Taobao, the internet shopping portal for B2B e-commerce group Alibaba has announced that they will launch a short message-based price comparison service.
The new service will allow mobile phone users to inquire about products available on Taobao, when they are shopping in traditional stores. By sending a simple short message, the service will text you the price range from the Taobao site, giving users a price comparison tool.
The price for these messages are the same of general text messages, depending on the specific plan for the user, and no extra service charge is required. The new service is currently available for China Mobile’s mobile phone users, with exceptions for those in Henan, Hebei, Shandong, and Ningxia. No similar service is launched for users of China Unicom or China Telecom.
This service is an excellent idea, you probably have had the experience being in a shopping mall (or market) and thinking what the online price of that mobile phone, USB key or plasma would be. I wonder if there are other trading sites that provide the same, I couldn’t find one. If anybody has some time, please build one for eBay.
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