The Chinese tech giant is bolstering its online-to-offline presence with a near $1bn deal
Alibaba Group has agreed to invest in a 6bn yuan ($966m) joint venture with Ant Financial, an online finance platform, to create a combined channel for merchants with both an online and offline presence.
The venture, named Koubei, will be geared towards China’s local service markets, combining Ant Financial’s seamless payment systems with Alibaba’s e-commerce architecture and consumer base.
Rival Tencent is already pioneering the O2O segment through Dianping, a restaurant review site that also allows consumers to order food deliveries, which now has the lion’s share of China’s restaurant delivery segment.
Neither Alibaba nor Ant Financial gave specifics of the 50-50 venture, but it will likely include restaurant and food deliveries and possibly car hailing and taxi apps.
O2O services will enable not only give Koubei access to customers wallets, but will also provide rich data on consumer spending habits.