"Happy Taobao" to Develop Membership and Store System
21st Century Business Herald, 6/12/10
A month after the April 18 launch of HiTao, the e-commerce site launched by Happy Taobao - the joint venture between Hunan Satellite TV and Hangzhou-based B2C and C2C e-commerce company Taobao - transactions totaled RMB 120 mln, with average valid orders of RMB 4 mln per day, and average pageviews of more than 3 mln per day. According to Happy Taobao GM Wang Yulei, 500,000 products are now available on the site, mainly in general fashion categories such as cosmetics, clothing, 3C products, and designer furniture.
Under Hunan Satellite and Taobao's plans, Happy Taobao will derive revenue from technical support fees, website ads, and embedded television ads. Website ad revenues are currently minimal, Wang said: the site initially offered free partnerships with advertisers, and only began discussing advertisements this month.
Happy Taobao employs nearly 100 people: the website technology and backend support team is located in Hangzhou, while the team responsible for television production and marketing is located in Changsha. The division of responsibilities between the two teams is clear, said Happy Taobao Chairman Zhu Deqiang, but the two are still insufficiently integrated.
According to Wang, only 20-odd employees are from Taobao and Hunan Satellite TV, with the remainder coming from external hires. Wang said that Happy Taobao hired from outside its parent companies "for ease of integration, and in order to form a truly new company."
Zhu said that Happy Taobao is currently developing its own membership and store system, to be launched in late June or early July. Under Happy Taobao's plans, celebrity-related products, film and television production, group-purchasing services, and network convergence terminal technologies will create new forms of revenue for the company.
Keywords: Zhu Deqiang e-commerce Taobao Internet revenue television B2C Hunan Satellite TV Wang Yulei Happy Taobao HiTao Internet traffic HR JV
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