CBSi Acquires Three Vertical Websites
Sina Tech, 1/14/11
CBSi Consumer Group, which operates Chinese IT products portal ZOL (www.zol.com.cn), recently completed acquisitions of three vertical marketing websites: fashion and cosmetics site Haibao.cn, cosmetics and beauty products site Kimiss.com, and dream interpretation site 51jiemeng.com. The three sites, along with existing CBSi property OnlyLady.com, will form the backbone of CBSi's women's vertical marketing group. OnlyLady.com GM Tang Hairong will lead the group of sites.
CBSi China president Wang Lu commented that with regards to its vertical marketing capabilities, the company is well positioned within the IT field, but lacks resources in the automotive and women's fashion domains. With the overheated automotive market driving up the price of acquisitions, CBSi has decided to restrict acquisitions to the women's fashion arena.
Previously, CBSi's properties in the women's fashion domain consisted of OnlyLady.com and 55bbs.com. Following the acquisition of the three new sites, 55bbs.com will be split off and paired with kdslife.com to form CBSi's fourth group, targeted at regional consumers.
An industry source has revealed that CBSi's revenue target for each of the women's fashion group sites has been set at RMB 100 mln. Wang explained that this target applies not only to sites in CBSi's women's fashion group, but also to each of CBSi's other subsidiary sites. Rival vertical portals PConline.com.cn and autohome.com.cn have both already exceeded this figure, suggesting it is a realistic target for CBSi's sites as well.
Wang also revealed that in the future, the women's fashion sites will push to integrate consumer product information and e-commerce. CBSi is still considering whether to directly invest in e-commerce sites, or pursue this integration through partnerships.
Since entering the Chinese market in 2004, CBSi has acquired more than 20 Chinese websites in the fields of women's lifestyle and fashion, automotive, regional consumer marketing and other areas.
Keywords: vertical portal Haibao Kimiss 51jiemeng Tang Hairong 55bbs Wang Lu Internet lifestyle revenue target PConline ZOL Autohome OnlyLady KdsLife CBSi automobile female M&A
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