In the first six months of 2013, online shopping in China reached the remarkable figure of 754,2 billion yuan (equal to 123,2 billion US dollars), an amount up by 47,3% compared to the first half of 2012. In an increasingly competitive climate among industry insiders, Internet transactions now account for 6,8 percent of retail sales in the People's Republic, according to a report by China e-Business Research, an independent research center based in Hangzhou. According to the report, the online market share should reach 7% by the end of the year with a total turnover of 1.740 billion yuan.
Tmall.com, an online business-to-customer platform owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, was the winner in the first half of 2013, with 50,4 percent of the online commerce market. It is followed by JD.com, which has slightly improved its position and has come to control 20,7% of the market.
Despite strong growth, Liu Qiangdong, founder and CEO of JD.com recently spoke of "persistent difficulties" in online business.
Mao Ajing, e-commerce analyst at Analysys International also warned that the growth rates of recent years may be difficult to replicate: "The increase was 60% in 2011. It will be difficult to continue at similar rates at a time where buyers are becoming more rational.”
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/08/20/online-shopping-picks-china.html
