South Korea: JD.com to open an online marketplace

JD.com founder Richard Liu has announced South Korean entrepreneurs that, by listing their products on JD.com, their products will be available to the world, wsj.com reports. Unlike Alibaba, which operates online marketplaces that are also courting Korean sellers, JD.com’s main business model is closer to that of Amazon.com because it takes on inventory and sells them to its customers.

Mr. Liu talked up his company’s fight against counterfeit products, saying that, because JD.com worked directly with the brands themselves, it was able to offer a guarantee to its customers that all its goods are genuine. While Chinese consumers have been avid consumers of South Korean cosmetics, fashion, gadgets and food and health products, much of that consumption is still being done on shopping trips to Seoul.

Overseas consumers who try to buy goods directly on South Korean websites have been discouraged by the Korean government’s online security regulations, which require the use of Internet Explorer and the installation of various files, many of which require users to speak Korean and have a Korean bank account.