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Overview of the E-commerce Market in China

China has a very dynamic ecommerce sector, where you can buy almost everything online: Food, cosmetics, and even cars and diamonds ! Then, most products are sold online at lower prices than in normal stores.

Internet in China

China had 591 million internet users in July 2013, but it’s always increasing. Moreover, there exists 242 millions of Chinese Internet users who go shopping online, with business transactions of 1.25 Trillion RMB in year 2012.

Online shopping industry generated then, in the first half of 2013, online 754.2 billion yuans (USD 123.2 billion), It represented 6.8% of total consumer goods retail sales.

The influence of internet and social media

90% of professional buyers start their research on the Internet. In total there are 3.47 million requests made every minute on Baidu. There exist several search engines in China, but Baidu is the leading search engine in Chinese internet. It is also ranked 5th in the world (http://www.alexa.com/topsites/global ).

Knowing facebook and twitter are blocked by the great firewall, China had Weibo 微博(470 million Tencent Weibo 腾讯微博accounts, 400 million Sina Weibo 新浪微博accounts), and RenRen人人网 or 校内网(with 162 million accounts) in 2012.

44% users use Weibo to get information about products, and almost every big foreign company has a page on Weibo.

A Mc Kinsey survey of April 2013 shows that 91% of respondents visited a social media, compared to 67% in the US. And it is proved that social media is very important in the buying process : in fact, They would more likely buy something when it has a good reputation on social media, or some of their friends spoke about it on a social media.

Moreover, two thirds of Chinese social media users follow a brand

We have to notice in the recent news that Sina Weibo launched a new version recently where you can go to the shopping platform Taobao via a Weibo account. You can see the prices, the popularity of an article, share it with your friends, and even pay online.

The influence of internet and social media

90% of professional buyers start their research on the Internet. In total there are 3.47 million requests made every minute on Baidu. There exist several search engines in China, but Baidu is the leading search engine in Chinese internet. It is also ranked 5th in the world (http://www.alexa.com/topsites/global ).

Knowing facebook and twitter are blocked by the great firewall, China had Weibo 微博(470 million Tencent Weibo 腾讯微博accounts, 400 million Sina Weibo 新浪微博accounts), and RenRen人人网 or 校内网(with 162 million accounts) in 2012.

44% users use Weibo to get information about products, and almost every big foreign company has a page on Weibo.

A Mc Kinsey survey of April 2013 shows that 91% of respondents visited a social media, compared to 67% in the US. And it is proved that social media is very important in the buying process : in fact, They would more likely buy something when it has a good reputation on social media, or some of their friends spoke about it on a social media.

Moreover, two thirds of Chinese social media users follow a brand

We have to notice in the recent news that Sina Weibo launched a new version recently where you can go to the shopping platform Taobao via a Weibo account. You can see the prices, the popularity of an article, share it with your friends, and even pay online.

Logistics

China is 9,6 million km2 large, and with 242 million online shoppers, logistics is a major challenge for e-business actors. The limited infrastructures and high logistics costs make it even more difficult. That is why they have to adapt.

Alibaba launched for example the “China Smart Logistics Network “(CSN), which should be able to deliver goods to any city in China within 24 hours. This network should be finished within 8 to 10 years.

However the three main actors of shipping in China these days are Shunfeng (SF EXPRESS), EMS and STO Shentong Express.

Sources :

· marketingtochina !

· Asia.cnet

· Blog Ecommerce China

· Zdnet

– China consulting