Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., China's e-commerce giant, has launched a book-selling service through its B2C platform Tmall.com.

The new online service was opened on June 14, promising 1.3 million titles through more than 1,000 online booksellers that market their stores on the site.

Tmall will provide reference books, novels, and business-related books online, and its main customers are aged between 20 and 35.

Alibaba's new move puts it head-to-head with competitors including bookseller-turned e-commerce operator E-Commerce China Dangdang and the Chinese branch of Amazon.

Industry watchers said they were looking forward to witnessing some fierce competition, as the main players fight for their share of what is already a cut-throat online book marketplace in China.