Taobao’s Daily Deals Site Grows Up, Spins Off
Alibaba has today announced that its group buy site, Taobao Ju Hua Suan – meaning Taobao group bargains – is going to be spun off as a separate company. It has its own daily deals – which come from vendors as diverse as restaurants and travel agencies – and also serves as an open platform for other sites to sell their deals.
Alibaba は今日、自社のグループ購入サイトである Taobao Ju Hua Suan (Taobao グループバーゲンの意)が分離独立企業として設立されることを発表した。当企業は、レストランや旅行会社など広範囲に渡る分野の企業・商店などから成る、独自のデイリーディールサイトを持っている。また、当企業は、その他のサイトがディール販売を行うことができるオープンプラットフォームとしての機能も兼ね備えている。
The site, at ju.taobao.com, opened in March 2010 and leveraged on the already huge Taobao user-base to get a head-start on the huge assortment of Groupon clones that popped up throughout last year. Its biggest rival by name is Tencent’s (HKG:0700) QQ Tuan; in terms of actual traffic and deals sold, its closest competitor seems to be Lashou, the much smaller start-up which is looking for a chance to IPO in the US next year.
Why make Ju Hua Suan an independent company within the Alibaba Group right now? An Alibaba spokeswoman explained to us:
なぜ今Ju Hua SuanをAlibabaグループ内で独立した会社にさせるのか?Alibabaの広報の女性は私達にこう説明してくれた:
なぜ今Ju Hua SuanをAlibabaグループの独立会社にするのか? Alibabaのスポークスマンは我々に説明した。
Alibaba は、なぜ今のタイミングで、Ju Hua Suan をAlibaba グループの独立的な企業として分社化するのか?Alibaba の広報担当者は、我々に以下のように説明した。
We believe this will allow the platform to focus on its core competency and better serve its customers. Going forward, Ju Hua Suan’s strategy will revolve around providing an open, low-cost and efficient platform for the group shopping industry, details will be announced in the coming weeks.
Sounds like there’s something cooking there. It also indicates the site has matured enough to stand on its own.
Yesterday we looked at a new report which shows that 42.2 million of Chinese 500 million netizens used group buy sites in the past six months. Despite all that enthusiasm for bargains, a number of the indie sites are hurting – or simply over-hired in the early stages – and have been cutting staff in recent months. But the deals portals of China’s two web giants, Tencent and Alibaba, seem to have been immune.