BEIJING: China’s online retail sales continue to show strong momentum, growing 48.7 percent during the first half of this year, China e-Business Research Center (CECRC) said yesterday.
Online retail sales hit 1.6 trillion yuan (US$251 billion), 11.4 percent of total retail sales in China. The number of online shoppers rose 19.1 percent to 417 million, said the Hangzhou-based e-commerce tracker.
Cross-border e-commerce has become a new driver of retail sales as online retailers connect domestic consumers with an increasing number of overseas brands, according to CECRC analyst Mo Daiqing.
Alibaba’s Tmall continues to dominate China’s online business-to-consumer market, with a 57.7 percent share. Its rival JD.com comes in second at 25.1 percent, followed by in distant third by Suning.com at 3.4 percent.
CECRC also noted that more transactions are being made on mobile Internet as online retailers move to encourage consumers to shop with their mobile apps on smartphones and tablets.
Robust online sales also boosted the revenue of China’s courier services by 33.2 percent during the same period to 120 billion yuan. CECRC estimates the revenue will top 290 billion yuan for the whole year.
