Is ECVV.com a next online IPO B2B Marketplace from China?

3 years back when no one had idea, Alibaba.com, a b2b marketplace rocked the internet industry of China with its launch of IPO in Hong Kong Stock Exchange. With a successful first runner experience, Alibaba launched several projects including B2C & C2C websites to prove its dominance over the internet market.
According to one Bain & Company Report:

“Alibaba.com, credited with almost single-handedly creating China’s e-commerce market, is viewed as an innovation legend, achieving more than 70 percent compound annual revenue growth between 2005 and 2007 and scoring the second-largest e-commerce initial public offering in history after the legendary Google.”
Many investors took a sharp turn towards investing their money in different IT companies and tens of internet based businesses developed in China in last 3 years.

Made-In-China.com, another online B2B website launched IPO last year in 2009 on Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Both of the online marketing companies struggled hard in their first business decade.

ECVV.com, launched in 2003, is considered as another big name China based online b2b marketplaces. With a slight difference in business model, ECVV is also trying to help small & medium sized enterprises in China to get exposure to global buyers. With movement of their office from Bank of China building near CBD to bigger office in one of the IT Parks Shenzhen, there are rumors in market that ECVV might be the next star. Following the roadmaps of Alibaba & Made-in-China, ECVV has already adapted several strategies and now attracting the top talents from the IT market.
According to news, many investors including Shenzhen Govt. have shown interest in ECVV.com. And have already started providing support for the company. In an interview with the CEO of ECVV.com, Mr. Chen Dong, said that with his innovative strategy, he is hopeful to compete in international markets soon.

As the internet technology is shifting from big screen desktops to small screen hand held devices, there is a technology shift expected in next 2 years. The success of less innovative companies will remain a question.

Made-In-China, Made-In-Jiangsu - B2B Marketplace for Jiangsu

Nanjing-based business-to-business e-commerce site Made-in-China.com and Jiangsu province's Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation Department have established an online international trading platform between October 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009, reports Jiangnan Times quoting a department source. Jiangsu based Import & export companies and registered members of Made-in-China.com can exhibit their products on the online fair site, said the report.

Chinese B2B marketplace Alibaba.com backs entry into UK with ad campaign

B2B Marketplaces News: Alibaba.com launched its advertisement campaign in UK with a marketing campaign across TV, outdoor and online.

The campaign was created by truly London following its appointment to the business in June 2008 include TV Ad and special pages on Alibaba.com website for UK audience. The campaign ran for four weeks.

The ad campaign uses a number concepts based around the proposition of getting Alibaba.com ‘working for you'.

The ads ran on TV, reinforced by outdoor across 48 sheets, 96 sheets, digital Transvision and London taxis as well as online.  The outdoor ads carry the strapline ‘Whatever your business, get Aliababa.com working for you'. London taxis, were liveried in the company's corporate orange and will carry the amended strapline ‘Let Aliababa.com drive your business'.

Chinavasion Advice For Alibaba AliExpress - 5 Warnings

China B2B portal Alibaba.com, a b2b marketplace, has launched AliExpress, a shopping system aimed at small and medium-sized eBay resellers and online vendors. Wholesale electronics company, Chinavasion warns resellers that they can still be taken for a ride and offers them the tools to stop that happening.

Famous wholesale marketplace in China, Chinavasion has published a five-point guide for buyers to help them avoid being dodged by the suppliers on AliExpress, a new Alibaba.com wholesale website, launched in Aug 2009.

According to Chinavasion's PR Manager, Rose Li, AliExpress is aimed at smaller to medium sized sellers and adds a limited degree of security for people who source from Alibaba.

"The main Alibaba.com is essentially an advertising website: no deals are transacted. AliExpress is different. It's e-commerce with international shipping, and that's 100% new business territory for the Alibaba group."

The AliExpress wholesale website guaranteeing order fulfillment under an escrow arrangement. Alibaba is using Alipay as a the primary source of payment method. Alipay is already a widely used payment mehtod in China for transactions on its C2C website, Taboao.com

Chinavasion's Rose Li warned while the Alipay Escrow system might guarantee that resellers get something delivered they will still need to stay on their toes.

"Will buyers get what they want from AliExpress? Each supplier you find in AliExpress will have their own concepts of acceptable quality and speed. Since the goods are neither sold nor shipped by Alibaba themselves, the burden will still fall to the buyer to investigate and test each and every different supplier in the system before trusting them with orders."

In an effort to prevent resellers from being fleeced by sellers on AliExpress Chinavasion has put together the top five things to check for to prevent being taken for a ride by AliExpress suppliers, which can be read at tinyurl.com/AliExpress-Review for free.

As the first company to offer an online wholesale and dropshipping service online Rose Li said Chinavasion wanted to remind resellers what to look for when sourcing from China.

"We would like to offer our site Chinavasion.com as a price comparison for people shopping online through AliExpress. We are confident we offer a more user-friendly experience without the need to worry about quality, speed, or trust of unknown Chinese suppliers."

ChinaVasion published 5 warnings for buyers to be aware of AliExpress inexperience wholesale marketplace.

1. Warning Sign 1, They Offer Everything From Baby Shoes To Butt/Bum Massagers
2. Warning Sign 2, They Don’t Answer, Or Are Slow To Answer Your Pre-Sale Contact
3. Warning Sign 3, They Are Located In Fujian
4. Warning Sign 4, They Don’t Use The Same Name Or They Use A Name Without A Location
5. Warning Sign 5, They Claim To Sell Brand-Name Products

You can read more about the ChinaVasion VS Alibaba Express on CHinaVasion website news.

Alibaba.com Sets Up Zone for Zhuji, Zhejiang Province - Zhuji Local Enterprise E-Commerce Zone

Alibaba.com, a b2b marketplace in agreement with the municipal gorvernment of Zhejiang province China in Aug 2009, has set up a special e-commerce. According to the news, the online zone "Zhuji Local Enterprise E-Commerce Zone" for industries in Zhuji will target more than 50,000 registered trade members, over 3,000 premium members and more than 10,000 SME's in next 3 years.

The Zhuji government will provide a three-year dedicated fund of RMB 5 mln per year to help SMEs develop e-commerce services. In addition, the municipal government will also partner with Alibaba to increase the proportion of loans granted to Zhuji SMEs by overseas banks.

Alibaba Moves Kaube to Taobao.com - From Yahoo China Brand to Taobao

HONG KONG - Alibaba.com Ltd.'s, one of the b2b marketplaces shares were higher in Hong Kong trade Monday 24,Aug 2009, after its parent group announced a restructuring of its China Yahoo business. China's Alibaba Group, which controls Yahoo China, dropped the Yahoo brand and integrated it with booming auction platform Taobao.com.

Alibaba has separated Koubei.com, a classified-listings Web site, from China Yahoo and would transfer the unit into its c2c Web site, Taobao.com. According to Alibaba strategy, it is all to strengthen the C2C website, Taobao.com and reduce the cost.

The Koubei listing service was already merged with China Yahoo in June 2008 as part of an effort to revamp the website.

According to Alibaba Group the asset transfer was intended to maximize its value within the group and was made with the interests of all stakeholders in mind.

"We believe that the Koubei is going to be an additional asset to our Taobao.com platform," said John Spelich, Alibaba Group's vice president of international corporate affairs.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the move has strained relations between Alibaba and U.S.-based Yahoo and has caused a potential setback for China Yahoo.

Carol Bartz, Chief Executive of Yahoo, reportedly told Alibaba executives earlier this year that she was disappointed with the way the group has handled the Yahoo brand in China, the Journal reported.

Since 2005 share value of China's Internet search market firm China Yahoo is in steadily decline. It was a time when Yahoo paid $1 billion for a 39% stake in Alibaba Group and handed over transferred control of China Yahoo.

But Spelich said Yahoo has been a beneficiary of Alibaba Group's rising fortunes, with its original investment now estimated to be worth $3.6 billion.

"What's good for Alibaba is good for Yahoo, because Yahoo is our largest minority shareholder," Spelich said, adding that the U.S. Internet giant would still benefit from Koubei in its new place within Taobao.

The listing function of Koubei will fit better as part of Taobao than as part of China Yahoo, the spokesman said. Taobao, which lets users sell items through online stores or auctions, reported a transaction volume of 80.9 billion yuan (US$11.8 billion) in the first half of 2009, nearly double the figure from one year earlier. Registered users on the Web site also doubled during that period.

In August 2009, Alibaba.com acquired Alisoft's business management software division from the parent company for CNY208m ($30.5m) and integrate it into its Information Technology Business division. The restructuring was part of Alibaba.com's drive to transform itself from 'Meet at Alibaba' to 'Work at Alibaba' to offer small businesses tools to manage operations online.

China's Taobao transactions rise 97 pct in H1 2009

SHANGHAI, Aug 20 2009 - China's top online auction firm, Taobao, said on Thursday its transaction volume in the first half of the year rose 97 percent to 80.9 billion yuan ($11.8 billion) while spending-per-order fell slightly due to the economic slowdown.

Taobao officials said the rise in volume was due to a 101 percent jump in the number of registered users and the growing acceptance of e-commerce among China's Internet users.

"What is most interesting is the level of mainstream acceptance of using online retail channels to shop for everyday items," said Jonathan Lu, president of Taobao.

Taobao said for the first half of 2009, household goods became the top-selling catergory by total sales transaction value, with Taobao merchants selling 438 household items per minute.

Taobao, which is widely considered China's eBay (EBAY.O), has a 78 percent share of China's domestic online consumer market, the firm said, quoting statistics from iResearch.

China's domestic consumer spending has remained resilient during the global economic downturn as Beijing's massive stimulus spending has helped to sustain income growth.

Alibaba Launched China Wholesale Website "AliExpress"

Shenzhen, Guangdong, Aug 20, 2009 one of the largest B2B marketplaces, Alibaba.com Limited (HKG:1688) launched a new service called 'AliExpress' - modelled on existing Chinese B2C ecommerce portals.

China Wholesale (http://www.chinavasion.com/) market veteran, Chinavasion.com congratulated Alibaba on their launch:

"AliExpress is an example of a large public-listed company fearlessly diversifying into unfamiliar waters," said Rose Li, Chinavasion.com Public Relations Spokesperson. "As the first website to offer direct-from-China wholesale, Chinavasion.com would like to wish Alibaba the best of luck in their new startup."

Chinavasion was the first company, in 2005, to offer wholesale electronics sent from warehouse stock in China to international buyers. I will cover ChinaVasion in later.

Alibaba,com enables Chinese sellers to advertise to buyers, with 8.6 million registered users, but the AliExpress website is a fresh launch in the style of a dot-com startup.

The new AliExpress website is found on the main Alibaba.com domain, but represents a major departure from Alibaba's core business, according to Chinavasion's Rose Li:

"The main Alibaba.com is essentially an advertising website: no deals are transacted. AliExpress is different. It's ecommerce with international shipping, and that's 100% new business territory for the Alibaba group."

Chinavasion's Rose Li drew a clear distinction between the AliExpress service and Chinavasion:

"Chinavasion is a true wholesaler. Products advertised on Chinavasion.com are all real products in our warehouse stock. Products advertised on AliExpress, on the other hand, are from thousands of different small Chinese suppliers and are not guaranteed to be in stock."

According to the statement on AliExpress website, Alibaba will guarantee order fulfillment under an escrow arrangement. This will be the first international test of Alibaba's proprietary AliPay online payments system, already widely recognized within Mainland China as a payment method for the Alibaba group's eBay-style auction website Taobao, and a would-be competitor to eBay's Paypal system.

What is unclear, commentators point out, is whether Alibaba will take a leaf out of Paypal and EBay's book and provide strong buyer guarantees. Chinavasion's Rose Li commented:

"Will buyers get what they want from AliExpress? Each supplier you find in AliExpress will have their own concepts of acceptable quality and speed. Since the goods are neither sold nor shipped by Alibaba themselves, the burden will still fall to the buyer to investigate and test each and every different supplier in the system before trusting them with orders."

Alibaba.com Purchased back Alisoft Assets for $30m

Alibaba Group has agreed to inject the Business Management Software (BMS) division of its wholly-owned software subsidiary, Alisoft, into the Information Technology Business Unit of its majority-owned subsidiary Alibaba.com (1688.HK) for total compensation of $30.5 million (RMB 208 million) by September 1, according to an August 17 announcement.

Alibaba.com intends to acquire Alisoft's major application software product lines for small businesses, all customer contracts and more than 250 BMS division employees. Alisoft's non-management-software-related core technologies will be among the assets remaining under Alibaba Group ownership, said the announcement.

The announcement also said, Alibaba.com is planning to leverage its sales and marketing organization to boost sales of Alisoft's customer relationship management and marketing software, .

This is the first time, one of the biggest b2b marketplaces, Alibaba.com has acquired assets from its parent in a move to supplement its product offerings and generate new sources of revenue. The transfer of business management software division comprises application software product lines for small businesses, customer contracts and employees, it said. After the closing of the acquisition by Sept. 1, 2009 the business management software division, with more than 250 employees, has been integrated with Alibaba.com's Information Technology Business Unit.

Alibaba.com said it will leverage its sales and marketing organization to increase the sale of Alisoft's customer relationship management and marketing software for exporters and small businesses engaged in domestic trade.

"The addition of these software offerings and related services continues Alibaba.com's drive to transform ourselves from "Meet at Alibaba to Work at Alibaba" by offering small businesses the tools to manage key aspects of their business operations via the Internet," said David Wei, chief executive officer of Alibaba.com, in a statement.

CLSA analyst Elinor Leung said the deal is small and it won't have much impact on Alibaba's business. "Even before this deal, Alibaba.com has been offering Alisoft's software services to its customers," said Leung. "What really matters is the market response."

Alibaba Group has already announced its merger of research and development division into Alisoft on July 22 2009.

Global Sources IR Reports Q2 2009 Results

Posted GAAP EPS of $0.11 and Non-GAAP EPS of $0.15
Increased cash and securities to $143.7 million with no debt

NEW YORK, Aug. 17 Global Sources Ltd., one of the largest b2b marketplaces reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009.

Chairman and CEO for Global Sources, Merle A. Hinrichs, said: "As anticipated, during the quarter 2 Global Sources business continued to be affected by the slowdown in exports from mainland China and the rest of Asia. As such, we managed the business prudently, delivering profit of $5.1 million on revenue of $54.2 million as well as improving our already robust balance sheet.

"We continue to focus on addressing our customers' core needs by providing a complete product offering of online, trade shows and print that addresses all stages of the buying process. Although we are carefully managing our costs, we are also focused on enhancing our overall market position to achieve top and bottom line growth when the economic environment improves," concluded Hinrichs.
 
Global Sources Q2: Financial highlights

• Second quarter: 2009 compared to 2008
• Revenue was $54.2 million, compared to $63.7 million
• Online revenue was $22.0 million, compared to $24.1 million
• Exhibitions revenue was $24.0 million, compared to $25.3 million
• Print revenue was $7.1 million, compared to $12.8 million
• Revenue from mainland China was $39.3 million, compared to $42.0 million
• GAAP net income was $5.1 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, which included a non-cash stock based compensation (SBC) expense of $1.7 million based on the June 30, 2009 stock price of $7.21. For the second quarter of 2008, GAAP net income was $8.4 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, which included a $1.5 million in non-cash SBC expense based on the June 30, 2008 stock price of $15.18
• Non-GAAP net income was $6.8 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, compared to $9.9 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2008
• Total deferred income and customer prepayments were $72.8 million as at June 30, 2009, compared to $86.8 million as at June 30, 2008.    Global Sources' non-GAAP metrics

Management believes non-GAAP metrics are useful measures of operations and provides GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation tables at the end of this press release. Global Sources defines non-GAAP net income as net income excluding non-cash, stock-based compensation (SBC) expense or credit, gains or losses on acquisitions and investments, and/or impairment charges, for all historical and future references to non-GAAP metrics. Non-GAAP EPS is defined as non-GAAP net income divided by the weighted average of diluted common shares outstanding.

Global Sources Q2: Financial highlights

• Six Months Ended June 30: 2009 compared to 2008
• Revenue was $89.0 million, compared to $104.3 million
• GAAP net income was $6.3 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, compared to $16.6 million, or $0.32 per diluted share
• Non-GAAP net income was $8.5 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, compared to $16.5 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, for the six months ended June 30, 2008

Global Sources' CFO, David Gillan, said: "Although revenue continues to be challenged, we are managing the business through this cycle with the objective of continued profitability. Regarding costs, we reduced discretionary spending and delayed infrastructure investments. As a result, total operating expenses declined by 9% in the second quarter, as compared to the same period last year.

"In the second quarter, we grew our cash position to $143.7 million and continued to benefit from a strong balance sheet that includes no short-term or long-term bank debt. In the third quarter of 2009, we anticipate revenue and earnings to continue to be impacted by the difficult economic situation, and those results will be compared to a very strong third quarter in 2008."

Global Sources Q2: Recent Corporate Highlights

• GlobalSources held China Sourcing Fairs in Dubai in June. The event featured over 1,100 booths, representing 40% growth compared to last year
• Held six China Sourcing Fairs and an India Sourcing Fair in April and early May at the AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong. Many of the world's top buying organizations attended including Carrefour, Coles Group, Dollar General, LG Sourcing, Li & Fung, Marks & Spencer, Otto International, Samsung, Sears, Staples and The Home Depot.
• Twenty-four group and custom Private Sourcing Events were held in June and July in mainland China, India, Russia and Vietnam. Participating buyers included A.R.E.N.A., Atico, Auto Audio Center, BTK, Casino, Groupe Adeo, El Corte Ingles, ICA, M. Video, LPP, Lowe's, Pacific Brands, RadioShack, Rolsen, Sears, Test Rite, The Home Depot and ThreeSixty Sourcing.
• Appointed David Gillan as Chief Financial Officer effective July 1, following the retirement of Eddie Heng. Mr. Heng remains on the board as a director.

 Achieved record lead generation, which is measured as requests for information (RFIs) from buyers to suppliers through Global Sources Online. There were more than 81 million RFIs during the 12 months ended June 30, 2009, up by 124% compared to the same period last year.

Increased independently certified community of Global Sources activebuyers to more than 829,000 at the end of the second quarter, 14% higher than the same time last year. Conference call for Global Sources second quarter 2009 earnings

Alibaba Group to display Koubei.com ads on Taobao.com

HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- Alibaba Group, which is 39% owned by Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), said Friday it has injected its classified listing Web site Koubei.com into its Chinese online retail site Taobao.com.

Alibaba Group spokesman John Spelich said the asset injection is part of the company's "Big Taobao Strategy" to transform Taobao into a one-stop platform for shopping, socializing and information sharing.

Koubei.com, a company providing online classified listings for local services, is wholly owned and operated by b2b marketplaces giant Alibaba Group.

Taobao is an online platform on which consumers can sell goods to each other and directly to businesses, similar to U.S.-based platforms eBay and Amazon.

Alibaba is Planning to Invest $200 Million On Acquisitions

In the time when businesses all over the world are facing financial crisis, world's largest B2B marketplace, Alibaba Group has announced $200 million to spend on acquisitions over next few years. In an interview to Wall Streen Journal (WSJ), Wei Zhan who is leading the investment unit of Alibaba said they have already spent $73 million and are expecting $200 million in coming few years.

Alibaba has so far shown its interest in industries inlcuding mobile applications like they recently invested in UCWEB Technology for its mobiile web browser, in Alipay for electronic payment system and in some other areas. So far their investments are limited to mainland China but in recent visit to USA, Alibaba showed its interest in investments for foreign companies.

Related News:

• Alibaba Aims for Chinese Input Software in 2009

• Alibaba Planning to Expand Alipay Online-Payment Service Internationally

• Alibaba Launches Ad Campaign to Encourage Fresh Entrepreneurs

• Alibaba to Launch Search Engine in Beijing

Alibaba.com Q2 net profit slips 34 pct, beats view of Analysts

SHANGHAI, Aug 13 (Reuters) - China's top e-commerce firm, Alibaba.com (1688.HK), said on Thursday its quarterly net profit fell 34.2 percent, but it beat analysts' expectations, as margins sank amid slowing business during the global downturn.

Alibaba's net profit for the second quarter came in at 260.7 million yuan ($38.15 million) versus 396.5 million yuan a year earlier. A poll of five analysts by Reuters Estimates expected the firm's net profit to come in at 224.8 million yuan.

Alibaba said its operating profit came in at 287.7 million yuan. Alibaba, which operates an online site connecting millions of buyers and sellers, said the fall in profit was due to high personnel and research and development costs.

For Q2 results in detail: http://img.alibaba.com/ir/download/200908/E_2QResultsAnnouncement_final.pdf

Alibaba Aims for Chinese Input Software in 2009

According to a company insider, Alibaba Group is working on Chinese-language input software that may be released in 2009, reports Sohu. Now under development by Alibaba's subsidiary Alisoft, the software will include professional terms popularized by Alibaba Group subsidiaries, said the insider. Alibaba public relations refused to comment, the report said.

As experienced by author of B2B-Trade-International Blog, Chinese input softwares are quite famous in China and because of these Pinyin softwares the communication has made possible between Chinese speaking professionals and English speaking people worldwide.

Alibaba to Launch Search Engine in Beijing

HANGZHOU, Aug 07, 2009 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) Alibaba.com Limited (SEHK: 1688), a business-to-business (B2B) marketplace operator in China, is researching its search engine in Beijing, an insider from the Hangzhou-headquartered e-commerce firm disclosed on August 6, 2009.

According to news the search engine by Alibaba, will focus on B2B and business-to-customer (B2C) search and will not compete head on head with Baidu, Inc. or Google Inc.

In the beginning of this July 2009, Alibaba was rumored to launch its search engine. It was because of the company's relationship with Baidu, guessed industry watchers.

Alibaba gave a shining performance in 2008, as small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) flocked to e-commerce amid the industry recession. Its net profits soared 95% from the previous year to CNY 1.205 billion. Total revenue rose 39% year on year to CNY 3.001 billion. Notably, revenues from its domestic platform amounted to CNY 1.094 billion, hiking 78% year on year.