China positioned as the world's manufacturing hub, to the point that it has literally obliterated small and medium-size companies around the world. Resent data shows that China is becoming an interesting market to sell products given the size of its population. Better yet, China e-commerce sector is rapidly growing. Last year, Chinese spent $783 billion Yuan on online purchases, and some predict China will soon become the largest online shopping market. These are excellent news for e-commerce businesses that want to conquer the Chinese market. So, it is time for some manufacturers to get back their markets and start selling to China!
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China positioned as the world's manufacturing hub, to the point that it has literally obliterated small and medium-size companies around the world. Resent data shows that China is becoming an interesting market to sell products given the size of its population. Better yet, China e-commerce sector is rapidly growing. Last year, Chinese spent $783 billion Yuan on online purchases, and some predict China will soon become the largest online shopping market. These are excellent news for e-commerce businesses that want to conquer the Chinese market. So, it is time for some manufacturers to get back their markets and start selling to China!
The United States has been the world"s leader of e-commerce, mainly because its Internet penetration. Yet, more Chinese are getting access to the Internet; currently China has 513 million Internet users. Statistics show that out of those 513 Internet users, 194 million had made an online purchase by the end of 2011. Books are the number one article sold on the Internet in China, followed by electronics and clothing. The Chinese e-book and electronic market is a particularly interesting one for United States e-commerce businesses. Clothing is the second largest commodity sold on the Internet. In 2008, around 15.64 million Chinese Internet users in 21 cities spent $17.2 billion on online clothing purchases. Experts predict that building materials and furniture are commodities that will extensively be sold online within the next three to four years. These are competitive items for Latin and Central American markets.
As far as geographical growth of e-commerce in China, the 2011 IntelliConsulting Survey showed that e-commerce is growing rapidly in Western and Central China in comparison to Eastern China, which shows a slower e-commerce growth. Shanghai and Beijing are the leading e-commerce cities. It is expected that online sales in China will reach over $360 billion by 2015 according to the Boston Consulting Group.
C2C is the leading e-commerce platform in China. The 2010 Survey showed that 45.8 percent online shoppers shopped twice to four times per month, while 19.2 percent of Chinese shopped online five to nine times per month; 16 percent of those surveyed shopped more than ten times per month. Time saving and convenience is the major reason for online shopping, followed by prices. The 2010 Survey also showed that many Chinese shop online because the commodities offered online cannot be found in their local markets. This is particularly true for e-books and certain technology items. Experts predict that C2C will drop within the following years and B2C market will strengthen in China. Proper supply channels and post-sale service are the two elements that need improve so the B2C platform grows.
Indeed, first it was China’s time to position as the manufacturer hub; now, it is the e-commerce business time to penetrate and reach the Chinese consumer. The Chinese population is a very significant consumer population for any online merchant because it is the largest population of the world. So, here we go China!
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