[Hong Kong, 10 May 2016] Smartac Group China Holdings Limited ("Smartac Group" or the "Company", together with its subsidiaries, the "Group", stock code: 395) took a great leap forward in its cross-border shopping business. On 9 May 2016, Haihai Travel Cloud Limited ("Haihai Travel"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Ctrip Financial Services (Hong Kong) Limited ("Ctrip FS"), a subsidiary of Ctrip.com International Limited ("Ctrip"), the leading online travel agent (OTA),in relation to the business cooperation of cross-border tourists shopping between the "Global Shopping" platform of Ctrip and the "Shopper Connect" platform of Haihai Travel. Ctrip FS and Haihai Travel shall be sharing their respective resources on clients, retailers, products and services, internet platforms and technologies in order to jointly improve and develop the cross-border tourist shopping platforms for tourists.
Ctrip is one of the fastest growing OTA and is widely adopted by PRC citizens for making reservations of tickets and accommodations for domestic and overseas travel. Smartac Group, a leading O2O smart retail solutions provider and a smart city e-commerce operator, is now committed to expand its O2O solutions to cloud services for the tourist industry in the PRC and overseas. The cooperation will create great synergy by combining the huge customer base of Ctrip and the O2O mobile internet service of the Group, to better cover the Chinese travellers and to serve their cross-border shopping needs.
The "Global Shopping" platform of Ctrip was launched in August 2014. Different from traditional online shopping, the platform provides convenient shopping experience by offering value-added services such as shopping information, discounts and VIP services to outbound customers and facilitating a one-stop shopping experience in local shops at the destination. Catering the needs of the Chinese young generation, the platform brought in many famous foreign merchants and brands, and successfully attracted a group of loyal young customers.
The "Shopper Connect" platform is the key project of HaiHai Travel, which was launched in early 2016. The platform connects the tourists and overseas merchants with various intelligent technologies and services , such as NFC map, POS terminals and backend systems, Wi-Fi hotspots, iBeacon, smart kiosk and smart robot, to provide comprehensive and seamless cross-border shopping experience to Chinese travellers and satisfy their different needs.
The Group expects that the cooperation will cover the integration of various features of "Shopper Connect" platform, to provide full-featured products and services with excellent users experience for overseas business operators and cross-border tourists via internet, and mobile internet.
Mr. Yang Zhen, the Executive Director of Smartac Group expressed enthusiasm towards this cooperation and said, "China has huge demand for outbound travel. According to the information center of China National Tourism Administration, the number of domestic travellers and outbound travellers ranked the first in the world, as well as the expenditure on domestic travel and outbound travel. In 2015, the number of outbound travellers from China reached 120 million (Note 1). According to The World Travel & Tourism Council's report, outbound tourism expenditure from China reached US$215 billion (approximately HK$1,670 billion) (Note 2) in 2015. China Tourism Academy expected that the number of Chinese travellers in 2020 will exceed 200 million (Note 3), showing the great consumption potential of Chinese travellers. Targeting at the huge market of Chinese outbound tourism expenditure, the Group expects to develop a platform of cross-border shopping with Ctrip, with our advantages in mobile internet services and information technology, to explore the huge market potential."
Note 1: http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2016-01/04/content_5030593.htm
Note 2: http://www.wttc.org/press-room/press-releases/press-releases/2016/chinese-outbound-
travel-continues-to-soar-but-inbound-potential-remains-untapped/
Note 3: http://you.ctrip.com/news/list-ctrip/20485.html
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About Smartac Group China Holdings Limited
The Company was listed on the main board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited in 2002, and has completed an acquisition of the mobile Internet and wireless technology business on 26 November 2013. Currently, the Company is principally engaged in (i) providing O2O solutions by combining wireless technology and social network platforms; and (ii) software development. Currently, the Group is principally engaged in the operation of big data for location-based retailing to assist traditional industries in transitioning to a brand new mobile internet era.
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