Tag: china mobile commerce

Chinese mobile commerce gaining more attention from consumers

China has become a bustling hub of mobile commerce activity in recent years. This is largely due to the massive number of young consumers that have access to mobile technology. These consumers have shown that they are beginning to favor new forms of commerce over traditional forms of commerce and have taken to the mobile space in order to find a more convenient way to purchase products and shop online. In China, two of the country’s largest technology companies are beginning to focus a great deal of their attention on the field of mobile commerce in order to engage a new generation of consumers.

Companies work to promote new forms of commerce

The Alibaba Group and Tencent are two of China’s most influential technology companies. Both companies have strong ties to the retail and gaming spaces, where they work to engage consumers on a regular basis. Because of the companies’ focus on technology, they have taken notice of the meteoric rise of mobile commerce among consumers, as well as the increasingly popularity of location-based services. Location-based technologies have been quite useful in exposing consumers to mobile commerce as these technologies are often used in advertisements that direct consumers to e-commerce sites.

Alibaba favors location-based services and Tencent focuses on social applications

Alibaba is keen to throw more support behind location-based services in order to make mobile commerce more prolific among consumers. The company has invested more than $800 million in these technologies coming from companies like Weibo and AutoNavi. Tencent has shown more subdued interest in location-based services, but does believe that popular social tools, such as the famous WeChat messaging application, could be a powerful way to encourage consumers to participate in mobile commerce providing them details about shops that allow for mobile purchases.

China is establishing itself as a leading market in mobile commerce

China is often considered one of the most active markets when it comes to mobile commerce. Both Alibaba and Tencent have managed to capture the attention of mobile consumers that are eager to take advantage of the capabilities of technology and these consumers have been growing more comfortable with the idea of mobile commerce.

The first quarter in the country was worth $4.29 billion and is clearly dominated by one business.

In 2012, the m-commerce market in China was worth $7.8 billion, but this year, it is expected that it will be worth considerably more, as the first quarter alone brought in $4.29 billion.

It is expected that by the year 2015, the market will rise to reach $41.4 billion, which represents an astounding growth.

What is even more notable is that the m-commerce market appears to be primarily led by a single company, according to the latest data from iResearch. Its latest study of the numbers from that country has shown that Taobao is the clear market leader in China and that its dominance is considerable.

Taobao is the m-commerce market leader for China and is the company behind the highly successful Alibaba.

Alibaba, a consumer to consumer online shopping mall, has been popular in China for over ten years. Now, its Taobao is taking off in the m-commerce environment. Its lead is estimated to be massive, as it takes in about 75.1 percent as its market share when measured by the value of the mobile purchases made by consumers in China. Its parent company is Tmall, a B2C marketplace.

In second place for m-commerce in China, well behind Taobao, is Jingdong. That company was formerly known as 360Buy and is also the second largest B2C online retailer. The share of the market for this company was recorded by iResearch to be lower than its online market share. The report suggested, therefore, that it is important for companies in China – particularly those with an online mall atmosphere – to add considerable focus to their mobile strategies.

It is notable that even some of the major players in online shopping are not achieving the same types of successes in the m-commerce market space, when it comes to their shares. That said, the report also indicated that there is still a shift toward the mobile space, albeit a slow one. Equally, it is expected that 2013 will bring in the largest figures on record for mobile shopping in China, potentially exceeding the previous predictions by the firm, that it would be worth $15.7 billion this year.