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"Chinese Internet giant Tencent is making a firm commitment to e-commerce today, with its announcement of a HK$1.5 billion ($195 million) investment in China South City today, a logistics and trade center operator. This hints that Tencent-owned WeChat, a wildly popular messaging service in the country, could see e-commerce becoming a larger part of its future -- given that\u00A0it has already taken a\u00A0huge step forward\u00A0in this aspect.\r\n\r\nTencent president Martin Lau says that as Chinese firms seek to expand their businesses online, teaming up with China South City allows the company to &amp;quot;jointly\u00A0facilitate such enterprises migrating online, utilizing China South City\u2019s physical locations and\u00A0logistics capabilities, together with Tencent\u2019s Internet user platforms and technology\u00A0capabilities.\u201D\r\n\r\nTencent's move comes as its rival, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, recently\u00A0invested $364 million\u00A0into electronics manufacturer\u00A0Haier Group, seeking to extend its logistics and delivery capacity.\u00A0\r\n\r\nRelated: Here's why a war has started between Chinese Internet giants Tencent and Alibaba\r\n\r\nThumbnail image via Faykwong / Flickr\u00A0"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/asia/2014/01/15/chinese-messaging-app-wechat-is-likely-to-get-an-e-commerce-boost-as-tencent-inks-logistics-deal/>