[photopress:bulk_chai.jpg,full,alignright]iResearch, an Internet research company, estimates China’s online sales will pass RMB51 billion (US$6.38 billion) in 2007, up 63%. The report counted 43.1 million online shoppers in 2006, a figure set to rise to 55 million this year. Most things are on sale on line, including bulk tea.
Last year’s online sales already had a 60% rise over 2005 at RMB31.2 billion. That broke down to RMB8.2 billion on B2C (business-to-consumer) trading and RMB23 billion in C2C (consumer-to-consumer) trading.
Commodities sold through B2C trading principally were mainly audio-visual electronics and computer software.
Partially this success can be attributed to a third party payment service and a credit rating system, similar to PayPal used in the United States and elsewhere.
Hou Tao, iResearch market executive, said this online shopping has calmed fears of online fraud — although, of course, it still happens — and attracted an increasing number of consumers.
The China Internet Network Information Center states that China has 123 million Internet users, with 26% of these having shopped online.
Source: Xinhua News Agency