Alibaba, through its Web services arm UCWeb, wants to give free Internet access to Indian consumers. (Photo : Getty Images)
In a strategic move, Alibaba put in an undisclosed amount into PlaceIQ, an American startup company based in New York.
PlaceIQ is a company that studies consumer behavior, specifically, they analyze what products people prefer, shopping frequency and location.
Co-founder and CEO Duncan McCall revealed that they already put in $25 million in investment at the beginning of the year and Alibaba's partnership is strategic to both companies.
"I don't want to speak for Alibaba, but in my mind, they didn't want to invest in a company--they wanted to find a strategic partner," McCall said.
PlaceIQ's method of analyzing consumer behavior does not only lock into the number of visits that a customer goes to a store. The company can also provide information on what ads they look at, TV stations that they watch and news articles that they read.
Alibaba can use this information in ads placement and understand their consumers better. The information that they get from PlaceIQ can also help them position their ads more effectively.
McCall said, "Location now becomes less about sales and marketing and more real technology making decisions and business insight where that becomes much more important."
"For us, our core value is in the data and technology. When we want to get into a new geography, let's find the market leader and deploy with them," he added.
The company was founded in 2010 and wanted to take "a proprietary understanding of the world," where they provide broader information on the consumer and not just identify his or her location.
PlaceIQ is also under negotiations with Publicis, a major advertising and media strategist company. They are specifically attractive to advertising companies because of PlaceIQ can provide information on how many times an ad is seen within a campaign period.
