B2C and C2C e-commerce has taken time to gain a foothold in China. However, the combination of new forms of payment systems like Alibaba's Alipay, an increase in credit card use, and an optimistic Chinese youth population willing to borrow against a bright future indicates that e-commerce might have finally found the growth engines needed to take off in the Middle Kingdom.

E-commerce has been slow to develop in China for several reasons including low penetration rates of credit cards, consumer trust issues, and poor logistics and distribution channels. Eager to tap into China's consumer revolution, both Chinese and foreign companies like China Mobile, DHL and UPS have invested the money and time needed to address these issues.

The efforts have paid off. Chinese consumers now flock to online shopping sites like Amazon's subsidiary Joyo and competitor Dangdang, which recently raised $30 million USD from venture capital firms Doll Capital Management and Walden International.

Joyo alone is expanding services from book selling to include electronics and other products and is becoming a de facto online shopping bazaar. The number of goods offered on Joyo's website has increased from 45,000 to 450,000 in the past 2 years.

Joyo's rise mirrors the growth numbers of e-commerce in China. An estimated 2.08 million Chinese bought products and services online in 2001. In 2006, the number of Chinese consumers making orders online will rise to over 20 million. This number is still dwarfed by the nearly 125 million internet users in China, but the growth indicates the promise of e-commerce.

Source:佚名