UCWeb is a subsidiary of the Chinese giant Alibaba Group. The firm is gaining huge popularity in India. Thus, UCWeb plans to launch an e-commerce service in the country in the coming months.
The firm’s spokesperson said the firm plans to build an e-commerce service around content platforms in India. However, the firm has no intention to compete with existing e-commerce businesses in the country.
UCWeb is best known for its popular mobile browser UC Browser. It now would leverage its extensive user communities in India, to build the e-commerce business.
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With this new service, the firm aims to enrich the experience for users and clients alike, as it is in line with its strategy.
UCWeb popularity in India
UC Browser is used by more than 430 million users worldwide. Besides, it counts India as one of its key markets where it has over 130 million users.
Thus, UC Browser commanded over 23% of the mobile browser market share in India. It lags only behind Google Chrome, whose market share has ballooned in recent years to 63%.
Besides, UC Browser remains among the top 15 apps in India based on the number of downloads through Google Play Store.
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In recent years, UCWeb has bulked up UC Browser to expand its offering beyond mobile browsing. Today it works with over 120,000 bloggers and more than 700 media outlets to produce content that it then serves to UC Browser users.
Moreover, UCWeb has launched a number of apps in recent quarters that are aimed at users who are trying to download videos from the web. One of them is Vmate, a UCWeb-owned app that offers that function.
For the upcoming e-commerce project, the platform would partner with existing players, according to the firm’s Vice President. Alibaba owns about 30% of payments and e-commerce firm Paytm.
