Baidu and Rakuten rival with Alibaba Taobao

Posted by Aliuser on Jan 29, 2010 in B2C marketplace

Beijing-based Baidu (百度) is set to expand its B2C (Business to Consumer) e-Commerce platform by teaming up with Rakuten, Inc., the biggest e-commerce service provider in Japan. The joint venture plans to pump US$50 millions in the next three years.

According to the Chinese-language online search giant’s latest release, Rakuten will hold a commanding stake of 51% while the reminder of 49% will be taken up by Baidu.

Youa.com, a C2C platform owned by Baidu, was officially launched in late 2008. The e-Commerce platform is widely seen as a major move by Robin Li Jun Yu (李彦宏), Baidu’s chairman and CEO to challenge Taobao.com .

Alibaba Taobao has a stronghold in China B2C and C2C online shopping marketplace. It is estimated that Taobao.com has captured 80 per cent of the mainland C2C market share. Jack Ma, CEO and founder of Alibaba Group said the leading online company aims to reach RMB 400 billion in turnover in 2010 after expanding in West China.

Rakuten, Inc. is Japan’s biggest online shopping mall operator and was found in 1997. According to Alexa, Rakuten is the 5th most popular site in Japan with Amazon Japan following at No. 14.