Aibang Seeks New Round of Funding
Sina Tech, 11/21/12
Chinese local search service Aibang is currently seeking a new round of funding. According to COO Ma Haiping, Aibang has undergone major corporate restructuring since March as part of new three-stage strategy, which first calls for layoffs of nearly half its workforce; second, increasing traffic monetization by 300%; and third, focusing on growth areas such as its new "Aibang Quanwangtong" m-commerce product and abandoning its costly group buy business.
Aibang's revenue is primarily from three areas, according to Ma: first, revenue generated by traffic from Aibang's ad union partners; second, keyword search advertising revenue, including from keyword rankings, and relevant display ads and store ads; and third, Quanwangtong, Aibang's newest and fastest growing business, which generates revenue from one-stop marketing services and pay-for-performance fees from participating merchants.
Aibang opened its group buy platform in April, transforming it from a self-operated group buy service to a group buy search platform and consequently from a cost center to a profit generator.
Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, please see "Aibang Achieves Overall Profitability," MD 10/22/12 and "Aibang Launches New Mobile Marketing App," MD 10/24/12 issues.
Keywords: corporate restructuring m-commerce Internet local search funding Aibang Ma Haiping ad union search advertising P4P online search group buying display advertising HR
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