Yaodian100.com Going Bankrupt: Yaodian100.com, the self-claimed China’s first online general store is on the verge of going bankrupt, according to industry insiders. The site is currently looking for someone who’s willing to take up the slack, the tipster said.
Founded in 2009, the Shanghai-based etailer received venture funds from Qiming Ventures, Baidu and Intel.
Net-a-Porter Coming to China: British luxury site Net-a-porter is reportedly coming to China by the end of this month through the acquisition of theoutnet.com, a Chinese luxury site. Net-a-Porter is expected to set up a distribution center in Hong Kong next year to serve the Asia-Pacific market.
According to Beijing-based Internet market researcher iResearch, China’s online luxury goods market is expected to pass the RMB 37.24 mark by 2015 while Bain and Company, the global management consulting firm said that China’s luxury sales hit RMB 212 billion in 2010.
Letao Teaming up with Dangdang: Letao, the Chinese Zappos has reached a deal with Dangdang to operate an independent shop on Dangdang. The partnership came after Dangdang’s cooperation with Gome.com.cn, a 3C-centric etailer by Chinese electronics chainstore Gome.
The new shop will be built on top of Dangdang’s ecommerce open platform. Yuyu, co-founder and Chairman of Dangdang disclosed that “open platform will be the direction of strategic importance for Dangdang in this year; we will be inviting all kinds of etailers ranging from clothes, electronics, cosmetics, household supplies to wines to join us.”
Meituan Claimed RMB1.8B Sales in 2011: Meituan, one of the leading group buying players in China market claimed a sales of over RMB 1.819 in the past year.
5 Spots in Group Buying Market: Local media reported that founders of local Groupons unanimously agreed on that by year end there will be no more than 5 group buying services (not including verticals like cosmetics group buying sites) survived in the market due to consolidation, funding conundrum and ferocious competition. Wu Bo, founder of Lashou once said that if a daily deal site is not making any profit by year end then it’ll be facing big problems.
17mh.com Raising US$5M: Flash sales service 17mh.com (that is really a weird domain name, btw) raised US$ 5 million, the first ever in group buying sector in this year. The site is focusing on female cosmetics with a mix model of group buying and flash sales.