In an effort to expand its presence in fast-growing Asian markets, Google will invest $550 million in Chinese e-commerce company, JD.com.

The investment has been described by both companies as one piece of a broader partnership that will include the promotion of JD.com’s products on Google’s shopping service.

This could help the U.S. internet giant battle rivals like Amazon.

It can also help JD.com establish a meaningful presence in U.S. and European markets.

Since China blocked Google’s main services over its refusal to censor search results in line with local news, company officials, say the agreement would initially not involve any major Google initiative in the Chinese market.

As part of the deal, Google will get 27.1 million newly issued JD.com Class A ordinary shares which according to a spokesman for JD.com will give them less than one percent stake in the company.

According to Jianwen Liao, JD.com’s chief strategy officer, “the partnership with Google opens up a broad range of possibilities to offer a superior retail experience to consumers throughout the world.”

The company officials mentioned that the deal, would marry Google’s market reach strength in analytics, with JD.com’s expertise in logistics and inventory management.

Report by: Clara Doku