X
Business

Microsoft opens China online store on Tmall

Software giant is ramping up its online retail presence in China by launching an online store on the country's largest business-to-consumer Web site.
Written by Kevin Kwang, Contributor

Microsoft has launched another online store, this time hosted on Alibaba's Tmall.com, to increase its push to win over Chinese consumers who are embracing purchasing products and services online.

The People's Daily reported Wednesday the software giant had unveiled its Microsoftstore.tmall.com on China's largest business-to-consumer (B2C) Web site, and this follows up on the opening of its Microsoft Online Store in China last October.

Kevin Eagan, vice president of e-commerce for Microsoft Retail Stores, said in the report: "Microsoft sees great potential in China's e-commerce market. Through our joint efforts with Tmall.com, customers have a trusted and secure shopping experience of Microsoft and other complementary products such as Surface, Office, Windows PCs, Windows Phones and accessories."

He added that unlike many companies which treat China as an afterthought in that products will only be launched some time after their introduction, Redmond is taking a more "China-first" approach.
The U.S. software vendor's efforts to increase its retail presence in China is not surprising given the government's push to expand its e-commerce sector. In its E-commerce 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) report, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it hoped to drive the value of online shopping to 18 trillion yuan (US$2.86 trillion) in two years' time.

Editorial standards