From Shanghai Daily (link):
TWO e-commerce stalwarts in China are switching to high gear in venturing into “business selling to consumer,” or B2C, to snare a bigger market share from the nation’s lucrative cyber-pie dominated by millions of individual buyers and sellers.
Alibaba.com, the world’s largest online wholesale marketplace, launched its new B2C model for its Taobao.com portal yesterday, which it claimed would “revolutionize” the much-touted e-commerce model of Amazon.com.
Amazon.com is a US-based online bookstore which grew to become the world’s largest online shopping site.
Taobao wants to get more manufacturers and their authorized dealers to set up stores on its portal, which it said will help shorten the supply chain, thereby increasing profits for sellers.