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SHANGHAI, Sept. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Dianping, China's leading local lifestyle platform, announced on September 21 that as of the end of August of 2012, the company's mobile apps had over 40 million unique users, a fourfold increase compared with the corresponding period of last year. Dianping (including Dianping.com and the mobile apps) had over 1.2 billion page views monthly, out of which, 60% were contributed by its mobile apps, whose monthly page views have exceeded those of the website. Growth in mobile apps has gone beyond the point of critical mass, driving application developers to reformulate their strategy in terms of the next round of product development.
Founded in April 2003, a year earlier than US-based Yelp, Dianping.com was the country's first platform to provide consumers with information and discounts on local lifestyle products and services, while providing local merchants with precision marketing solutions through the user generated content (UGC) model. With nine years of experience under its belt, Dianping.com has gathered a massive amount of data from the point of interest (POI) information provided by merchants and from consumer generated reviews, laying a solid foundation from which the company can consistently launch innovative products tailored the preference of individual users based on an analysis of user behavior. In 2009, with the emergence of smart mobile phones, Dianping expanded into the local lifestyle mobile app sector, introducing apps for both the iPhone and Android platforms. The company was among the one of the first to launch mobile apps in China.
Dianping's apps are the country's most popular among those in the local lifestyle field with their interactive platforms that provide merchant-supplied information on restaurants, boutiques, entertainment as well as leisure and lifestyle services along with discounts and consumer reviews. The results are customized each time a user accesses the app, based on the user's location at the moment of access and his or hers preference profile. Dianping's apps are easy-use, functional and fun to use, and the data are fully synchronized with information on Dianping.com. The apps have become must-have local lifestyle tools with their profiles on more than 1.5 million Chinese merchants in addition to more 20 million+ consumer-generated reviews across 2,300 cities across the country.
Dianping recently launched new version 5.0 and 5.1 mobile apps, the second one shortly after the first, in moves to continually address the evolving trends in what is being demanded in the local lifestyle sphere: helping users make decisions quickly, enabling direct communication among users and allowing fast and convenient interaction between merchants and their customers. The new versions of the apps come with reformulated interfaces based on trends in usage habits, personal preferences and geographic locations. Both new versions have enhanced the commonly used functions and significantly reduced unnecessary steps for users. Users can quickly obtain personalized local lifestyle information and services based on preferences and the cities they live in. Both versions are equipped with useful and convenient interactive functions that are also fun to use, including "the signing and message wall", "voice search", "let's paint" and "let's shake", all of which are proving popular with users. Both versions enable fast and convenient interaction between merchants and their clients. Functions such as mobile payment, rapid booking and electronic membership card are important follow-up breakthroughs available with the new apps.
Dianping CEO Tao Zhang believes that the mobile internet now plays a fundamental role in the local lifestyle sector. The driving purpose of local lifestyle consumption platform, viz. O2O, is to resolve the relationship between people and services, allowing individuals to conveniently and quickly enjoy off-line services through PCs and the mobile internet. The mobile internet is not simply another channel for O2O. Just as logistics is to e-commerce, the mobile internet is expected to develop as an integral and organic part of O2O, and to be the key driver to close the O2O loop.
About Dianping
Dianping is the leading local platform in China by offering local business search, user generated reviews, detailed business information, featured discounts, group buying and other merchant services through Dianping.com and mobile apps. Founded in April 2003, Dianping.com was one of the first websites to provide business reviews written by independent consumers in China. Powered by a large and growing user community, Dianping.com covers a full spectrum of local business content and reviews from restaurants, boutiques, to entertainment, leisure and lifestyle services. In addition, Dianping.com provides a one-stop targeted marketing solution for small and medium-sized businesses using electronic coupons, online advertising and group buying. To meet the growing demands of mobile users, Dianping has also expanded into the mobile app space and seen exponential growth in adoption and usage.
Dianping.com was founded by TaoZhang in 2003 and its founding team included Jason Li, BoZhang, ShuhongYe and Edward Long.
Key Statistics
As of Q2 of 2012, Dianping has more than 48 million monthly active users, over 20 million reviews, and more than 1.5 million local businesses covering approximately 2,300 cities across China.
As of Q2 of 2012, Dianping (including Dianping.com and Dianping mobile apps) has nearly one billion page views monthly, out of which, over 50% comes from mobile users. And mobile apps have more than 33 million unique users.
Dianping is headquartered in Shanghai, China, with established branch operations in 26 cities including Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Wuxi, Ningbo, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Jinan, Qingdao, Shenyang, Dalian, Changsha, Harbin, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Hefei, Changzhou, Foshan and Taiyuan.
Contact:
Chunmei Liao
Dianping.com
chunmei.liao@Dianping.com
+86-21-5355-9777 x2332
