Toto expects to succeed where American B2C models have failed

Plugging the gap between its Taobao C2C offering and the Alibaba.com B2B services, Taobao has announced the launch of B2C services. It says it is already China's largest C2C service and will build on that lead by including products and services provided by major manufacturers and retailers.

Taobao General Manager Toto Sun suggest that "While American B2C models have failed to succeed in China, Taobao's model will make B2C a reality in China. Because we are simply connecting large sellers to consumers, rather than taking possession of the goods and serving as a middleman, we are offering a solution that will benefit both manufacturers and consumers in China.'

The company says it has already signed up Motorola, Nokia, Haier, Aigo, Lining, Adidas, Giordano, and UT Starcom too the service. Presumably, this B2C stream of activity is one of the things tow which Alibaba.com CEO Jack Ma was referring when he spoke a few weeks ago about beginning to focus on ways to monetize Taobao's huge audience. Currently, its C2C services are completely free, a strategy which has forced eBay's China business to drop transaction charges.