Wireless game business.
China E-Commerce
Taobao’s Foray into the Domestic Service Market
Taobao’s mobile app has launched a domestic services platform that connects customers with domestic service providers. This new feature is called “home life” and will initially only cover
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and 15 other cities. There are 70,000 regular housekeeping staff assigned to the platform. The service will be funded by Alipay and will allow
patrons to rate the services afterwards.
China E-Commerce
Coolpad’s New E-commerce Strategy
Top smartphone producer ‘Coolpad’ has formed a strategic cooperation agreement with Chinese e-commerce . A procurement contract of CNY10 billion has been agreed and signed, with
the smartphone producer looking to sell their products more directly to the Internet sector. Li Bin, executive vice president of Coolpad has boasted bookings of over 1,600 units of their
e-commerce customized products
and has stated that the e-commerce channel has become an important link in the smartphone industrial chain. The future will see Coolpad enhancing its
investments in the e-commerce sector with diversified strategies on other e-commerce platforms.
China E-Commerce
Logistics Mobile App Gains Traction in China
A new type of express delivery model has appeared in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan province. Every person that downloads the app is able to become a tentative delivery person and be paid 10 to 30
Yuan for their services. It has brought about a new business model where everyone participates in express delivery. Regulations will be needed for its positive development considering the low
barriers to entry. The idea is a combination of mobile Internet and peer to peer concepts. People can deliver the parcels en-route to their workplaces. The incentive for people to deliver the
package safely is by freezing the worth of that package in the delivery person’s bank account. It is an innovative business model that uses modern day development by integrating idle traffic
resources’, information and logistics flow.
China E-Commerce
What Content Did Chinese Search Most In 2013?
A new report released by Baidu shows that in 2013, the top 5 most-searched contents were film&TV, commodity supply & demand, education, game and travel. The demand for education, travel,
film & TV increased significantly in 2013. Baidu suggested webmasters paid attention to these field.When it comes to education webmasters may integrate information about professional
examinations to provide one-stop service for users. In terms of course ware and recommendation, websites could segment users according to their vocation and demand, then provide them with
specific information.Regarding the demand for travel, there are noteworthy differences for webmasters.The film &TV resources can be deeply integrated by relationship between films and actors.
The content construction of information about film & TV is also important for webmasters.
China E-Commerce
Alibaba’s Introduction of the ‘Cloud App’
Alibaba shifted up a gear against Amazon this week, with founder Jack Ma announcing the ‘Cloud App’ – a cloud service targeting the mobile user. Alibaba has moved quickly in this sector: February
24th 2014 saw an alliance between Alibaba and Neusoft (China’s biggest multinational IT service provider) to develop this cloud service. Amazon’s web service ‘AWS’ was launched in 2006 and has
grown to be the global leader in cloud computing. Their dominance globally has led Amazon to entering their 10th market with confidence, and December 18th 2013 saw this entrance into the Chinese
market, leading to both Ali Cloud and Tencent Cloud giving 40% to 50% discounts on their service. Although AWS is seen as invincible in the global market, the Chinese market may be a harder nut
to crack - Alibaba will not give up without a fight.
China E-Commerce
Tencent Invests in Mobile E-Commerce Site for Low-Income Phone Users
Maimaibao, a mobile commerce retailer that caters specifically to low-income mobile phone users, has received an undisclosed amount of funding led by Tencent. How does Maimaibao specifically
target such users? It does so through implementation of a WAP mobile website, which is accessible from Symbian and feature phones on 2G networks. A majority of Chinese people who use such phones
generally live and work in places that don’t offer access to PCs and are people who cannot afford to buy more advanced smartphones. What is WAP? It is a simplified protocol that was used on some
phones before HTML was supported, and is still occasionally used for simple tasks such as email, reading news, downloading music, and checking stock prices. Not many websites actually support WAP
these days, however. Maimaibao was one of the pioneering Chinese companies to enter the mobile commerce industry, and its focus is still on WAP. This new round of funding will be used to create a
new budget smartphone under the brand Big Q, which already has three available models, all of which drive traffic to Maimaibao’s store. Maimaibo sold 200,000 of the phones last year, and is
working towards selling a million this year. Maimaibao also saw a turnover of 2 billion RMB last year, and reported and average order of 300 RMB.
China E-Commerce
WeChat Reaches 355 million Monthly Active Users in Q4 2013
WeChat’s monthly active user numbers have soared to 355 million, a 121% year-over-year increase and 6% quarter-over-quarter. Typically, most other mobile services count simply logging in as an
active action, whereas Tencent only counts either sending one message or making a transaction as one.
China E-Commerce
Alibaba to expand global footprint
The battle for mobile messaging applications rages on. Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba invested heavily in WhatsApp killer Tango. With an investment of $215 million the 4-year old
California-based messaging application Tango is valued at about $1 billion. Tango has over 200 million registered users spread across the US, Europe, The Middle East and Asia. Not only does the
move help Alibaba pave its way to an upcoming and possibly the largest public offering of a Chinese company in the US, but also strengthens the company’s position in mobile. This expertise might
come in handy, as last year Alibaba launched its messenger Laiwang to compete with Tencent’s WeChat. Just like WeChat, Tango is more than just a messenger. It’s also a content platform with
video, social and gaming. Therefor Tango could contribute to further overseas expansion of Alibaba’s online commerce business.
China E-Commerce
Ordering Food is China’s Most Popular Offline-to-Online Activity
Many restaurants have been taking advantage of the Internet by allowing customers to order their food online via computers and smartphones. Various online food ordering services used different
marketing initiatives, such as giving subsidies to restaurants and catering companies and announcing special offers and giveaways to customers. Yi Tao Shi, one of the major online food ordering
companies, has 300 food delivery employees all around the country. The even bigger E Le Ma has established 12 branches throughout the nation. So how do these companies make profits? Typically
from charging advertising fees from restaurants and commission fees from restaurant orders and fees collected from food delivery.
China E-Commerce
China’s 700 Million Smart Devices
China’s population collectively owns 700 million smart devices, only 59% of which were bought to replace a consumers’ previous smart phone or tablet. This means that nearly have of the country’s
smart devices were first-time purchases. We can see that more and more Chinese citizens are moving toward the use of smart devices. Devices priced above $500 USD make up 27% of the total, and
users of these higher-end devices have a more diverse range of needs, whereas those who use devices that are $150 or less tend to use their devices for games more so than anything else. The top
10 most popular Android devices are completely comprised of Samsung and Xiaomi products. While 4G is still growing, it has been predicted that the service won’t truly take off until next year.
The path to success for all such devices, however, seems to be socialization of apps. 55% of Chinese market apps provide links to Chinese social networking services and the volume of app content
sharing to social network platforms per mobile Internet user per day has tripled in the past 6 months.
China E-Commerce
Asia’s Half-Trillion Dollar E-Commerce Market
Go Globe’s new infographic on e-commerce in Asia is stunning in two ways. Visually, it’s very appealing. What’s more, the information it contains is pretty mind-blowing as well. Some highlights
on the Chinese side of things are as follows.
China’s e-commerce spending is double that of Japan.
It is projected that Chinese online shoppers will spend $274.5 billion in 2014, as compared to just $127 billion in Japan.
60% of online spending in Asia is done by Chinese consumers.
74% of Chinese mobile phone users utilize their devices for product price comparisons and reviews, as compared to just 43% for the global average.
China E-Commerce
Alibaba Aqcuires a Majority Stake in ChinaVision Media for $804 Million
Alibaba has acquired 60% of ChinaVision Media, a company that provides a myriad of media-related services, such as newspapers, movies, mobile content, television program promotions, artist
management, and more. The company directly invests in movies as well as licensing content from third-party content providers. Alibaba has been developing Aliyun OS, which is an Android-based
operating system for smartphones and smart TVs. The OS on its own doesn’t seem to be enough to attract users, however, so investing in the content that ChinaVision owns might make it so.
China E-Commerce
Alibaba Works Hard to Sell U.S. Brands in China
The Internet giant will be offering U.S. companies various methods to get their products into China, including via its Alipay payments subsidiary and special shipping methods. ChannelAdvisor, a
company that advises other companies with their e-commerce strategy, has teamed up with Alibaba to help U.S. companies easily sell to China using its software. The Chinese generally have a
perception that imported goods are better than their domestic counterparts, so this is a very smart move on Alibaba’s part. Alibaba will soon be introducing shipping centers in the U.S. to handle
proper packaging, taxes, and other fees that might stand in the way of U.S. companies wanting to sell to China.
China E-Commerce
Tencent’s New Digital Credit Card
Tencent is now joining the digital credit card game and will be offering its first batch of 1 million digital credit cards on WeChat with China CITIC bank and insurance company Zhong An. Within
WeChat, users can enter the My Bankcard interface and directly apply for the digital credit card. Alipay’s got a similar thing going, so what are the differences and similarities between the two
Both cards will support online and mobile payments, but the WeChat credit card will also allow users to make payments in certain physical stores by scanning QR codes.
Both cards will save users the hassle of keeping track of physical credit cards.
Alipay Wallet’s credit line will start at 200 yuan, while WeChat’s service is broken down into three levels of 50 yuan, 200 yuan, and 1,000 to 5,000 yuan, depending on credibility of
Also, WeChat will offer a 50 day interest-free period and will not charge any annual fees.
China Digital
Promotion for U.S. Pork Goes Live on Tmall
A flagship store has opened on Tmall this week, one that guarantees delivery of eight U.S. pork items within 24-48 hours. The site is also offering discounts of up to 50% off during a seven-day
sale celebrating its grand opening. The new site brought in more than 400,000 visitors within the first few hours of business. There was even a draw organized by the USMEF giving away a sample of
American pork, which received 2,000 applications in the first hour. The pork products are sourced from three U.S. processors and are sold through three specialized distributors who deliver the
frozen products in under 48 hours. The site is providing a wealth of information on U.S. pork products, including an informational video on the production of pork in the U.S. The distributors are
also promising product quality buy providing a ten-fold money back guarantee. The USMEF has been working for a year to build up its online sales potential. Initial efforts were focused on
assisting online vendors with ideas and expertise in order to better packaging so the geographical footprint of shipments could grow.
China Digital
WeChat in Midst of Testing POS Payment
It has been claimed that WeChat will launch its POS payment system on March 22 o fthis year. Its POS system will consist of customized POS machine and WeChat payment, targeting offline store
payment. When a customer is purchasing goods, the special WeChat POS machine will generate a QR code to be scanned and paid with WeChat payment. This move is yet another push for WeChat’s offline
to online integration plans and to enter the retail payment market.
China Digital
Dangdang and Yihaodian Partner Up
Dangdang, China’s largest online book retailer, and Yihaodian, one of China’s major online supermarkets, have teamed up and will launch flagship channels on each other’s platforms. Both of the
stores will offer the same products, pricing, logistics, and customer service that are already available on each respective website. Knowing all this, why the partnership, then? The companies can
then enrich the product selections available to their customers.
China Digital
Tencent to Transfer Its E-Commerce Business
Tencent will be transferring its e-commerce belongings, Yixun Logistics Company Ltd. and its two marketplaces, Paipai and QQ Wanggou, . Tencent will also be buying 15% of JD’s
outstanding ordinary shares for $214 million before JD’s IPO, and 5% after it.
China Digital
Tencent Offering Health Insurance
Tencent has teamed up with Taikang Life to offer WeChat users health insurance. The service will let users in the 18-39 age group pay one yuan for 1000 yuan worth of yearly protection, or 300
yuan for those aged 40-49. If a user shares the service or asks for a donation of one yuan, they’ll get an additional 1000 or 3000 yuan. The coverage is capped at 10,000 yuan and is limited to
malignant tumors. This move by Tencent shows a growing trend for Internet companies to revolutionize other sectors.
China Digital
Tencent Opens Its Payment Service to All Businesses
Tencent has done something big for its popular mobile messaging app, WeChat. It has added support for any brand to allow their consumers to make purchases or buy services within the app itself.
It also works for in-store payments. With the app’s ubiquitous nature, this feature is sure to bring more brands to WeChat and more users to its payment feature.
China Digital
Analyzing China’s Top Mobile Messenger Apps
Tencent’s WeChat and QQ have all the other competitors beat by quite a bit, with QQ’s 325.71 million active users and WeChat’s 295.712 million. Another point to note is that male usage outnumbers
female usage by quite a bit, as males make up 61.69% of the demographic and females make up the rest. Users of such apps are predominantly in the 35 or below age group and from medium and low
income backgrounds. When considering occupation, workers/service workers were the primary group, followed by public institution leaders and staff, and after that, students.
China Digital
An Overview of China’s Online Video Market during Q4 2013
China’s online video market reached 12.81 billion RMB, with a 41.9% year-on-year increase. That market is expected to maintain rapid growth and reach 36.6 billion RMB by 2017. What’s contributing
significantly to these revenues is the fact that mobile client commercialization is increasing, and thus, bringing copyrighted content (television shows and sporting events) to such online video
sites. Revenues from advertising accounted for 75% percent of total revenue in 2013. This percentage is expected to increase to about 77.1% in 2017. The monthly online video user coverage of PC
web pages and PC clients was 460 million and 340 million respectively in November of 2013. The user scale continues to grow remain at a stable, steady rate. In contrast, the number of users of
mobile video apps reached 170 million in November of 2013, up a staggering 72.9% compared to the number of users in December 2012.
China Digital
Alipay Discontinues WeChat’s API Payment Gateway
Not long ago, Alipay announced that it would shut down the application programming interface (API) payment gateway for Tencent’s WeChat public accounts platform, which would cause a bit of grief
to WeChat in the short term, as it is still trying to establish its merchant groups. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened in the Chinese e-commerce world, however. In 2004,
eBay tried to block Alibaba’s Taobao, but Taobao offered free listings to sellers and introduced website features created in the best interests of local consumers. Also, in 2008, Taobao blocked
the search service of Baidu. This type of ‘blocking’ has become the norm in China’s internet industry and has resulted in fragmented user experience for Chinese consumers.
China Digital
Alibaba Teams Up with Retail Chain to Obtain Edge in O2O Market
Alibaba recently announced a joint campaign between Taobao’s mobile operations and five retail chain operators for the upcoming March 8th shopping festival. A trial service will be introduced at
one Intime City mall in Hangzhou, allowing users to pay for their purchases by mobile phones rather than at the till. An Intime executive has said that e-commerce must be embraced by retailers.
The partnership will let consumers consumers can connect online shopping options and those in the real world so that they can also make purchases at brick-and-mortar stores. Alibaba also plans to
work with operators in marketing, traffic, member database, and payment services. Alipay will also offer discounts and bargains to users of its e-wallet mobile payment services at stores of seven
convenience store chains.
China Digital
Alipay Now the Largest Mobile Payments Platform in the World
The number of Alipay users reached 300 million at the end of 2013 and have made 12.5 billion payments via the service. Over 2.78 billion of these payments were made through Alipay’s mobile
service, totaling 900 billion RMB ($150 billion USD). Total mobile payments through Square and Paypal equaled to about ($50 billion USD).
China Digital
5 Things You Need to Know about the Habits of China’s Luxury E-Commerce Shoppers
China Digital
China Is Now The Worlds Largest Trade Nation
Chinas foreign trade volume reached $4.16 trillion in 2013, making it the largest trade nation in the world, according to the World Trade Organization Secretariat. In 1978 Chinas trade volume was
just US$20.6billion, makings its growth per year since then at 16.4%. The diversification in trade partners is clear, as China trades less with traditional Europe and US, and more with ASEAN
countries closer in proximity, and emerging markets. The structure of Chinas trade is now fully optimized with the export of electronics and labour intensive goods and the import of consumer
goods. Chinas achievements in trade are a result of the joint effort between government and key market players, as well as the implementation of the country’s structural reforms and opening up.
In 1978 Chinas per capita GDP was US$148 and in 2013 it stood at US$6,600, so dramatic changes have taken place in the country. There is now pressure on China to change its model from “high
quantity, low price” to a model which places more emphasis on quality and service. This will enable the country to remain competitive into the future.
China Digital
China Unicom Gains 3G Users, While China Telecom Lose Users
China Unicom gained 3.869million new 3G users during January, reaching a total user group of 126.47 million people. During the month of January China Unicom gained 3.123 million mobile users.
China telecom on the other hand lost 80,000 mobile users in the same period, and the number of its total mobile users decreased 184.78 million. China Telecoms 3G users increased by 30,000 to
103.14million. China Telecom put down its lost in customers to its competitor Unicom’s introduction of 3G LTE (Long term evolution) services and the promotions that went with it. China Telecom
launched its LTE services mid-F long after people had already switched to their competitor Unicom. While China Unicom does not have as many customers overall as China Telecom, Unicom’s
gains are considerable for the size and development of their company.
China Digital
Ctrip to Implement WeChat Payment Service for Purchasing Attraction Tickets
Users of this service will soon be able to buy train tickets, group-buy deals, gifts cards, and more. Unlike purchases for flight tickets, hotels, and other similar travel-related necessities,
attraction tickets are more likely to purchased via mobile devices as they require smaller amounts of money and are usually needed during the actual time of travel. Purchases made through this
WeChat payment system will be eligible for discounts of 20%-30%, while ordering through the proprietary Ctrip mobile app will allow users to receive a 5 RMB cash reward.
China Digital
Tencent Likely to Buy Stake in Jingdong
Tencent has reportedly hired Barclays to advise on the matter of acquiring a part , China’s second largest B2C e-commerce marketplace. This move will afford Tencent more leverage in
competing in its multi-faceted rivalry with Alibaba, China’s other Internet giant.
China Digital
China’s Social Media Landscape for 2014
For every Western social site or app, there seems to be a Chinese counterpart. Typically, these Chinese-developed sites are in response to things blocked by the Great Firewall. In any case, the
Chinese social media scene is a much different animal to that of the West, and the accompanying infographic may help to demystify things just a bit. Some highlights of the graphic are as follows:
WhatsApp is not often used in China. Its counterpart, WeChat, is the main messaging app used by what feels like the entire Chinese population.
Youtube is blocked, but there is a wide array of video services to choose from, the most popular ones being Youku and Sohu. These sites often contain licensed telvision shows and movies.
Even when the Great Firewall isn’t in the way, Chinese apps still seem to be more popular, as is the case with WhatsApp, Instagram, and Vine.
China Digital
Alibaba’s Mobile Taobao 3.8 Life Festival
Riding on the coat tails of its hugely successful Double 11 Shopping Festival, Alibaba has developed a mobile-centric version to take place on March 8th. The “festival” will feature discounts for
merchandise, meals, movies, and more when customers shop via Alibaba’s Taobao mobile app. To take advantage of such discounts, consumers will have to pre-order goods and services in the days
prior to March 8, when they can redeem their purchases. On 11.11, 21% of purchases were made via mobile devices. The Taobao mobile app now has over 400 million users, and Alibaba is making a
concerted effort capitalize on the ever-increasing usage of mobile devices to shop for products.
China Digital
Chinese Consumers Are the Most Avid Mobile Shoppers
Over half (54.9%) of Chinese consumers use their mobiles to shop, the highest percentage in the Asia-Pacific region. Other countries that follow closely behind are Thailand, Korea, India, and
Indonesia. Why the growing number of mobile shoppers? The top reasons stated were convenience, the ability to shop whilst on-the-go, and the increasing number of apps that make it easier to shop
in this manner. Clothing and fashion accessories came in first as the most bought items via mobile, followed by apps and music. The rise of clothing and accessories to the top of the list
indicates a strong shift by sellers to enrich the mobile experience for their customers and making things more convenient. Almost 100% of Chinese respondents have said that they’ve bought at
least one thing online in the past 3 months. One main point of consideration, however, is security, with 85.3% of the Asia-Pacific respondents citing that as a main concern.
China Digital
Baidu Continues to Obtain More Acquisitions in 2014
Despite a 50.3% rise in revenues year-on-year, net profits for Baidu dropped 0.4% during the last quarter. Most of this dip can be attributed to a veritable acquisition sprees that the other two
Chinese Internet giants (Alibaba and Tencent) went on last year. In the past year, Baidu bought 91 Wireless, an Android app store, Nuomi, a group-buy site, a video portal, and Zongheng, and
e-bookstore. 20% of Baidu’s total revenues, however, came from mobile, as it runs the fourth most popular android app store in China.
China Digital
Jingdong Interested in the Virtual Credit Card Market
As we mentioned previously, JD.com has established its own virtual credit line for its customers, with much cheaper rates than traditional banks. How can the platform be able to charge so much
less? It can do so because of the enormous amounts of shopping records that it has collected over time. For example, if a customer regularly buys maternity and baby products, that customer is
more likely to have a family and stable income, thus resulting in personal credit. The question that now arises is: Will Jingdong’s credit service be able to replace some small credit cards? Some
finance experts seem to think that it is indeed possible. However, what might be the biggest obstacle in JD’s way is the other Internet giants who are also trying to become major financial
China Digital
LinkedIn has Launched the Chinese Localized Version of Its Site
LinkedIn launched the beta version of its site on February 25th, naming it “Ling Ying.” Learning from the previous in-China failures of other Internet giants like Google and Ebay, LinkedIn built
an entirely new model to take on the Chinese demographic. LinkedIn actually established a joint venture in China with Sequoia China and China Broadband Capital instead of simply setting up a
branch company in the country. With the help of local companies, LinkedIn China could more easily operate in a Chinese manner.
China Digital
E-Commerce Goes Rural
Chinese-developed online games generated revenues of $1.82 billion USD overseas in 2013, an increase of 219.3% from the year prior. The growth was mainly caused by mobile games. In Taiwan, 5 out
of the 10 most popular mobile games are from mainland China, as is the case in Vietnam. Asian countries are the most important target markets for Chinese game development firms, as cultural
differences keep Chinese games from rising to the top in American and European markets. Apparently, Asian gamers prefer their games to contain more verbal information, while Western players
prefer something a bit cleaner.
China Digital
China has the Highest Mobile Penetration on the Planet
On average, the global mobile Internet penetration rate is 65%, whilst the percentage for China is even higher at 83%. In addition, China also has the highest tablet Internet penetration as well,
reaching 39% in Q4 2013.
China E-Commerce
Tencent’s Video App Reach 160 million Views on Valentine’s Day
Tencent’s vine-like video sharing app, Weishi, had over 160 million views on Valentine’s Day. The app allows users to make 8-second video snippets with options to add tunes and themes to the
recorded content. On Valentine it had been prepped with romantical themes, such as writing “kiss” or “love” in the corner of the screen. Weishi can be shared on any Chinese SNS, but work best as
embedded media in WeChat, QQ and Tencent Weibo.
China E-Commerce
Cheap phones Drive E-commerce Growth In Smaller Cities
The low priced, high-speed smartphones are causing international brands to reconsider their market strategies in China. Cheap mobile devices have allowed new customers in lower-tier cities to
enter the E-commerce arena, and they are pushing an explosive growth. Instead of investing in real estate in order to set up retail storefronts, international brands are able to connect and
develop an entire new customer base online. If the current inflow continues McKinsey Global Institute predicts that Chinese online revenue could generate $650 billion in by 2020 since there are
still a lot of foreign retailers not yet present in China.
China E-Commerce
Chinese Luxury Shoppers Increase Abroad
More Chinese than ever went abroad in 2013, many of them with crave for luxury products. Last year, shoppers from China accounted for over one-third of the luxury purchases in Western Europe.
Chinese tourist dedicated 33% of their travel budget to shopping alone. No wonder they are the world’s top spenders. According to report “Serving the Global Chinese Customer”, Chinese consumers
currently make more than 60% of their luxury transactions outside China. Brands that want to get a piece of the action therefore needs to do their best to keep the luxury shoppers on mainland.
Especially since this number will increase rapidly in the future, currently only 5% of all Chinese nationals owns a passport.
China E-Commerce
Mobile Devices Pushing Online Luxury Shopping
Driven by consumers desire for convenience, mobile devices are driving China’s online luxury shopping, according to the new survey “Chinas Connected Consumers”. The study covered more than 10 000
customers that had bought premium or luxury products in the past 12 months. Around 60% of the applicants said they use smartphones everyday to buy or search for information on luxury goods. About
30% used tablets. Female consumers were bigger fans of mobile shopping than males, which mostly base their reliance on user reviews and social media, the study concluded.
China E-Commerce
Tencent Enter Co-op Agreement With Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola and Tencent have decided to work together on a strategic partnership agreement. Coca-Cola plan to invest hundred million dollars worth of resources in Tencents online shopping services,
including 990 million coke bottles and 27 000 units of the limited and customized Coca-Cola Samsung. Tencent’s online shopping services will also offer a 75% sale on about 50 000 products. The
campaign is scheduled to start March 3rd.
China E-Commerce
Over 100 Million Alipay Payments During Spring Festival
Over 100 million Alipay payments were made during the seven-day holiday of 2014 Spring Festival, 52% of these were mobile. Meanwhile Alibaba announced that the real-name users of Alipay
approached 300 million by the end of 2013, with more than 100 million users using the mobile service for most of payments. Altogether subscribers made 12.5 billion payments during 2013, totaling
over CNY900 billion. Data also revealed that 11.34 million people paid cell phone bills using Alipay Wallet, more than 1.5 million paid cab fares via Alipay and about CNY200 million was handed
out in digital red envelopes during the seven day festival.
China E-Commerce
Tencent Win 3-year Long Legal Battle Against Qihoo 360
Qihoo 360, an anti-virus software developer, was ordered by The Supreme People’s Court on Monday to pay five million Yuan (about $800 000) to Tencent Holding. This is the result of a , dating back to November 2010, when Tencent discovered that Q360 provided tools to help QQ-users change the operating mode
of QQ software. According to Qihoo, they did this in order to promote their security software and increase market competitiveness. Q360 also said that Tencent have been abusing its market
dominance to maintain monopoly. Currently Tencent has around 816 million active QQ users monthly while Qihoo 360 has about 465 million PC users a month.
China E-Commerce
Sina Announce 42% Increase of Net Revenue in 4Q13
Sina corp. released their result from 2013’s fourth quarter, showing a net revenue of $197 million (an increase of 42% compared to the same period last year). Advertising revenues were $160.1
million (45% increase from a year earlier) and non-advertising revenues amounted to $36.9 million (30% increase over the same period last year). The total net revenue landed on $665.1 million
(26% increase), advertising revenues were $526.5 million (28% increase) and non-ad revenues ended up at $138.6 million (19% increase).
China E-Commerce
Sina Plans U.S. IPO for Weibo
Sina announced plans to raise $500 million in a second quarter U.S. initial public offering of subsidiary micro blog platform Weibo. Sina, which is already listed in the U.S, could get a boost
from e-commerce giant Alibaba Group if the IPO takes place. Currently Alibaba holds 18% in Weibo, but have hinted of an increase to 30% in the event of an American IPO. The details of any future
investments related to the U.S. IPO have not been released.
China E-Commerce
China launches LinkedIn
The beta version of Chinese LinkedIn has gone live. Under the name Ling Ying (领英), meaning leading and elite, the site was launched with invitation-only registration. Ling Ying has been added
into the latest version of WeChat, allowing subscribers to show their LinkedIn on profile pages. Officials have also said that other SNS-channels (obviously not Twitter and Facebook) such as Sina
Weibo and Tencent Weibo will be integrated into the Chinese version. The social discussion page normally found on LinkedIn have however been removed in China due to censorship issues.
China E-Commerce
Alibaba May Buy AutoNavi
Alibaba Group Holdings revealed that they are interested in buying Autonavi. The E-commerce enterprise has provided a non-binding proposal letter to digital map content and navigation company
AutoNavi, purposing $1.1 billion to make it a wholly owned subsidiary. Currently Alibaba holds about 28% of AutoNavi’s shares. If the deal goes through, Alibaba said the goal is to improve
customer service capacity by sharpening the competitiveness of AN’s map engine and navigation business. An independent committee has been established by the digital map company to evaluate the
China E-Commerce
Chinese Wholesalers Suffer After Rise of E-Commerce
The rise of e-commerce companies have taken a huge toll on Chinese apparel wholesalers. The wholesale market is starting to be seen as outdated, especially with the growing trend of apparel
branding. While wholesalers keep seeing a decline in sales, more and more business owners choose to work with retail or e-commerce. Sending products straight from the factory to retail stores or
online platforms is simply more lucrative, whereby wholesalers are cut out of the chain. Since online businesses are known for its low prices, an increasing number of wholesale operators see it
as a must to open a channel for e-commerce, an industry analyst said to WCT.
China E-Commerce
Tencent invest in Tourism Booking Platform
Together with Boyu Capital and Oriza Holdings, Tencent has invested CNY500 million in the online Chinese travel . The company announced that they will use the funds to become the
best Chinese leisure tourism market, aiming to improve services in domestic and outbound traveling – as well as mobile sectors. 17u still holds the controlling stake in the company and informed
media that they plan to achieve an independent IPO in the future.
China E-Commerce
E-payments Worth $306 Billion in 4Q13
The value of China’s third party e-payments in the fourth quarter of 2013 meant a 23.5% increase compared to 3Q2013 and 53,3% compared to the previous year. The total amount generated in 4Q2013
was CNY1,864 trillion (USD306 billion). Alipay’s market share in the fourth quarter amounted to 46,9%, followed by TenPay which had 18,7%. ChinaPay landed on 9%, 99Bill had 6.5% and China PnR had
5,8% market share, according to Analysys International.
More statistics from Analysys Internation show that online search engines in China generated CNY11,42 billion (USD1.87 billion) in 4Q2013, Baidu being market leaders with 78.4%. The total revenue
from Chinese online advertising was valued at CNY30.07 billion (USD4.94 billion). Baidu, being market leaders in this category too, had a share of 31.4% followed by Taobao (17.5%).
China E-Commerce
E-commerce Alliances Grow More Common
DangDang Inc, the major e-commerce site that specializes in electronics, and Yahaodian (), the online supermarket majority owned by WalMart, are expected to team up to gain more market
share. Alliances like these are growing more common in the heated Chinese E-commerce sphere. Although the market is still expanding, the growth momentum is not as strong as it was one or two
years ago. Dangdang and Yhd may not have the same customer base, but their alliance is a great opportunity to expand to new sectors.
DangDang has looked for ways to move into food sales for quite some time and with the new partnership, known for its wide portfolio of food offerings, the expansion will be more natural. The
companies are not going to compete head-to-head, rather build a more comprehensive online platform with more categories of products which will lead to an increased, shared, user base. The
partnership will be announced in Beijing on March 5.
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