Alibaba launches online group shopping in Hong Kong, Taiwan

E-commerce giant launches daily deals service in the markets amid the rise of aggregators

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Alibaba's Juhuasuan, which started in March 2010, remained the mainland's top group-shopping platform last year. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:00am, 9 Apr 2013Updated: 4:42am, 9 Apr 2013

Alibaba Group, the mainland's largest e-commerce services provider, has extended the reach of its market-leading daily deals group-shopping business into Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The company's two popular e-commerce operations, consumer-to-consumer online retail giant Taobao Marketplace and group-buying specialist Juhuasuan, jointly launched yesterday the Juhuasuan Overseas group-shopping platform for the two markets.

Its entry comes as the number of online daily deals players in Hong Kong has fallen, while so-called group-buying aggregators have become more in demand.

Aggregator Yahoo HK Deals, part of internet company Yahoo's local operations, surpassed Groupon Hong Kong last year to become the city's leading online group-shopping platform.

Aggregators consolidate information on available daily deals from other group-buying portals while online daily deals players arrange exclusive promotions.

Daphne Lee, the director of Taobao International Business, said Juhuasuan Overseas "will complement the online shopping experience at Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com for our more than two million registered users in Hong Kong and Taiwan".

Alibaba launches online group shopping in Hong Kong, Taiwan

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}E-commerce giant launches daily deals service in the markets amid the rise of aggregators

E-commerce giant launches daily deals service in the markets amid the rise of aggregators