Mainland Chinese increased their online spend by 49.8 per cent year on year in the third quarter of 2014.
According to iResearch, the value of Gross Merchandise Volume hit 691.41 billion Yuan (US$115 billion) in the quarter.
Data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics shows online shopping comprised 10.6 per cent of total retail sales of social consumer goods which stood at 6.5 trillion Yuan (just over US$1 trillion) in the third quarter, with the penetration rate continuing to rise every quarter.
iResearch predicts that with the gradual maturity of online shopping, eCommerce operators will put more effort into diversifying commodity categories and optimising logistics and after-sales service.
“Meanwhile, they’re actively expanding their business to lower-tier cities, rural markets, and overseas markets, as well as mobile sectors. These are all new engines for the further development of this sector.”
According to iResearch, B2C GMV reached 305.38 billion Yuan in he quarter, which accounted for 44.2 per cent of total online shopping. The share rose by 5.4 per cent from 38.8 per cent in the same period last year. The year-on-year growth of C2C (consumer to consumer) GMV remained at 36.6 per cent while B2C grew 70.4 per cent.
iResearch says thanks to the huge market capacity and complexity of commodity categories, C2C is capable of satisfying online shoppers’ differentiated and personalised demand which will ensure stable growth in the future. Compared with vendors on C2C platforms, vendors on B2C platforms have the advantage of greater overall strength, product quality and service levels, so they are capable of providing customers with high quality services.
“B2C will keep expanding its market share and make progress together with C2C in the future.”
In market share terms, Tmall remains way in front with nearly 60 per cent of the B2C market and JD accounted for 19.3 per cent. Among the others, Suning, Gome, Yihaodian and Jumei all achieved higher quarter on quarter growth than the entire B2C sector, and Vipshop, Yihaodian and Gome grew faster year-on-year.
Among the top nine independent B2C operators, JD, Suning, Vipshop and Gome did not experience much fluctuation in market share. JD still accounts for more than half of the market (51.9 per cent). Suning made up 10.6 per cent, while Vipshop and Gome both occupied more than five per cent of the market.
