Taobao.com?may launch a B2C platform at the end of this year or early next year, a company official said.

Lu Zhaoxi, president of the country's largest online C2C shopping platform, said yesterday that the company will make adjustments to its online marketplace to confront other large online home appliance retailers including Amazon.cn and 360buy.com.

Lu said they will first consider 3C products (communication, computer and consumer electronics) and will follow up with cosmetics and books.

He said online shopping would be able to cover more customers after 3G technology becomes more popular on China's mainland.

Figures by iResearch show online shopping transactions reached 128.18 billion yuan (US$18.7 billion) in 2008, up 128.5 percent from the previous year, including 99.96 billion yuan traded at Alibaba subsidiary Taobao.com, the country's leading online shopping portal.