
E-Commerce Evolution in China: Taobao's Triumphs, Trials, and Strategic Advancements
- 1 Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School 201 North Sprague Avenue, Kingston, PA, United States
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
In China's e-commerce landscape, this study delves into Taobao's successes, challenges and strategic solutions. The paper scrutinizes Taobao's major developmental turning points, including its evolution from a C2C model to a B2C model, the creation of the Double Eleven shopping festival and the live streaming model. These forward-looking strategic layouts enabled Taobao to stand out from the competition and gain a sizable market size and user base. At the same time, Taobao faced fierce competition from JD.com and Pinduoduo, and was challenged by fake products, trust issues, and endless price wars. Inspired by the Amazon Prime membership model, the study proposes a series of strategic solutions that advocate a shift from price competition to exclusive offers and personalized services. Through these strategic reforms, Taobao can jump out of the swamp of price wars and improve its competitiveness, profitability, and the potential impact of user loyalty in order to stay ahead of the fierce competition in China's e-commerce.
Keywords
E-commerce, Double Eleven Phenomenon, Promotion model
[1]. Alibaba, Taobao, accessed February 20, 2024, https://www.alibabagroup.com/en-US/about-alibaba-businesses-1492004895883001856.
[2]. Niklas Lücke, "E-commerce in China: Taobao Village Phenomenon and Its Contribution to Sustainable Development," in E-commerce in China: Taobao Village Phenomenon and Its Contribution to Sustainable Development (NOVA – School of Business and Economics, 2021), 2, excerpt from Nova School of Business and Economics, http://hdl.handle.net/10362/123731.
[3]. Le-Ran Guan and Kyung-Tae Kim, "Comparative Analysis on Corporate Strategy of B2C E-Commerce in China: The Cases of JD.Com and Tmall," Journal of International Trade and Commerce 14 (July 23, 2018): 5, accessed February 20, 2024, http://dx.doi.org/10.16980/jitc.14.1.201802.119.
[4]. Stock Analysis, accessed February 20, 2024, https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/baba/revenue/.
[5]. Xinhua He and Yongfu Cao, "Understanding High Saving Rate in China," China and World Economy 15, no. 1 (2007): 3, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-124x.2007.00049.x.
[6]. Elizabeth Utley, "15 Years of 11.11 at Alibaba: A Timeline," Alizila, last modified October 25, 2023, accessed February 20, 2024, https://www.alizila.com/15-years-11-11-alibaba-timeline/.
[7]. Arun Arora, "It's Showtime! How Live Commerce Is Transforming the Shopping Experience," McKinsey Digital, last modified July 21, 2021, accessed February 20, 2024, https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/its-showtime-how-live-commerce-is-transforming-the-shopping-experience.
[8]. "Stock Analysis," Stock Analysis, accessed February 20, 2024, https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/jd/revenue/.
[9]. "Annual Revenue of Pinduoduo Inc. from 2016 to 2022," Statista, accessed February 20, 2024, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030499/pinduoduo-annual-revenue/.
[10]. Jiuping Xu et al., Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Management Science and Engineering Management (Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 2015), 511-520, accessed February 20, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47241-5_43.
Cite this article
Lin,Z.(. (2024). E-Commerce Evolution in China: Taobao's Triumphs, Trials, and Strategic Advancements . Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences,80,337-344.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer/Publisher's Note
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.
About volume
Volume title: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Business and Policy Studies
© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who
publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this
series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published
version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial
publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and
during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See
Open access policy for details).