Qihoo 360's Strategic Expansion into the Healthcare Sector: Platform Development and E-commerce Initiatives

In the healthcare sector, Qihoo 360, a company specializing in cybersecurity and search, has been strategically positioning itself for quite some time. As early as 2013, Qihoo 360 launched 360 Liangyi, a vertical search engine dedicated to the medical and health field. Last year, 360 first partnered with Sinopharm Group to build an e-commerce platform, and subsequently established its own open pharmaceutical e-commerce platform. With the continuous improvement, upgrading, and refinement of 360’s healthcare platforms, its presence in the medical sector has deepened, and its service reach has gradually expanded.

From "360"Health" to "360"Medicine and Pharmaceuticals"

Recently, “360 Medicine,” the pharmaceutical e-commerce platform under Qihoo 360, has changed its domain name to www.360haoyao.com, with the original domain www.360jk.com now redirecting directly to the new one.

360 Medicine, formerly known as “360 Health,” officially launched last October. It is registered under Guangzhou Youyi Information Technology Co., Ltd., with Chen Hua, the former CEO of 111.com (Yi Yao Wang), serving as the company’s legal representative. In August 2015, Chen Hua left 111.com to join 360. As 360 Haoyao primarily focuses on pharmaceutical sales, this rebranding better aligns with the nature of its platform.

According to official information from 360, 360 Haoyao has completed its angel round of financing, and the website traffic reached one million visits on its launch day.

It is reported that 360 Haoyao adopts an open-platform model, with pharmaceutical e-commerce players such as Jianke.com, Kangaiduo, Laobaixing (603883) Online Pharmacy, Haoyaoshi, and Yifeng Grand Pharmacy already onboarded. Currently, the 360 Haoyao platform offers 18,000 products across categories including everyday medications, medical devices, health supplements and tonics, adult family planning products, contact lenses, “Health Plus” items, maternal and infant supplies, and personal care and beauty products. According to the 360 Haoyao app, its prices are 30% lower than those at offline pharmacies.

Partnering with Sinopharm to Build an E-Commerce Platform; Website Still Under Construction

Notably, in June 2015, Qihoo 360 and Sinopharm Guohua, a subsidiary of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), announced the signing of a cooperation agreement. The two parties agreed to jointly establish Beijing Wuse Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Wuse Technology”) to build a brand-new pharmaceutical e-commerce platform using internet-based thinking. At that time, the respective capital contributions and equity stakes were not disclosed.

VCBeat found through checking corporate registration information that the legal representative of Beijing Wuse Technology Co., Ltd. is Xu Guodong, who also serves as the legal representative of Sinopharm Guohua Network Technology Co., Ltd. It can thus be inferred that the controlling party of this company is likely Sinopharm Group. Previous reports indicated that 360 holds a 40% stake in Wuse Technology.

It is understood that the collaboration between the two parties aims to establish an online pharmaceutical sales platform with the most comprehensive product range, the largest inventory, and the highest safety standards. Sinopharm Group will provide the new company with the broadest possible resources and pharmaceutical categories to fully support the development of the e-commerce platform. 360 will assist in building the e-commerce transaction platform, ensure its operational and transactional security, and provide technical support including search, cloud computing, big data, and mobile app development, as well as various resources such as internet marketing and customer bases.

Public information indicates that Sinopharm Guohua is an internet company specializing in the internet healthcare sector. Headquartered in Beijing, it possesses substantial resources in healthcare, finance, and the internet. In February of last year, Sinopharm consolidated its e-commerce platforms and established “Sinopharm Health Network,” aggregating the e-commerce resources of its subsidiaries, including Sinopharm Co., Ltd., Sinopharm 1 Health, Sinopharm Grand Pharmacy, and Sinopharm Holding Guangzhou. According to VCBeat’s analysis, Sinopharm Guohua and 360 subsequently jointly established another pharmaceutical e-commerce platform, which is likely intended to support its own internet healthcare business and target consumer-to-consumer (C-end) markets. The Internet Drug Transaction Service Qualification Certificate displayed on the Sinopharm 360 website is numbered Su C20130002. According to the official website of the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), this certificate is held by Wuxi Huihua Qiangsheng Pharmaceutical Chain Co., Ltd.

It has been approximately nine months since the establishment of Guoyao 360. However, after VCBeat logged onto the Guoyao 360 website (http://www.guoyao360.com) and completed the cumbersome registration process, it was unable to retrieve any drug information, as the site indicated that it was still under construction. Scanning the QR code for the Taobao store displayed on the official website also resulted in a notification that the store did not exist. This suggests that the collaboration between the two parties may not have proceeded smoothly. VCBeat attempted to contact the relevant person in charge at Sinopharm Guohua for specific reasons but received no response.

360"Excellent Physicians Will Become a New Traffic Gateway"

As early as 2013, 360 began venturing into the pharmaceutical sector, launching its 360 Liangyi search engine under the subdomain ly.so.com. However, with continuous development over the years, it officially transitioned to the double-pinyin domain liangyi.com earlier this year.

This rebranding signifies that 360 Liangyi is no longer confined to search services but has expanded to offer a broader range of healthcare-related services. 360 Liangyi has been upgraded to “360 Liangyi Assistant,” which not only enables information searches but also facilitates online medication purchases, serving as a traffic gateway for existing pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms, including 360 Haoyao. Compared with Guoyao 360, 360 Haoyao is a fully open platform, aligning more closely with 360’s own open internet philosophy.

According to VCBeat, when users search for disease information on 360 Liangyi (360 Good Doctor), they receive comprehensive details covering symptoms, treatment options, and dietary precautions. The platform also features recommendations for renowned hospitals and leading specialists, categorized by region. When searching for hospitals, users can access information on hospital departments as well as profiles of medical experts. Furthermore, the right-hand side of the search results page on the 360 Liangyi search engine displays an aggregate of user reviews. If a website accumulates excessive negative feedback, the 360 Search Engine will delist it from its index.

According to the official website of 360 Good Doctor, the 360 Good Doctor Assistant offers three major functions: First, it facilitates network-wide dissemination of science popularization content generated by medical institutions and healthcare professionals. Second, through its professional practice assistant features, it helps medical institutions and healthcare professionals improve the efficiency and reach of their scientific and public education efforts. Third, it leverages big data to provide comprehensive data support for medical institutions, healthcare professionals, and government departments.