E-commerce in China: $1 trillion in sales in 2019?

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Published
Feb 10, 2015

While online sales reached 440 billion dollars in China in 2014, a report by Forrester estimates that they should reach $1 trillion within four years.

Such a symbolic and impressive threshold may soon be crossed due to the obvious magnitude of the Chinese market, but also because of growing investment by local retailers. As China resolves delivery problems caused by its vast size, e-commerce and m-commerce represent a great deal of potential for rapid growth for the brands that are best prepared to meet local needs.

It’s a market where foreign players will have to either confront or work with local giants. Tmall (Alibaba) and JD.com respectively account for 57% and 21% of online sales. And their mobile apps are very dominant as well, with Alibaba’s sites Taobao and Tmall holding a combined market share of 85%, while JD.com monopolizes 7%.

"The top online players in China have profoundly changed the purchasing behavior of local consumers, and they will continue with this strong momentum by expanding into new product categories, reaching untapped audiences in small towns and rural areas, and developing the mobile shopping," predicts the head of the study, Vanessa Zeng.

$1 = £.066