Recently, a big financing in mobile e-commerce has just been settled. Silicon Valley's C2C e-commerce platform Wish won $ 50 million in round C financing, Founders Fund, Monarch Capital, Formation 8, GGV Jiyuan Capital and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang participated in this round of financing.
Currently valued at $ 400 million, Wish is the largest mobile commerce app in North America with more than 31 million registered users in more than 50 countries, 50% of which come from the United States. Its business model is to make use of 15% of the turnover of merchants settled in the platform to earn revenue. Wish features a set of proprietary recommendation algorithms that recommend products that users may be interested in, based on the user's purchase on Wish, as a waterfall stream.
Jiyuan Capital led Wish in round B, which is also the first project invested by Ji Shih-yuan, the managing director of Ji-Yuan, after joining GGV. "I went to meet GGV with the Wish team in less than three weeks and decided to invest in them in just 20 minutes." Tung Shing told 21st Century Business Herald that Wish was only a photo-sharing app and that Child was in contact with them When it began to shift to mobile providers; and Tong Shihao before reading applications Flipboard, but also because they are doing business attempt.
Tong Shihao topped the Forbes Best Venture Capitalists list in 2013 with companies investing in: Xiaomi Technologies, Hi-Car, Vanke and Yunyu Holding. Tong Shihao said that the field of mobile e-commerce is now in the financing stage before the IPO, starting in 2015 there will be a number of mobile e-commerce to enter the market stage.
Why has the mobile e-commerce yet?
"21st Century": mobile e-commerce area, which model do you think the most promising?
Tong Shihao: E-commerce era PC model will first be copied to the mobile Internet. There are three major modes of e-commerce in the PC era. The first one is shopping guide. You do not touch the trades and you want to direct the traffic you want to buy to other websites. But this industry in the mobile field can grow to how much, I have a skeptical attitude, because the mobile Internet experience will not be the best, they can not form a closed-loop, but to go to other platforms to do the transaction, so the beautiful that mobile E-commerce is also from the original shopping guide to transform themselves into a platform.
The second is the Marketplace, the first is Taobao this model, but Taobao do not charge transaction fees, only charge advertising, the disadvantage is that Taobao second is difficult to manage, there will be the risk of transactions under the table; and Lynx, Lotte and EBAY Are also Marketplace, direct access to brand manufacturers to enter, but the transaction fees collected.
The third model is like Jingdong, Amazon, own carry their own goods, after the larger also provide a platform for third-party brand manufacturers settled in this there is a certain market in the world. However, this drawback is the need for funds, the problem of goods sold out.
Among them, the commission-based trading model is the most easily globalized, access to more users and the price can be sold higher. And the risk is minimal, but the premise is that you have experience in managing businesses to address business credibility issues, and to control the needs of users accurate.
Chinese companies use these three models to overseas development five years ago to do nothing, but now Taobao to bring the value chain, there are enough reputable businesses, this is our chance to do business across the country.
If it is the mobile Internet innovation model, then based on location will help some new e-commerce model appears to sell goods and services and other models have some prospects.
"21st Century": Why China has not yet seen a mature mobile e-commerce?
Tong Shihao: Because this area has just begun, the beginning of the mobile Internet should be information applications, and then to entertainment, social networking and other services. Now is the time when mobile providers start up. In the next two to three years, you will see many mobile e-commerce companies developing. This is not only the industry needs to accumulate, and for the user, the contact with a new platform needs to start with a light service, mobile e-commerce is a high threshold thing, the user habits also need to accumulate.
Now that there are 1 billion smartphones in the United States alone with China, this market is big enough, as long as the things you do right are growing fast. Two or three years ago, many people could not understand mobile games, and now they do not have to question the market anymore.
"21st Century": Several major domestic electric giants are moving to move, how do you see this competitive landscape?
Tong Shihao: WeChat currently with 58 city and public comments cooperation, more and more elements of O2O in it, I think O2O is definitely the direction of WeChat, you can buy some of the above services and goods, this move is actually not the same with Jingdong Actually, I think the cooperation between WeChat and JD.com may not be able to succeed because weChat will be a consumer that is more integrated with local information.
Taobao's mobile terminal or selling goods, the PC mode to move the phone, which also has the market. Ali Express, a foreign company of the same type, is growing fast on the mobile side, especially in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South East America, so Taobao does not have to make too many changes and has good opportunities. These two are the best done.
Jingdong sell their own things, but also as a platform, I think he will go to India or the next big market there is a chance, because the local molding company, the smaller companies will be willing to cooperate with him to make their own scale .
The millet is to do their own brand, selling mobile phones and other hardware, and now some partners around the millet also began to paste the brand, millet will go through millet phone and mi.com.
Mobile e-commerce opportunities
"21st Century": As an investor, the current mobile e-commerce opportunities?
Tong Shihao: I think in the PC era beyond Taobao really very difficult, because basically the market of each country is separate, Lotte to this side does not work, Taobao did a variety of different attempts to other countries is not easy, the main Because users do not want to accept foreign sites.
But it's not the same on the move, there are a variety of country versions, quick to see user reviews through the app store or Google Play, new users to accept you, this is in the PC era can not happen, because the PC is difficult Find a place to say what kind of rating this product has elsewhere.
On the mobile side I have seen companies that make brand e-commerce, companies that have also seen the trading platform, and companies that are more or less platform-based. Because this is the mobile e-commerce just got up, although the future is not a brand e-commerce opportunities, but the current opportunity is not great.
In the future, mobile shopping, local services, remote consumption, and even ticking a taxi, fast taxi this way of delivery touch together into an industrial chain, I think there are various opportunities exist, not just the trading platform only.
"21st Century": Mobile e-commerce for entrepreneurs what are the chances?
Tong Shihao: PC era logistics opportunities are not so big, but in the mobile age because more international, cross-border stock purchase, third-party logistics services may be generated; the RMB has not yet been global circulation, how to pay with There are also some opportunities for overseas docking. In addition, there are always some transfers of funds during cross-border trade. Microfinance may also have new opportunities.
These are the real era of PC did not succeed, I think the next 10 years based on the internationalization of mobile e-commerce, entrepreneurs can do these services together.
It is noteworthy that the era of mobile Internet, the community economy will be a big opportunity, how to maximize the shopping experience within five kilometers, so that users feel shopping more convenient, faster delivery, timely, these are opportunities. While spending in different places, I see some data on Taobao, specialty sales in each place is the largest sales of similar products, and in various places to buy specialty sent to a friend, this demand is an impromptu demand, through mobile This service can be done at the extreme. So I think there are many things the future can do mobile, PC can not do.
(Ji Jiapeng)