Consumer China

E-commerce

  • Published 12 Nov 2009

Online retailers are experiencing a recent boom thanks to price sensitive Chinese consumers and improved third-party payment logistics.

If you can't get to the shops, then the shops must come to you. And even if you can get to the shops, go home and buy things cheaper online. The convenience and savings that online retailing offer are really striking a chord in China. Transaction volumes of online retail in the country reached Rmb 128.2bn ($18.8bn, €12.5bn, £11.3bn) last year, up 129% from 2007 according to iResearch, a Chinese internet research company. Although growth figures have levelled off somewhat this year, they remain enviable – up 90.1% in the third quarter to reach Rmb 65.9bn. The market is predicted to reach almost Rmb 240bn by year end and offers huge potential. The penetration rate of online retail is around 26% of China's 338m internet users compared with 80% in the US. China is predicted to overtake South Korea to become Asia Pacific's third biggest online shopping market around 2010, behind Japan and Australia.

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