JOINING HANDS: Wanda Group Chairman Wang Jianlin (center), Baidu Inc. Chairman and CEO Robin Li Yanhong (left) and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Chairman and CEO Pony Ma Huateng celebrate the establishment of Wanda E-Commerce (CFP)

If you see a girl in a beautiful dress, you may be seized by the desire to instantly know where to buy it. It will soon be possible to make this dream a reality in a Wanda plaza, simply by taking a photo of the dress and matching the image online. Chancing upon a movie being advertised, you may wish to know its playing times and ticket prices. In one fell swoop from your cellphone app, you can view the showtime at local Wanda movie theaters, select your seat and complete your payment. These are just some of the innovative services to be provided by the newly established Wanda E-Commerce Co.

On August 29, Dalian Wanda Group Co., search engine Baidu Inc. and Internet service portal Tencent Holdings Ltd. announced at a signing ceremony in Shenzhen that they are to establish a joint venture, which will not deal in commodities, but sell services and create new online-to-offline (O2O) standards. The initial investment of the Hong Kong-registered Wanda E-Commerce Co. is 5 billion yuan ($815.66 million), with Wanda Group holding 70 percent of the shares and Baidu and Tencent each owning a 15-percent stake respectively, according to a joint statement released by the three companies.

The area of O2O marketing involves the use of online promotion to encourage the consumption of goods and services in traditional physical retail environments. The business model is popular among foreign companies such as Groupon.

"O2O represents the biggest slice of the pie in the e-commerce market. There is still no O2O platform which integrates online and offline services. I think all the companies in this industry should have an equal opportunity to thrive. Given that no large unifying platform currently exists for this sector, we are willing to establish such a facility," said Wang Jianlin, Chairman of Wanda Group.

Wang pointed out that while products such as books, skin care products and garments can easily be sold online, effectively selling services, such as catering, movies and other forms of entertainment, could potentially be an even bigger market.

Lasting partnership

"About half a year ago, Wang and I both recognized that such an opportunity would be quite good for us," said Robin Li Yanhong, Chairman and CEO of Baidu at the signing ceremony. According to him, China now has more than 600 million netizens, which has greatly boosted development of the mobile Internet. Such a trend necessitates that Internet companies be closely connected with the real economy. "To Wanda, Tencent and Baidu, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity," he said.

Pony Ma Huateng, Chairman and CEO of Tencent Holdings Ltd., said that in the past two years, he, Li and Wang have met several times and he found their talks to be mutually enlightening. "In the entertainment sector, we are the best in both online and offline businesses, with an individual sales volume of billions of yuan respectively. At present, online and offline entertainment sectors stand completely apart from one another. I believe there are great opportunities in this field, but it would be practically impossible for the online and offline to be connected solely through computers or mobile phones, so offline facilities are indispensable," Ma said.