Taobao began to test the water of the B2C shopping platform "Taobao Mall"

Xinhua News Agency, Chongqing, April 14th (reporter Huang Huo) - Asia's largest online retail marketplace, Taobao, recently announced its foray into the B2C shopping platform: Taobao Mall. The mall aims to create a 24-hour never-closing shopping center where consumers can enjoy services such as unconditional returns within seven days.

Taobao Mall General Manager Huang Ruo stated that Taobao will use its B2C business to build a "24-hour non-stop Walmart." However, "Our goal is not only to provide a wide range of products like Walmart but also to focus on offering better services to meet higher consumer demands."

Previously, consumers always had various concerns about online shopping. Some worried about counterfeit goods, others about lack of after-sales service, and still others felt that the items sold online were different from those in physical stores. While these issues may have existed in the past, today Taobao Mall has completely transformed this situation, creating a 365 days x 24 hours never-closing shopping mall.

All goods purchased by consumers on Taobao Mall are genuine factory products. This is because all sellers on Taobao Mall undergo Taobao’s review process before joining. These sellers fall into two categories: manufacturers and authorized provincial-level or above distributors. At the same time, sellers sign a service contract to join Taobao’s new platform, ensuring that all their products are genuine factory goods. If any seller engages in counterfeiting, Taobao Mall has the right to terminate services and remove the seller from the mall. Goods purchased on Taobao Mall, just like those bought in large malls, come with the manufacturer's after-sales service. For example, all digital products enjoy nationwide warranty services from the brand manufacturer. Goods with anti-counterfeiting labels can be verified to ensure they are authentic and legitimate. With these guarantees in place, consumers can shop with confidence.

Currently, Taobao is already Asia's largest online shopping platform, with total transaction volumes exceeding 40 billion yuan in 2007. In the first quarter of 2008, transaction volumes surpassed 18.8 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year growth of 170%. This figure is close to Walmart China's total transaction volume for 2007—21.3 billion yuan. Every day, Taobao attracts 10 million visitors. The launch of the newly revamped Taobao Mall represents a new exploration of online marketing models for branded manufacturers and is undoubtedly good news for more than 200 million internet users in China. (End)