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"Chinese B2C ecommerce site 360Buy managed $9.7 billion in transactions in 2012 and expects to surpass $16 billion this year as it aims to become profitable by the fourth quarter, according to The Mirror's\u00A0transcript of the CEO's annual address to employees.\r\n\r\nThe accomplishment is certainly a feat for the site, though it pales in comparison to Alibaba's $157 billion in sales volume during the first 11 months of 2012. Alibaba's numbers include its Alibaba, Tmall and Taobao properties, which span C2C, C2B and B2B transactions, respectively.\r\n\r\nMoving forward, 360Buy has established a financial service for its third-party suppliers. It also has a new deal with Nokia as an official reseller that's worth up to $320 million in devices this year.\r\n\r\nLogistics are one of 360Buy's core strengths. The company announced last year that it will open up its last-mile delivery service to third-party vendors and even competitors. 360Buy's infrastructure allows same-day ecommerce service in over 30 cities.\r\n\r\n360Buy is one of the few ecommerce players to be doing direct sales, which involves keeping inventory. By some estimates, it's the largest in its field with over 50 percent market share.\r\n\r\nAlibaba may be feeling pressure from the likes of 360Buy and other competitors. The company recently announced a restructuring that will divide the company into 25 separate departments with the goal of helping each division respond more quickly to threats from rivals.\r\n\r\nThe ecommerce space\u00A0got so heated\u00A0last year that the government even had to step in to resolve a highly-public price war. The stakes are high \u2013 it is the world's largest market, after all \u2013 and 360Buy is aiming to win one battle by becoming profitable this year.\r\n\r\nImage credit: Digital Vision."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/01/11/chinas-360buy-achieved-9-7b-in-sales-last-year-as-it-aims-to-reach-profitability-in-q4-2013/>