On the heels of Chinese eCommerce company Alibaba’s $200 million investment in India online retailer Paytm E-Commerce, China reportedly saw a boom in 2016 online retail shopping.
According to the latest report from China’s National Bureau of Statistics, which tracks the country’s economic data, there was a significant increase in online shopping. There was a 26.2 percent increase in online retail sales, and 15.5 percent of total retail purchases were made online.
The report also shared that China will certainly further outpace the United States in online shopping. The National Bureau of Statistics attributed the country’s online shopping growth to stores’ integration with online channels.
Internet Retailer quoted Fung Global Retail & Technology analyst Esme Pau, who said: “We expect New Retail, a new form of [online-to-offline sales] promoted by Alibaba and supported by Chinese authorities, will shape the retail landscape for China going forward. Earlier in 2017, Alibaba announced the privatization of Intime Retail Group, which we believe would be a test case for its New Retail strategy. Also, other partnerships between physical stores are Alibaba and Sanjiang, JD.com Inc. and Yonghui Supermarket.”
Interestingly, the International Monetary Fund reported China’s GDP grew by 6.7 percent in 2016, outpacing India’s 6.6 percent GDP growth. Given this aggressive growth by China, it is giving the rest of the world a run for its money and may be set to become the most powerful economy globally in 2017.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More