http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29282407
Extract:
Shares in the company made their debut in the US at $92.70 (£57), after being priced at $68 late on Thursday. Alibaba operates a series of online marketplaces in China and elsewhere, handling more transactions than Amazon and eBay combined. It is responsible for more than 80% of online e-commerce in China.( BBC news, accessed Sept. 20th, 2014)
Taobao is the most famous part of Alibaba in China. People in China do know Taobao, the online shopping medium. Just in 11.11, 2013, Singles’ Day, Taobao created a grand record—the daily turnover researched to $8 billion( Dailymail by Simon Tomlinson 11 November 2013 ), which is about 50% the daily gross turnover of China. And this medium rebuilds Chinese people’s shopping styles.
And the Alipay, a third-party online payment platform of Alibaba, now embedded in our daily life. Consumers can use it to pay for bills, taxi payments, credit card, in-store purchase, etc. I use it at least 3 times a week.
As for the popularity of online shopping, e-commerce grows faster than any other field in China. Everyone wants to take a piece of cake in this market. And Alibaba also has many competitors, e.g. JD.COM, and dangling.com. But Taobao accounts for around 80%, legal monopoly in this field, referring to the chart in the Baidu Wenku. Why do consumers prefer to choose Taobao? Branding may be biggest factor; as for me, the first idea to buy something, is Taobao, branding for more choices and lower prices.
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“the daily turnover researched to $8 billion”