China Retail E-commerce Sales Reached $73 billion in 2014 Q1, Up 27.6 Percent Y-o-Y

In Q1 2014, the Chinese retail e-commerce sector continued to grow at a double-digit pace – up 27.6 percent year-on-year to $73 billion in transaction value.

E-commerce spending on mobile end increased 140.8% year-on-year to $10.3 billion, accounting for 14.1% of the total retail e-commerce sales in the first quarter. Observer Solutions believes that mobile commerce will continue to grow at a rapid pace as smartphone and tablet usage increases.

Moreover, with the improvement of mobile security, more Chinese consumers will look to mobile devices as an e-commerce platform. For many offline brick and mortar businesses in China, mobile commerce has already become an essential part of their online marketing strategy.

Other highlights for China’s retail e-commerce market in Q1 2014 include:

• B2C (business-to-consumer) e-commerce continued to grow in strength. While Chinese online shoppers still spent 60% of their money on C2C (consumer-to-consumer) marketplaces like Taobao, the B2C sector experienced an increase in its market share to 40% from 35% in the Q1 2013.

 

• Top 5 B2C players included Alibaba’s Tmall (50.6% market share), JD (23.3% market share), Vipshop (3.0% market share), Yixun (2.6% market share), and Amazon China (2.1% market share), among which both Alibaba Group and JD.com have filed for an IPO in the US.