Alibaba 3rd most visited Ecommerce Marketplace on Internet

In recent study by comScore about online global retail and auctions sites discovered that reached the largest global audience. Alibaba.com with over 156 million visitors in June 2011 was ranked third. Almost 20.4 % of the worldwide Internet population visited alibaba.com.

Gian Fulgoni, comScore co-founder and chairman said "While retail e-commerce has already grown to become a $150+ billion annual industry in the U.S., it still presents enormous upside opportunity across much of the globe,"

"Technology has changed the way consumers behave, and increasingly they are opting for the convenience and pricing advantages offered by the online channel. Several global retail brands have already capitalized on this global consumer trend, and many other retailers are sure to pursue their share of the pie."

...Continue reading Alibaba 3rd most visited Ecommerce Marketplace on Internet

Alibaba Q2 Profits Rose 28% Beating Anlaysts Forecasts

Alibaba.com beat forecasts of analysts by jumping 28 percent (RMB464.5 million (US$71.5 million)) in Q2 profit.

The company said the increase reflects its "focus on creating more value for our existing customers with enhanced products, services, and trust and safety initiatives, rather than accelerating new customer acquisition".

Customer numbers jumped nearly 60 percent over the year to 21.6 million after what Alibaba said was a "significant rise in overseas traffic" - traffic to its international B2B marketplace is up 65 percent for the year.

...Continue reading Alibaba Q2 Profits Rose 28% Beating Anlaysts Forecasts

Picture worth a 1000 words - Alibaba's new image matching service

Old saying "Picture worth a 1000 words", China based B2B Marketplace Alibaba.com has just made use of the wisdom behind. A new service has been introduced by Alibaba in which shoppers can now upload images of desired clothings. This service will help buyers & sellers to easily share their requirements such as style, color, design and textures.

Alibaba has given it a name in Chinese "Tuxiang", but in English Alibaba is tentatively calling it “Imagine" the service is a way for users to buy the clothing they see in advertisements or in celebrity photos, said Alibaba spokeswoman Florence Shih.

“We were hoping to give customers another channel to look for products, especially if you have an idea of what you would like to find but don’t know the keywords,” she said.

The service is currently limited to apparel, shoes and bags and let shoppers uploaded to the b2b website by using URL of image on some other websites or from their computer. Once a picture is uploaded to the website, either from a computer or a web link to the image, users select the category of product they want to search for. The service then attempts to find the best product matches in the Taobao Mall and Taobao Marketplace, Alibaba's online e-commerce sites. The results appear as a breakdown of more than a dozen different products shown as images with price comparisons.

The new image service came after a third-party developer team won an Alibaba-sponsored competition in January 2010 to create applications. the team then worked in cooperation with Alibaba to develop the search service.

...Continue reading Picture worth a 1000 words - Alibaba's new image matching service

China's Small & Medium Sized Enterprises in Crisis

According to a new survey published by Alibaba Group and Peking University on shows that small businesses in China are yet in crisis once again. As per the country's GDP data SME's account for 65 per cent of the country's GDP and provide almost 80 per cent of its jobs.

The major reason of this downfall is the increasing cost of labour and materials in China. In the said report over 2300 SME's were interviewed in one of the China's most economically active states, Zhejiang province.

“The interviewed companies' average capacity utilisation ratio [which measures how efficiently plants are being used] this year and last stands at 72 per cent, lower than in 2008 and 2009,” said Simon Hu, a vice president of Alibaba Group.

...Continue reading China's Small & Medium Sized Enterprises in Crisis

Alibaba Mobile OS Aliyun & K-Touch Cloud-Smart Phone W700

Finaly the suspense is over after Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has launched its own mobile operating system for handsets and tablets in China. The decision was made after the success of Android and Apple's iOS devices. Alibaba is primarily aiming to promote Chinese industry of IT services and also its online products such as B2B Marketplace (Alibaba.com), Taobao and group shopping in its China with this operating system.

Alibaba subsidiary Alibaba Cloud Computing unveiled the Aliyun OS on Thursday July 28, 2011, and displayed a Chinese-manufactured smartphone using the Linux-based operating system. As per the sources this phone will be available in Chinese makrets by the end of July, 2009 at estimated cost of 2,680 yuan (US$416). A tablet (AKA APAD in China) running the Aliyun is also expected to be launched in China later this year.

Competitive Advantage of Aliyun over Android & Apple iOS

The Aliyun OS not only can run Android apps, but it can also run Web-based apps built with HTML 5 or JavaScript. This feature will allow Alibaba and third-party developers to more easily deliver online products to devices using the operating system without having users to download any software, said Wang Jian, president of Alibaba Cloud Computing.

...Continue reading Alibaba Mobile OS Aliyun & K-Touch Cloud-Smart Phone W700

Buying Trend of Alibaba's 1 Million UK Members

After achieving one million members target in UK, Alibaba has just released data regarding UK members spending behavior on their website.

Wide range of products have been shared by Alibaba. Some of the statistics are as follows

• purchases in UK as per the data:
• Machinery - 10.7%
• Minerals - 5.8%
• construction  - 5.6%
• Clothing  - 5.1%
• Computer products - 3.2%Electrical products  - 3.0%

As per the stats every 1 out of 3 Alibaba members in the Europe are from the UK, which means there are another 2 million Alibaba customers spread across Europe. China is where the lions share of UK Alibaba purchases are made, but there's a growing number of UK suppliers on Alibaba which now account for 4% of purchases – Domestic UK purchases are now ahead of those from Hong Kong (3%).

Alibaba-Yahoo Fight Highlights Threat to China Internet Control

Warning to Beijing: Foreign capital is threatening to pry loose grip on the Internet in China.

Such, at least, was the argument advanced by researchers from China's top think tank in an essay published Monday.

“The combination of capital and the Internet is a mighty controlling power. The Internet is a special industry–once it is controlled by foreign capital, the impact could be severe,” Jing Linbo and Wang Xuefeng of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences wrote in the Study Times, a publication of the Communist Party School. “So far the issue of control has not been given sufficient attention.”

Exhibit number one, according to Mssrs. Jing and Wang: the recent dispute between Yahoo and Alibaba Group over the ownership of online-payments unit Alipay.

Yahoo, a major shareholder in Alibaba, said in a regulatory filing in May that Alibaba transferred ownership of Alipay to a company owned by Alibaba Chief Executive Jack Ma without seeking board approval or notifying the U.S. company. Alibaba has said the transfer was made necessary by a new central bank rule forbidding foreign ownership of online payments company and that it had been carried out transparently.

In an interview with the editor of Chinese business magazine Caixin, Alibaba founder Jack Ma defended the new ownership rule on security grounds.

The essay comes with a number of notable Chinese Internet companies having recently listed in the U.S., including video site Youku and Facebook-like social network Renren.

“If we judge by the indicator that a foreign control of over 20% stake is relatively controlled, and over 50% is majority-owned, then most Chinese Internet companies that are listed offshore are controlled by international capital,” the authors wrote. “International capital thus controls our Internet industry.”

They also said the combination of capital and the Internet will have an impact on politics and the government, adding that China should strengthen supervision not only over a company's capital structure but also its business operations, including its dealings with related parties.

While the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is an influential government organization, it is unclear how much support the views have among government regulators. Publication in Study Times, however, means that the Communist Party does not object to making the views known to a wider audience.

Alibaba Mobile-Operating System Coming Soon!

As per the news development of an operating system for mobile phones is under progress at Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. unit Alibaba Cloud Computing. Alibaba is planning to release first version in the third quarter.

The Alibaba offering will add to the competition in China for Google Inc.'s Android operating system, Apple Inc.'s iPhone smartphones and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Phone platform.

36 suspects Arrested by China Polic Over Alibaba Fraud Case

36 suspects have been arrested in China for allegedly operating scams that netted US$6.6 million from customers of B2B websites like Alibaba.com, Tradekey.com, etc...

The arrested suspects operated by pretending to be legitimate suppliers on Alibaba.com. The arrests were made in the Putian, Chinese in April 2011, but were only disclosed on Wednesday at a news conference held by Alibaba and Hangzhou's public security bureau.

Buyers either did not get the products ordered while payments had been made to sellers or either they recieved totaly different or lower quality product. In past few years since online B2B marketplaces developed rapidly it had become a norm for buyers to get scammed.

As per the statement issued from Alibaba Hanzhou, the suspects used Alibaba.com and others websites to scam customers. Names of other websites has not been issued by Chinese police yet.

Alibaba took action against 36 suspects who were allegedly seen involved in fraud cases that had threatened to damage the reputation of Alibaba.com. In February, company took a bold step and revealed 2,326 suppliers on the alibaba.com website who had been engaged in scams against overseas buyers from 2009 to 2010. The fraud was so extensive that 100 sales people, along with several supervisors and sales managers were found responsible for allowing the crimes to evade detection.

Alibaba.com, and its parent company Alibaba Group, have sought to reassure customers of the site's safety. Alibaba.com's CEO and COO both resigned in response to the fraud cases, while employees involved with the fraud were terminated. Alibaba has also paid $1.94 million to compensate buyers who were victims on the fraud.

The 36 suspects, however, were only responsible for part of the fraudulent transactions committed on Alibaba.com, said Chan. The company has been assisting Chinese police to track down other suspects involved with e-commerce scams.

Following the disclosure of the fraud cases, Alibaba.com has taken new measures to prevent scams from taking place. Since February, the number of fraud complaints received monthly by Alibaba.com has declined 70 percent, according to the company.

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SingleFeed Acquired by Alibaba Co. Vendio Services, Inc.

Alibaba's Vendio Services Inc., a multi-channel e-commerce solution for small-to-medium sized businesses has acquired SingleFeed (singlefeed.com) a comparison shopping engine feed management and analytics company. SingleFeed enables top online merchants to submit, manage, and optimize product listings on more than 18 top comparison shopping engines starting from a single set of product details. The SingleFeed platform also provides powerful analytics that help merchants easily understand leads, sales and conversions.

SingleFeed strengthens Vendio's core mission of enabling merchants to sell to anyone, easily, by simplifying and enhancing their access to tens of millions of additional online shoppers. "For more than ten years, we have been growing with our merchants by helping them reach buyers wherever they are shopping," said Mike Effle, Vendio CEO. "We have expanded from our core eBay expertise to power Amazon marketplace sales and fully customizable, SEO-friendly free web stores that also integrate seamlessly within Facebook. SingleFeed's services not only expand the number of buyers our merchants can reach, but we were also particularly impressed by comments from existing customers who noted significant improvement in their businesses by leveraging SingleFeed's technology and expertise."

The comparison shopping engines drive between 15 and 40% of an online store's monthly visits, with three of the largest engines (Bing, Google Product Search, and The Find) offering cost free programs to merchants. SingleFeed takes a store's product data and delivers it to the shopping engines with minimal effort and works to improve shopping engine campaigns. Reporting analytics help merchants ensure budgets for paid shopping engines drive the maximum number of cost-effective sales and newly acquired customers.

Vendio will seamlessly integrate SingleFeed into its multi-channel e-commerce platform. Through this acquisition, SingleFeed's technology and services will also be offered to merchants using Auctiva, Vendio's sister company. In total, 250,000 Vendio and Auctiva merchants will be able to access SingleFeed through custom integration and take advantage of preferred pricing. SingleFeed will continue to operate as an independent brand and standalone service at the SingleFeed site, thereby ensuring existing customers and partners will not be disrupted in any way. Existing and new customers will benefit from additional investments to expand the SingleFeed services with additional enhancements such as new channels, improved analytics, and additional automation.

About Vendio Services, Inc., a division of Alibaba.com
Vendio, an Alibaba.com company (HKSE: 1688) (1688.HK), is a leading multi-channel e-commerce software solution that helps merchants sell wherever buyers are shopping. Vendio enables merchants to sell through online marketplaces, comparison shopping engines, a SEO-friendly web store and harness the power of social commerce, with an integrated app to sell on Facebook. Merchants use the Vendio platform to list products, and manage inventory, orders, and customers. Together with Alibaba.com and AliExpress (aliexpress.com), Vendio provides online merchants the ability to sell to anyone, anywhere. Alibaba.com makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business, forming a community of more than 65 million registered users in more than 240 countries and regions. Vendio alone has more than 90,000 merchants selling nearly $2 billion in merchandise. Vendio also operates Dealio (dealio.com), a shopping and coupons site for consumers. Alibaba.com has offices in more than 60 cities across Greater China, India, Japan, Korea, Europe and the United States, including Vendio's headquarters in San Mateo, CA.

About SingleFeed
SingleFeed helps online merchants succeed on more than 18 shopping engines by automatically delivering optimized data feeds to the highest quality shopping engines like Become, Google Product Search, Pricegrabber, and NexTag. Submit a single product data feed and SingleFeed will validate the feed, make automated corrections via hundreds of feed rules, spit back errors, suggest optimization opportunities, and also properly categorize all products for each of the shopping engines supported. SingleFeed only works with the top shopping engines to ensure merchants are getting the most qualified traffic. SingleFeed helps retailers save time and money getting up and running on the comparison shopping engines and maximizing their ROI. With affordable monthly service plans, SingleFeed is a cost effective solution for small and medium sized businesses.

The History & Milestones of Alibaba Group

Very good work of infographic about Alibaba Group progress in last 10 years on Penn-Olson.

Alibaba.com share sores 1-week high after Alipay progress

Shares of Alibaba.com Ltd (1688.HK), rose to a more than one-week high on Wednesday after Alibaba announced successful progress towards an agreement over the Alipay e-payment unit.

Alibaba Group China, Yahoo Inc USA (YHOO.O) and Softbank Corp Japan (9948.T) said on Wednesday that they had made "substantive and encouraging progress" toward an agreement over the Chinese company's Alipay e-payment unit.

Alibaba formed Chongqing Based Loan Company

Alibaba.com (1688.HK) with three other shareholders, Fuxing Group, Yintai Group, and Wanxiang Group has formed a small loan company in Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing, to grant loans of up to 500,000 yuan to internet firms in central and western China. Alibaba has a 70-percent stake in the firm while other three shareholders have 10-percent interests.

Alibaba says the loan firm will grant unguaranteed loans to micro, small, and medium firms.

The Shenzhen-based company formed a similar firm in Hangzhou in June 2010. The subsidiary loaned out three billion yuan worth to nearly 50,000 internet firms that year. As of May 2011, its bad debt ratio hit 1.94 percent.

Cheaper TrustPass by Alibaba.com

According to news Alibaba.com (1688.HK) is planning to release a basic version of its China TrustPass service from April 2, 2010 with a new price at RMB 1,688, or 40% of the package's current price tag.


Alibaba.com stated that this version of Trustpass will not include Winport 2.0, traffic analysis services and other value-added services. According to the report, existing China TrustPass users can choose to continue with the paid version or switch to the basic version, but new China TrustPass users may only opt for the basic version.

The company estimates the number of its paying users in China may double to about 1 million within two or three years, the report said.

Lets see what impact this price change caused on other B2B marketplaces. Last year in June when Alibaba had cut prices on its premium memberships, a sharp cut of prices from other B2B websites was observed.

More about Aliababa TrustPass:

• Alibaba.com Releases TrustPass Stats, Taobao GM Rumored To Resign
• Alibaba.com Launches New China TrustPass Product for China

Great Brands Of Tomorrow by Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse Research Institute recently released report "Great Brands of Tomorrow". The purpose of this report is to emphasis on how a company's brand can be one of the few true competitive advantages remaining in modern industry. The summary of the report is as follows.

 

Accordint to the report Credit Suisse analysts has identified 27 "Great Brands Of Tomorrow". They believe these sectors will significantly outperform the market over the next 3-5 years as they build and leverage brand equity to grow in size, scale and profitability.

 

Based on case study analyses of dozens of brand stories from the last century, framework of Credit Suisse report two filters to determine how and when to invest in brand stocks:

 

1. Identifying the industry and company specific conditions necessary for brand success; and
2. understanding the brand lifecycle and key entry and exit points from a shareholder perspective

Omar Saad, a director at Credit Suisse and a U.S. Branded Apparel & Footwear analyst said, "We believe a strong brand is one of the most powerful and sustainable advantages a company can have, but one that is often ignored by the financial markets. We believe brand stocks will continue to outperform the market, and our proprietary framework analyzes brand lifecycles to determine how and when to invest in brands for optimal returns."

 

The 27 "Great Brands of Tomorrow" include: Alibaba.com, Almarai, Amazon, Apple, BIM, Capitec, China Merchants Bank, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Enfamil, Facebook, Hyundai Motor, Indian Hotels, Julius Baer, Li Ning, Mahindra & Mahindra, MercadoLibre, Mercedes-Benz, Polo Ralph Lauren, Sonova Holding, Swatch, Tiffany & Co., Tingyi, Trader Joe's, Tsingtao Brewery, Under Armour, Uniqlo, and Yakult Honsha.

 

Key findings from the "Great Brands Of Tomorrow" report include:

 

# Strong brand companies have consistently generated out-sized long-term growth and returns for shareholders. One indication is that an equal-weighted stock index of companies spending at least 2% of sales on marketing outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 400 bps annually since 1997. The top quintile of those companies outperformed the market by 17% per year.

 

# Industry matters. Brands are relevant in many industries beyond traditional consumer sectors, but some are more "brand-friendly" than others. Brand power is strongest in industries where there is close proximity to the end-user (i.e. fewer steps between consumer and brand), there is ample room for product differentiation among competitors; and reputation plays an important role in consumers' purchasing decisions.

 

# Most brands follow a similar arc with five distinct stages: emerge, hit the wall, transform/proliferate, dominate and reinvent. Investing in companies that are transforming from niche player into a powerful brand that can be proliferated across new markets and categories offers investors extremely attractive returns, and is typically the phase in the brand lifecycle that generates the largest market value creation.

 

# Tough financial times are often the most opportunistic backdrops for great brand companies to solidify strong existing brands, as weaker competitors scale back and new entrants delay risky plans. Historically, brand stocks have massively outperformed by 1,800 bps in the 6 quarters following an economic slowdown. History looks set to repeat itself following the Great Recession of 2008-09, as brand stocks have already started to outperform (700 bps since March 2009).

Alibaba.com looking to offer India-specific content

After successfully registering 1 million members from India, Alibaba.com is looking to expand its presence in India further. The company has announced to launch customised content to fulfill the needs of Indian suppliers, buyers and traders. The changes might take place after the new lunar holidays in March 2010.

 

“In the next few weeks, Indian users of Alibaba would have access to content that is designed factoring in the local needs and culture. The users will get mailers on director market material and other mailers customised for India,” Mr Bharadwaj Pudipeddi, Sales Planner (Global Sales - Sales Programmes), of the company, told Business Line.

 

He added that Alibaba was gaining popularity among the small traders and SMEs. Last year, the membership in India doubled to 10 lakh (1 million) in just one year.

 

Among the Indian users, traders and businesses involved in minerals and metals received good response from their counterparts in China.

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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.