Internet giant Tencent is planning to buy a 15 percent stake in JD.com, a major direct sales company.

The $215 million deal will see JD taking over Tencent's business-to-consumer (b2c) and consumer to consumer (c2c)operations.

Tencent will offer JD level 1 access points at WeChat and Mobile QQ, two of the most popular communication mobile applications developed by Tencent, to boost the latter's growth in physical goods e-commerce, the statement said.

The two firms will also further ties in mobile applications and payment solutions, with JD being regarded as Tencent's preferred partner in certain business areas.

The move will preceed JD's $1.5 billion dollar initial public offering in New York.

The deal is a further move for Tencent towards direct competition with Alibaba, by far the most dominant player in Chinese e-commerce.

For more on this we are joined by Gao Shang, analyst with Guangtong Futures.