China leads e-commerce growth through smartphones

400 million Chinese consumers make online purchases and China’s e-commerce market is set to reach USD1.57 trillion by 2018, making it the world’s largest. As smartphone penetration continues to surge in Asia, online retail is evolving. Will mobile commerce become the dominant mode for online purchases in Asia? Japnit Singh, Senior Director at Spire Research and Consulting, shared his insights in China Daily – Asia Weekly.

China’s e-commerce retail sales in 2015 increased by 42.1% to reach USD672 billion. This is equivalent to over 40% of global e-commerce retail sales. As the online retail experience continues to evolve, more purchases are made using smartphones.

Growth factors responsible for this e-commerce boom include the rise in demand for imported products due to rising incomes, new online platforms and initiatives by the government. Cross-border consumer e-commerce added up to about USD40 billion (in 2015) – more than 6% of China’s consumer e-commerce in total.

Singh noted that Asia shows great e-commerce potential with its rising smartphone penetration. At present, 45% of online consumers use mobile devices – up from less than 10% in 2011. Thailand, Indonesia, India and China are seeing a huge margin of difference between e-commerce transacted on personal computers versus smartphones. More than 50% of consumers do online shopping using mobile phones.

However, the global smartphone market is slowing down, with saturation in the mature Western markets and China’s sluggish economic growth. In this climate, the best bet for e-commerce growth is India. Approximately 139 million smartphones will be sold in India in 2016, translating to a 29.5% year-on-year growth rate. India’s e-commerce revenues are up from USD4 billion in 2009 to a forecasted USD40 billion this year.

https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/media/china-leads-e-commerce-growth-through-smartphones/

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