Alliance of Tencent, JD could be a giant slayer

"It is clear that Tencent aims to build its WeChat into a super gateway in mobile Internet," said Lu Zhenwang, an independent Internet expert and the chief executive officer of the Shanghai-based Wanqing Consultancy.

"Its investment in both Didi Dache and Dianping has allowed Tencent to embed the two companies' applications into its WeChat platform, which can help Tencent tap into offline business and build up its status as a powerful mobile payment provider," Lu said.

"But to turn WeChat into a mobile e-commerce platform, no one can do a better job than JD," he added.

According to the Hangzhou-based China e-Business Research Center, Alibaba's Tmall accounted for 50.1 percent of China's business-to-consumer market in 2013, and JD ranked second, with 22.4 percent.

The combination of JD's more than 100 million users and WeChat's more than 600 million accounts makes an ideal mobile e-commerce team, analysts said.

"The move will not only shake Alibaba's No 1 position in e-commerce, but also its leading position in mobile payment," said Lu.

But Alibaba has time to fight back if it chooses its strategy properly, said Lu Jingyu, an analyst with iResearch Consulting Group.

According to Lu, JD will serve as a powerful catalyst to speed WeChat's transformation from a social tool to an e-commerce platform, but the effect won't kick in for another few years.

"To form a new habit for users take a long time. If Alibaba can make the right move, it can still change the situation. But the clock is certainly ticking," she said.

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