In May it set up a unit to run its nascent e-commerce operations, preparing to take on established players like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and 360buy.com.
As Karma cofounder Lee Linden told me when I interviewed him at South By Southwest last year, Karma had built the back-end infrastructure for e-commerce operations.
It seems that although the companies have well-established e-commerce operations and sophisticated websites, people tend to shop for drugstore items and building materials by visiting physical locations.
High valuations for social networking and e-commerce companies are seen as out of whack with revenue growth figures and money losing or barely profitable operations.