Date 06 August 2009

Despite the economic downturn, the online shopping market in China remains upbeat, growing by 18.9 percent over the first six months in 2009. This is consistent with the growth rate of 18.5 percent in the second half of 2008.

 

Consumers are increasingly looking for better bargains to reduce expenditure amidst the economic crisis. Consequently, online shopping has become particularly attractive due to its convenience as well as the lower prices that can be offered. These factors have led to the impressive growth of Taobao, China's largest consumer e-commerce company.  In 2008, it achieved an annual turnover of 14.5 billion U.S. dollars, a figure double of that in 2007.

 

Nonetheless, the market for online shopping is far from saturation. It accounted for only a quarter of China’s 338 million Internet users in June 2009. This is mainly attributed to security concerns of shopping online. Other concerns include the credibility of third-party payment accreditation and the related logistics of delivering the purchased item. However, iResearch Consulting remains optimistic about the prospects of the market, expecting it to exceed $70 billion in gross merchandise volume by 2011.

 

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