'We are not worried about the volume and quantity of this product, we will first focus on 2C user experience and 2B user services.'Īsked whether Tmall could launch its own e-reader, similar to Amazon, JD.Com, and Zhangyue products, Yu said a decision depends on how users respond to the service. Yu was unconcerned with user numbers on Tmall Books.

'In terms of user sharing, WeRead may be more advantageous because it links Wechat users but it does not matter, as this market is big enough to accommodate a lot of excellent apps.'

'One competitor with relatively large traffic and influence is Tencent Holding's WeRead with a similar positioning to Tmall Reading,' Yu added. 'More than one hundred million people buy books from every year, and these users are already accustomed to purchasing paper books on ,' he said, adding that e-books offer them a new option.Īlthough other competitors in the market may not benefit from Tmall's web traffic, there is still space in the sector for extra players, he said. Yu aims to leverage Tmall's vast web traffic to promote the service. The unit set out plans in January to establish a comprehensive infrastructure in the field. 'Tmall Reading will speed up the process of digitizing paper books, provide users with richer reading scenes, and allow users to obtain more high-quality content in a shorter time.' Alibaba Literature Chief Executive Yu Qian said at a press conference to mark the app's launch.Īlibaba Literature is the tech giant's keeper of intellectual property related to books. Online channels are the main driving force for growth, expanding by over one-quarter last year and dwarfing the 2.3% annual increase seen in physical bookstore sales.ĭifferent from Alibaba's Shuqi app which focuses on web-based novels, Tmall Reading aims to attract China's most avid readers, who are willing to pay premium fees for content. Tmall Reading, available for both iOS and Android handsets, will offer electronic versions of fiction and non-fiction titles covering a comprehensive range of categories as well as hardcopy books too, the Hangzhou-based firm said.Īlibaba, which already operates two more casual reading platforms, aims to benefit from China's growing retail market for books which hit CNY80.3 billion (USD12.5 billion) in revenue last year. (Yicai Global) June 13 - China's leading e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding has launched a dedicated reading app under its premium Tmall brand, part of an effort to develop the country's own version of Amazon's Kindle Store.

Kindle book store app