Google buys a ‘selling space’ in China for $1 million

Chinese media report that Google is planning to enter China’s ecommerce market with the purchase of a domain to be used as a C2C platform. Google reportedly bought the domain Baobei.com for $1 million and is expected to go live with the C2C site within the next few months.

The new move of Google is the company’s first entry into Chinese ecommerce market which will likely pose it in a direct competition against Alibaba’s C2C-industry-leader Taobao.com and Baidu’s newer Youa.

Earlier main Chinese ecommerce players announced about their plans to oppose the decrease in online purchases under the impact of the current economy environment. Thus, Alibaba.com announced that it will provide low-interest loans to registered SMEs through a partnership with eight banks across the country. Baidu in turn expanded its auction platform to include Japanese sellers.