It seems that Tencent’s recent investments are paying off, the Chinese internet giant just announced its plan to invest over RMB 500 million (US$ 77.7m) marketing expenditure in an effort to foster all-around open strategies and to support quality online stores that operate on its ecommerce platform. Besides, Tencent has scheduled to launch a “super B2C” platform, and the first batch of businesses which will be featured on the platform include OKbuy (online vertical for shoes), elong (flight tickets and hotels booking), Kela (online vertical for diamonds) and so on, all were rumored or confirmed to has been invested by the Shenzhen-based company.
We previously reported Tencent’s restructuring plan of ecommerce business whereby it will “replace the current ecommerce division with the newly formed ecommerce LOB (line-of-business), which boasts multiple units including operation, platform, virtual services, life services and research and development unit.” According to Pony Ma, the founder and head of Tencent,“By 2015, Chinese ecommerce market size will reach RMB 40 billion (US$ 6.17 billion), which is still not big enough. The size is estimated to double or even triple, quadruple by then. It’s bound to be one of the biggest revenue sources of all internet services. ” It’s a market that Tencent cannot afford to ignore.
According to Hou Yanping, deputy general manager of Tencent ecommerce division, Tencent will launch the B2C initiative in the fourth quarter of this year. Ecommerce is what Tencent counts to continue its growth in the future.