Tmall to Launch Online Bookstore This Week, Promises 60 Million Titles

China’s biggest e-commerce site, Tmall, is set to offer a new line of products this week: books. The online bookstore within Tmall is reportedly due to open on Thursday (June 14th) and will stock 60 million titles from 50 domestic and international publishers. Plus, in line with the shopping site being an open platform for other e-tailers, it’ll also feature books from 20 other B2C e-commerce sites. The upcoming frontpage is pictured above in a promotional image.

This will upset major sites such as 360Buy and Dangdang (NYSE:DANG), which have long specialized in selling physical books. It’s not clear if either of those rivals will partner with Tmall for its new vertical – but it’s unlikely that they will, with perhaps only smaller booksellers opting to open such a store-within-a-store.

One differentiator on the Tmall online bookstore is that the company will not hold any books in inventory, and the publishers and e-tailing platforms will mail the items direct to buyers. This might avert a books-oriented price war from happening – as we saw last year between 360Buy and Dangdang themselves – since the company is not in direct control of prices. But some large rivals might opt for a price-cutting strategy so as to undermine Tmall’s new offerings.

Sina Tech is also reporting that Tmall will get some exclusive early book launches.

Look out for the new portal going live on book.tmall.com (currently blank) on Thursday.

[Source: Sina Tech news – article in Chinese]