China has long been seen as the world’s leading manufacturing base, but how well is it embracing e-commerce?
The latest figures reveal some interesting trends. A report in China Logistics Equipment magazine listed four key points:
1. Booming Transactions: Transactions volume in 2012 reached 9.5 trillion RMB (over 1 billion Euro) and is expected to be 27.5 trillion RMB in 2015. It is thought the annual increase over the next 5 years will be around 35%.
2. Online purchases soar: In 2012, the total number of Chinese online purchases reached 280 million. Online shopping transaction volume (B2C and C2C) reached 1.15 trillion RMB in 2012.
3. Popularity of Fashion and Electronics: Online shopping of apparel holds 26.8% of total volume, 3C products (computers, cameras and cell phones) 18.2%, cosmetics 4.9%, media 3%, and others 42.8%.
4. Four key players: Top online shopping players (including B2C, C2C and online shopping platform) are Tmall, 360buy, Suning.com and Amazon. Tmall is a platform where both B2C and C2C business takes place. In B2C online, 360buy holds a massive 50.2% share of business, followed by Suning.com 9.4% and Amazon 6.7%.