HTTPS   |   2 minute read

What China reveals about the future of eCommerce

Since 2010, China’s eCommerce market has developed at an accelerated pace in line with an increase in disposable income and consumption across the country. As a result, their online marketplace is now more advanced than any other nation in the world, and eCommerce businesses have to constantly adapt to rapidly changing consumer demands.

Here are some of the key learnings from China’s highly evolved eCommerce environment:

Retailers must be innovative

In an intensely competitive environment, Chinese retail brands are forced to experiment and respond to shifting consumer demands and market conditions quickly. Looking forward, online retailers globally should expect consumers to have greater demands in terms of product availability and personalized service, and will need to stay agile in order to compete.

Social media is king

50% of Chinese consumers use social media such as WeChat to do product research or find recommendation, making it a powerful tool for influence online purchasing decisions. Worldwide, eCommerce retailers need to recognize the importance of leveraging social media for digital marketing and customer engagement.

ChinaSocialMedia.png

The end-to-end customer experience must be seamless

71% of consumers in China are already using online-to-offline services (such as click-and-collect services), and of those, 97% say they will use the same or more in the coming six months. Close to one-third of people who haven’t yet used O2O services claim they would like to try them in the next six months. The divide between offline and online shopping is no longer clean cut in the mind of the consumer, and accordingly, businesses need to be proactive about ensuring the entire customer journey is seamless.


For more TradeGecko insights on online shopping in China, including consumer habits, buying decisions, and what the implications are for eCommerce retailers worldwide moving forward, download your FREE Future of eCommerce eBook today.

 

FREE eBook: Future of eCommerce

Key learnings from China’s highly evolved eCommerce environment.

Download now