Chinese Search Giant Baidu reportedly has been testing a web application, Baidu Weigou. As part of the service, Baidu will display product information and prices from e-commerce sites (similar to that of Google Product Search) under the search box, based on the product queries entered by users. Clicking on these products will direct users to a “fast buying” channel on the same search results page. Users are able to place orders by simply leaving their mobile phone number, recipient name and delivery address. Currently only cash on delivery (COD) is supported.
According to our channel checks, the service currently only supports a limited number of products for transaction, such as the iPhone4S, Wu Liang Ye (a famous Chinese liquor brand), Dove Chocolate, etc. Meanwhile, fuzzy search queries (e.g. an input for “iPhone” instead of “iPhone4S”) do not seem to trigger the Weigou feature.
Although the service seems to offer a solution to purchase products more conveniently, the shopping experience is currently quite limited. Since no actual transactions are involved in the process, Baidu Weigou is far from a transaction platform for the time being. We believe Baidu is less likely to incorporate complex payment methods into the service in the future, as we view Baidu’s key value proposition as still remaining a traffic channel.
The fragmentation of search channels in the mobile internet environment has significantly affected Baidu’s performance in mobile search. As such, Baidu seems intent on driving users back to a browser environment by supporting web apps. We view Baidu’s efforts in web apps, such as the testing of Weigou, as yet to be proven.