Baidu launches C2C marketplace “Youa”

Baidu, the world’s leading Chinese search engine, officially launched their consumer to consumer e-commerce platform “Youa”. Baidu has their own branded online payment system called BaiFuBao, to make purchases on Youa. Youa was previously available to 10,000 pre-approved sellers and 50,000 participants in closed beta testing.

Youa will compete with current C2C marketplace leader Alibaba’s Taobao.com which owns 57% of the marketshare. Alibaba recently announced that it will invest RMB5 billion (US$732 million) over the next five years to further strengthen the Taobao marketplace. Taobao has 80 million registered users and over 1 million sellers. Other C2C marketplaces include Paipai.com, and Eachnet.com. According to Piper Jaffray Youa will make up about 3-5% of Baidu’s estimated revenues in CY09.