China's e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Wednesday that it will buy a controlling stake in a Shanghai-based digital marketing firm to boost the development of the big data enabled marketing in the country.

Alibaba said in a statement that it will strategically invest in AdChina but didn't disclose the amount of the investment. AdChina is expected to cooperate with Alibaba's online marketing technology platform, Alimama, to provide services and data product to online media, business and third-party service provider.

There is strong synergy between the digital marketing platform of AdChina and the marketing and promotional business of Alimama. Wang Hua, head of Alimama, said the coordination will largely improve Alibaba's capability in terms of providing brand building and promotion services to all kinds of businesses.