Pinterest China (aka Fa Xian) by Alibaba.com

Fa Xian is an addition to B2C website etao.com powered by Taobao - a B2C website from Chinese B2B Marketplace Alibaba.com. What made Fa Xian got the attention of news all over the world is its striking resemblance to Pinterest. As per one news from Reuters, the website is already attracting upto 60,000 unique visitors every day.

Pinterest is more like social bookmarking website and does not allow any sort of affiliate codes. On the other hand Alibaba on its ecommerce website has merged the concept of Pinterest by selling products while engaging visitors. All pinned products can be purchased.

Alibaba has taken this idea as an opportunity to capture more sales from Chinese market of young internet users who easily get admired to fun oriented.

Alibaba.com Reports Net Profit¹ of RMB339.2 million in Q1 2012

Continuous platform enhancements increase overall quality of the website

HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alibaba.com Limited (HKSE: 1688) (1688.HK), the world’s leading small business e-commerce company, today announced unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012. In the first quarter, Alibaba.com stepped up its efforts to upgrade the trustworthiness of suppliers and enhance the user experience. Although Alibaba.com reported a profit of RMB339.2 million (USD53.8 million), its financial growth slowed compared with previous years as a result of business model upgrades and the strategic shift in focus to the quality of the marketplace and buyer experience.
Excludes profit attributable to non-controlling interests. 

Q1 2012 Financial and Operational Highlights
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (UNAUDITED)		Q1 2011 RMB million		Q1 2012 RMB million		YoY Change		Q4 2011 RMB million		QoQ Change
Revenue		1,531.7		1,589.1		+3.7%		1,659.0		-4.2%
Earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (“EBITA”)		509.8		374.8		-26.5%		529.0		-29.1%
Profit attributable to equity owners		452.5		339.2		-25.0%		385.9		-12.1%
Share-based compensation expense		85.2		65.5		-23.1%		67.1		-2.4%
Deferred revenue and customer advances		4,210.2		4,285.3		+1.8%		4,423.1		-3.1%
Recurring free cash flow		158.6		19.2		-87.9%		957.7		-98.0%
EBITA margin (before share-based compensation) (%)		38.8%		27.7%		-11.1% pts		35.9%		-8.2%pts
Earnings per share, basic (HK$) (Notes 1 & 3)		10.6 cents		8.4 cents		-20.8%		9.4 cents		-10.6%
Earnings per share, diluted (HK$) (Notes 1 & 3)		10.5 cents		8.4 cents		-20.0%		9.4 cents		-10.6%

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS		March 31, 2011		March 31, 2012		YoY Change		December 31, 2011		QoQ Change		Q1 2012 Net change
Registered users		65,034,254		79,786,659		+22.7%		76,332,163		+4.5%		3,454,496
International marketplace		19,723,404		27,341,926		+38.6%		25,517,089		+7.2%		1,824,837
China marketplace		45,310,850		52,444,733		+15.7%		50,815,074		+3.2%		1,629,659
Storefronts		8,847,072		10,314,802		+16.6%		10,023,832		+2.9%		290,970
International marketplace		1,777,292		2,354,756		+32.5%		2,235,416		+5.3%		119,340
China marketplace		7,069,780		7,960,046		+12.6%		7,788,416		+2.2%		171,630
Paying members (Note 2)		832,469		753,955		-9.4%		765,363		-1.5%		-11,408
China Gold Supplier		116,454		87,544		-24.8%		99,005		-11.6%		-11,461
Global Gold Supplier		9,549		7,641		-20.0%		7,558		+1.1%		83
China TrustPass		706,466		658,770		-6.8%		658,800		+0.0%		-30

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."

Which One Is Better?

 



- Is why Alibaba still better than Tradekey?
- Is there any difference in sales pitching style between these two measure B2B plateforms?
- Can Alibaba understand Chinese peoples mentality batter than Tradekey?
- Why most of Chinese peoples preferred to go to the agent in China for Tradekey premium membership?
- Can anyone want to give answer the above questions?

Alibaba Group Launch Mobile Operating System (OS) In Q3

China’s top e-commerce group Alibaba Group is preparing to launch a mobile operating system in the third quarter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Is Alibaba unbeatable for their competitors?

The mobile operating system, to be developed by Alibaba’s cloud computing unit, will also provide mobile applications, the paper said quoting an unnamed source close to the matter.

An Alibaba Group spokesman declined to comment.

Chinese Internet firms have expanded their mobile presence by developing operating systems, games and applications to tap the high growth of the segment.

China’s top search engine Baidu is also developing its own mobile operating system based on Google’s Android platform, local media reported recently.

Is Tradekey & Alibaba Have Limited Buyers

Real buyers are the real problem of world's largest B2B portals, like Alibaba, Tradekey
There have lots of buyers are inactive. They are not using these portals for buy any product. It is the problem for sellers too, How to find real buyers.

36 suspects Arrested by China Polic Over Alibaba Fraud Case

China Police taken an brilliant action against the scammers.
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.