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The Mystery of Wanda's Failure in E-Commerce
Article

The Mystery of Wanda's Failure in E-Commerce

Tencent, 2017

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8

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Recommendation

Five years after entering the e-commerce business in 2012, Chinese multi-industry conglomerate Wanda has yet to produce a successful Internet product. Sun Hongchao of Tencent’s Deep Internet news team investigates the reasons. Wanda’s corporate structure and management, he concludes, was too stiff and lacked the dynamics modern Internet products require. China’s tech scene continues to wait for Wanda’s “arrival,” but judging from Sun’s analysis, they may be waiting in vain. getAbstract recommends this article to business managers and analysts.

Summary

Dalian Wanda Group, the world’s largest movie theater operator and China’s biggest real estate developer, began expanding into e-commerce in 2012. The rise of online shopping hurt Wanda’s brick-and-mortar retail businesses, including Wanda malls and department stores. At the same time, Wanda’s real estate business and other capital-heavy businesses plateaued. CEO Wang Jianlin saw the need to expand into other sectors. As he was on the lookout for opportunities of expansion and diversification, online retail’s high traffic and abundant cash flows caught his attention. Wanda’s wide consumer reach and existing resources seemed to give the company an edge in converting offline customers to online ones.

However, Wanda didn’...

About the Author

Sun Hongchao is a reporter on Tencent’s Deep Internet news team, which provides in-depth analysis of tech companies and trends.