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Ecommerce Facts and Figures in China

Mobile commerce and online shopper behaviour in China

Read below more about ecommerce growth, Ecommerce sales and cross-border ecommerce in China

China is expected to become the largest ecommerce market in the world this year with USD 296 billion ecommerce value, USD 27.4 billion of which being via a mobile device. Ecommerce still only makes up 8% of total retail at present, but with 190 million online shoppers there is significant growth potential.

Total Population
- 1.4 billion 
Age Breakdown
- 46.7% of the population in China is between 25 and 54 
Religion
- Almost half of China’s population is atheist or non-religious (approximately 47%).
- 185 million people believe in Buddhism (13%) and 33 million have faith in Christianity (2.4%). 12 million people are Taoists (0.8%). 
Urban Population
- 53%
Internet Penetration
- 45% 
- 618 million
Mobile Penetration
- 92.3% 
Tablet Penetration
- 39% within tier 1 - 5 cities, while tablet penetration in rural areas lags far behind.
- 10.3% share of the global tablet market.
Smartphone Penetration
- 71% 
Online Shoppers
- 190 million 
Ecommerce Sales
- USD 296 billion
Ecommerce Penetration
- 13.9% 
Ecommerce CAGR (2008 – 2013) 
- 116.5% 
- iResearch expects a B2C transaction value CAGR of 40% between 2013-2016. Standard Chartered estimates B2C transactions will account for 49% of China’s online transaction value during the same period.
Mobile Commerce
- China’s mobile shopping value reached USD 27.4 billion (CNY 169.3 billion) in 2013, up 168.6% year-on-year. It is projected to exceed USD 161.8 billion (CNY 1 trillion) in 2017. 
- Mobile commerce sales made up 9.1% of total B2C ecommerce sales, a figure that is expected to grow to 24.2% in 2017.
- 83.4% of Chinese internet users are accessing the internet via their mobile, more so than computers (80.9%).
- There has been a growth in the use of mobile payment services; users are up 25.1% to 38.9%. 
Mobile OS platforms
- Android is the preferred mobile operating system in China, at 67.8%.

Cross-border Ecommerce Opportunities

• Overseas shopping via Alipay, the third-party payment platform under Alibaba, grew by 117%, compared to the 64.7% growth for domestic online shopping.
• Chinese cross-border ecommerce is made of mostly Chinese merchants selling overseas (90%). 
• Chinese online merchants export mostly to the US (17.2%), UK (16.3%) Hong Kong (15.8%), as well as Brazil, India, Germany, France, Russia, Japan and South Korea.

Language as a Key Driver

• Standard Chinese (Mandarin) is the official language of China, spoken by 70% of the population.
• Chinese comprises of seven main dialects; Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Wu, Min, Xiang, and Gan.