E-commerce and social media giants tie up with Bitauto

Tencent and JD.com have invested in an auto marketing business

China's second largest e-commerce platform and the owner of popular messaging software app WeChat have entered into a strategic partnership with Bitauto, a leading content marketing and online solutions provider for China's fast-growing automotive market.

Bitauto provides a host of services including digital advertising, consumer reviews, content marketing, sales data, promotional information, pricing, specifications and integrated online-to-offline solutions.

In particular, Bitauto helps dealerships create online showrooms that enable dealerships to quickly host their inventory online. Once listed, Bitauto also furnishes dealerships with online customer relationship management (CRM) software to manage orders and inquiries.

For lubes marketers, online-to-offline management is particularly important, as combining technical information that also leads customers to a point of sale could be highly effective.

The deal, which will see the two online giants invest around $1.3bn in the marketing platform, will be parked into Bitauto's YiXin capital in preferred shares and cash. Tencent and JD.com's investment also reflects a growing trend of Chinese internet companies to diversify their offerings beyond their core activities.