With the global e-commerce market currently at 4,9 trillion US dollars China’s digital economy accounts for around 40% of it. Further growth is predicted due to an integrated digital ecosystem that makes mobile commerce a uniquely convenient experience.
In the last decade, China’s online sales have developed twice as fast as those of the US, mostly thanks to mobile commerce, and there are almost 800 million internet users that potentially shop online (eMarketer, 2021).
A survey conducted by McKinsey in 2019 found that Chinese consumers spend 50% of their daily time on the mobile phone.
Around 60% of global online sales is made by only six companies of which four are Chinese: Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall, Tencent’s JD as well as Pinduoduo. The shares of the biggest e-commerce companies are:
- Taobao: 15%
- Tmall: 14%
- Amazon: 13%
- JD: 9%
- Pinduoduo: 4%
- ebay: 3%
Future Trends in China E-Commerce
Among the prevailing as well as most promising trends in China’s digital market are the following:
- a multichannel shopping experience: It enables consumers to combine online research with visits to brick-and-mortar stores to experience the products and brands before the buying decision.
- social commerce: It is evolving into a powerful tool that offers widely respected trustworthy sources of information with user-generated content and short videos on social platforms as well as so-called “mini programs” on omnipresent Wechat, that serve as direct-to-consumer sales channels.
- the purchasing power of young consumers in low tier cities: They are the main drivers of digital commerce and account for about 600 million potential online customers hungry for consumption and open to new brands and product experiences.
- KOCs: Key opinion consumers are gradually replacing key opinion leaders (KOLs) as well as celebrity influencers. They are perceived as more authentic and trustworthy and the communication with consumers is more personalized and peer-like. This trend is noticeable in the FMCG sector, for example in wine marketing.
Marketing in China: What´s New? 