Reports are surfacing that China’s biggest online retail and auction website, Taobao, is planning to launch a Taobao branded mobile phone to entice more shoppers to buy from the site.
Taobao will launch the phone in partnership with Lenovo Mobile and the move will make Taobao one of the first major ecommerce companies in China to brand a mobile phone.
China currently has the largest mobile phone user base in the world with over 730 million mobile user accounts so it’s a smart move by Taobao.
The information isn’t officially public yet but Reuters reports that it has come from “a person familiar with the situation”. An announcement from Taobao is expected shortly.
The mobile phone with preinstalled Taobao applications will apparently be available within a month, will be targeted at Chinese customers, and it will allow the user to shop wirelessly.
This of course follows China’s rollout of 3G mobile technology earlier this year and is part of Taobao’s plans to “develop the wireless market” part of which will be to draw more mobile users to the website.
Online shopping is becoming more and more popular in China as people are turning to the internet to buy everything from mobile phones and electronic gadgets to household items and clothing.
The online auction site operates much the same way that eBay does and offers users the opportunity to buy and sell items from each other and from online stores; however, it doesn’t charge any listing fees for selling items.
Taobao is part of the Alibaba Group, 40 percent of which is owned by search engine giant Yahoo Inc. Alibaba Group is also the parent company of Alibaba.com China’s largest online shopping website.
Online shopping in China has seen a massive rise in the past year and is now apparently worth nearly $10 billion, that’s huge by anyone’s standards.
Taobao is a major player in China’s online shopping market and dominates over 80 percent of that market. Only a couple of months ago they said they expected sales on their site to more than double this year.
They also have plans to expand abroad and initially they will target countries that are similar culturally to China.
I guess we’ll just have to wait then.
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Purchasing electronic products in bulk or wholesale from China and selling at practical prices is gaining wide acceptance in the world-wide consumer electronic industry to make money.