Baidu, the largest Chinese search engine was rumored to restructure its map service with the setup of a new LBS BU in an aim to capitalize on the current O2O heat.
Baidu has been stealthily integrating local services into map service for quite a while after sniffing out the profitability on that front. With the ongoing proliferation of mobile devices and constant emerging of new services leveraging on the power of O2O, we’ve seen more and more big-names stepped their toes into the area which was previously dominated by startups like Dianping, Jiepang, Buding, Dingding and so on. For instance, Tencent is counting big on turning Weixin – one of the most popular mobile app in China – into some sort of a marketing tool that links local businesses and mobile users.
Dai Zhikang, deputy GM of the company’s ecommerce department for life services once disclosed in an internal meeting that Tencent will be using a fancy combination of “QRCode+QQ account system+QQ connections+LBS” to better serve local businesses, like help them deliver digital DM through channels like Weixin at very low or nearly none cost.
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