China’s e-commerce giant JD recently launched an app for its mobile shopping marketplace Paipai Weidian (Paipai Micro-store) via Paipai, the Taobao-like C2C e-commerce platform that Tencent transfered to JD last year.
Previously only available on their website, Paipai Weidian is a mobile-focused marketplace that lets merchants sell directly to buyers by promoting their products across social networking platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, Mobile QQ and Q-Zone.
After logging in though their QQ accounts, merchants can run their online stores by uploading items, and managing orders and their shelves, among features. The payment process is supported by both Tencent’s online payment service Tenpay and WeChat Payment, a one-click mobile payment method (developed by Tenpay).
A distinctive feature of Paipai Weidian is the integration of the merchandise distribution system. Small vendors on the platform can choose products from Paipai’s wholesale catalog and sell them in their stores as distributors. Merchants get paid from commission rebates while product suppliers are responsible for product shipment and after sales services.
JD will invest RMB100 million (around US$16 million) to attract businesses to set up stores on the platform.
Koudai Gouwu, a similar platform that claimed RMB15 billion (US$2.45 billion) sales as of last October, received US$350 million Series C financing from Tencent in 2014. Tencent – which also holds a stake in JD – is thus poised to further its retail ambitions in the m-commerce field.
Editing by Mike Cormack (@bucketoftongues)
paipai weidian is your translation? really?
and why it’s “JD Launches”? Isn’t paipai a tencent product? Tencent owning a share in JD doesn’t make JD owner of paipai, or does it?