Tom Group sharpens China e-commerce focus after posting wider interim loss

Tom Group, the Chinese media conglomerate controlled by Li Ka-shing, plans to ratchet up investments in its rural e-commerce operation after reporting a wider net loss in the first six months of this year.

“Going forward, Tom Group will continue to streamline its cost ... and focus on the continuing growth of Ule in the second half of this year,” chairman Frank John Sixt said in the company’s filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday.

Ule, the e-commerce joint venture established by Tom and China Post in 2010, is benefiting from the mainland government’s policies on boosting rural income and stimulating rural consumption, according to Sixt.

Ule’s gross merchandise volume – the total amount of goods ordered through its retail platform – surged 327 per cent in the first half of this year to reach 28.2 billion yuan (HK$32.9 billion), up from 6.6 billion yuan in the same period last year, on the back of its rural e-commerce expansion.

Backed by China Post’s vast infrastructure, Ule continued to encourage more rural store owners and villagers to shop and trade through its network of online, offline and mobile retail channels.