Baidu Launches Shopping Search
Ebrun, 2/06/13
Chinese internet company Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) quietly launched a new subdomain (gouwu.baidu.com) for its new "Baidu Sousuo Gouwu" (literally, "Baidu Search Shopping") service today. The new shopping search site allows customers to search the Alibaba ecosystem (B2C and C2C site Taobao, B2C site TMall, and price-comparison site Etao), as well as 360Buy, Dangdang (NYSE: DANG), Amazon China, Tencent's (0700.HK) QQ Buy and 51Buy platforms, and consumer electronics and home appliances retailer Suning's (002024.SZ) B2C site Suning.com, as well as social shopping sites Mogujie and Meilishuo.
An industry source reported the launch of the new subdomain. Baidu has not yet added a link to the new subdomain from its homepage or products page, though search queries using the site's intelligent search box will result in product links appearing in search results. The site is designed and positioned similarly to Etao and other shopping search and navigation sites. Baidu released mobile clients for iOS and Android to accompany the launch of the web search.
According to the source, Baidu began beta operations of its shopping search in December 2012. The new site is now fully operational, and is seeking commercial partners.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "Baidu Launches Shopping Guide Web App" MD 1/25/13 issue, and "Update: Google China Shuts Down Shopping Search Service," MD 12/12/12 issue.
Keywords: e-commerce search Internet Baidu BIDU online search vertical search online shopping
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