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.