Wanda broadens horizon to e-commerce

A mobile app poster for Wanhui, a website operated by Dalian Wanda Group Co Ltd, at a shopping plaza in Zhengzhou, Henan province. Wanda has ambitions to build an online-to-offline business empire in China. Provided to China Daily

Conglomerate eyeing tie-ups with others firms to tap potential in the industry

After entrenching its position in shopping plazas, movie-theater chains, five-star hotels and resorts, Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Co Ltd has now set its eyes on e-commerce with an ambitious plan to use its offline dominance in online business.

Wang Jianlin, founder and chairman of Wanda Group, said in a company meeting that his company will team up with several leading e-commerce players in China to set up an e-commerce company with an initial investment of 5 billion yuan ($806 million).

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Wang, the richest man on the Chinese mainland, said that Wanda will spare no effort to develop e-commerce as its fifth "pillar industry" by 2020 after real estate, cultural tourism, finance and retail.

"In a couple of years, Wanda is expected to have nearly 200 shopping plazas, more than 100 hotels and eight to 10 resorts. Billions of visits are expected to be made to these places by consumers every year," said the 59-year-old with an estimated net wealth of $14.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

According to Wang's speech, which was made public by Wanda's official account on Sina Weibo - the Chinese version of Twitter - on Thursday, Wanda's e-commerce goal is to set up a business model that can make profits within three years. "Our goal is to make e-commerce a business that can bring in real money," he said.

He didn't specify how Wanda would develop its e-commerce business, but said that just like Tencent Holdings Ltd is known for WeChat, a popular instant messaging service and Baidu Inc is known for its search engine, consumers should immediately think of Wanda when it comes to online-to-offline business.

Facing the challenges brought by China's booming online shopping market, many brick-and-mortar store operators have made efforts to become Web-savvy. Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd, China's leading electrical appliances retailer with about 1,600 stores across the country, has launched its own online platform to ride the e-commerce wave.