According to a research by ebrun.com, one of the biggest Chinese E-Commerce social media, 47.8% respondents said their websites net profit dropped in the first half of 2013, and websites with decrease of paid members occupied 52.1%.
52.1% respondents said revenue increased compared to last year in the first half of 2013, 30.4% said revenue dropped and 17.3% said revenue remained the same as last year; however, as for net profit, only 39.1% reported an increase in the first half of 2013, 47.8% suffered decreasing net profit, 13% said net profit remained the same.
The main income of B2B websites comes from membership fee and advertising. with 56.5% and 69.5%. Besides, 30.4% respondents said commission gradually became one of the main sources. Other income sources include loans to wholesalers and value added services.
Another research discovered that the business model built on membership fee an advertising were facing challenges. 52.1% said membership fee dropped, and 43.4% said their membership fee increased. Reasons for the drop include: Wholesalers were unsatisfied with these B2B websites services; Alibaba, HC360 and Global Sources occupied a great part of market share (34.7%); Baidu and Google search engines “stole” a lot of customers.