The growth rate of global E-commerce in 2004 was 25.3%, and the gross sales was USD $ 2774.8 billion. E-commerce transactions accounted for 15-20% of the global trading. Among the transaction types of E-commerce, B2B and B2C took the most percentage, especially B2B, which took 80-90% of the global E-commerce sales revenue .

Global Market Shares Distribution of B2B E-commerce by Region , 2000-2004 (Unit: US$100m)

The concept of E-commerce was introduced into China in 1993, and the first online transaction in China was done in 1996. In 1998, the E-commerce demonstration project between enterprises aiming to promote informationization of the national economy was initiated. The transfer of E-commerce from concept to practice started in 1999. The E-commerce models were expanded from B2C to C2C (auction online) and B2B (emerged at the end of 1999). The development of E-commerce showed a sound momentum in China. However, the fracture of the Internet bubble of 2000 seriously impacted the development of E-commerce. While with the rising of value-added service and the maturation of operating environment, E-commerce developed rapidly since 2002. The growth rate of China's E-commerce in 2004 was 73.7%, and the turnover reached 480 billion RMB, accounting for 2% of the global E-commerce turnover.

With regard to fundamental conditions, the development environment of China's E-commerce is turning better in spite of some restrictive factors. By June, 2005, Chinese netizens had amounted to 1.03 million, which provided boundless space for the development of E-commerce. In terms of logistics, there had been over 1000 distribution centers in China by the end of 2004, including some foreign logistics corporations and delivery powers. As far as payment is concerned, the total volume of online payment got to 680 million RMB in 2004 and 1.57 billion RMB in 2005. However, only 18% of the numerous Chinese netizens have the experience of purchasing online within a half year. Of those netizens, only 37.9% would like to pay online, while the majority of them still prefer to go to post offices or banks. This shows that the functions of online payment are not perfect yet and the netizens still have some doubt about online payment. As for logistics, high delivery cost due to the small scale of some logistics enterprises is still an obstacle for the development of E-commerce.

As far as B2B is concerned, domestic competitions are mainly among alibaba.com.cn, hc360.com and mymai.com. By right of its early entry, alibaba.com.cn dominates the field, leaving the other two competitors behind. Nevertheless, the demerits of alibaba's direct sales mode are showing more and more obvious, while the "combination of direct sales and being an agent" mode of hc360.com and the ¡°being the sole agent in large cities and implementing direct sales in small cities¡± mode of mymai.com seem more consumer-oriented. With the deepening of the competition, different operating strategies are likely to inflict far-reaching influence on market repartition.

As far as C2C is concerned, major domestic service providers include taobao.com, ebay.com.cn and 1pai.com.cn. Due to its charge-free policy, taobao.com (affiliated to alibaba.com.cn) surpassed ebay.com.cn in both consumer and commodities amount in two years. However, ebay.com.cn hasn't changed its charging policy under such pressure. 1pai.com.cn was co-invested by Yahoo and Sina, and developed well because of Yahoo's brand and Sina's page view, but it cannot challenge or threaten the market position of taobao.com and ebay.com.cn these days.

As the earliest emerged business model of China's E-commerce, B2C experienced lots of twists and turns in its later development. Nowadays, manufacturers in every walk of life are marching into E-commerce successively, in hoping of being advantageous in market competition via the Internet platform. To get a comprehensive and in-depth knowledge of the development of China's E-commerce, we conducted a research on about 100 websites in ten major sectors, aiming to provide valuable references for investors.

2. Development of E-commerce
2.1 Development of global E-commerce
2.2 Development of China's E-commerce
2.2.1 General status
2.2.2 Existing problems

3. Development environment of China's E-commerce
3.1 Development of China's Internet infrastructure
3.2 Payment of China's E-commerce
3.3 Overview of China's logistic & distribution system
3.4 Survey on Chinese netizens' online purchase

4. Research on typical websites (B2B E-commerce)
4.1 alibaba.com.cn
4.1.1 Introduction of the website
4.1.2 Operation status
4.1.3 Marketing methods
4.1.4 Payment options
4.1.5 Partners
4.2 hc360.com
4.2.1 Introduction of the website
4.2.2 Operation status
4.2.3 Marketing methods
4.2.4 Payment options
4.2.5 Partners
4.3 mymai.com
4.3.1 Introduction of the website
4.3.2 Operation status
4.3.3 Marketing methods
4.3.4 Payment options 
4.3.5 Partners

5. Research on C2C websites
5.1 ebay.com.cn
5.1.1 Introduction of the website
5.1.2 Marketing methods
5.1.3 Payment options
5.1.4 Partners
5.2 taobao.com
5.2.1 Introduction of the website
5.2.2 Marketing methods
5.2.3 Payment options
5.2.4 Partners
5.3 1pai.com.cn
5.3.1 Introduction of the website
5.3.2 Marketing methods
5.3.3 Payment options
5.3.4 Partners

6. Research on China's B2C E-commerce by industry
6.1 China's medical industry
6.1.1 E-commerce development of China's medical industry
6.1.2 Typical website analysis
6.1.3 Summary of the profit model of medical industry E-commerce
6.2 China's travel industry
6.2.1 E-commerce development of China's travel industry
6.2.2 Typical website analysis
6.2.3 Summary of the profit model of travel industry E-commerce
6.3 China's stationery industry
6.3.1 E-commerce development of China's stationery industry
6.3.2 Typical website analysis
6.3.3 Summary of the profit model of stationery industry E-commerce
6.4 China's book/audio/video industry
6.4.1 E-commerce development of China's book/audio/video industry
6.4.2 Typical website analysis
6.4.3 Summary of the profit model of book/audio/video industry E-commerce
6.5 China's toy industry
6.5.1 E-commerce development of China's toy industry
6.5.2 Typical website analysis
6.5.3 Summary of the profit model of toy industry E-commerce
6.6 China's gift collection industry
6.6.1 E-commerce development of China's gift collection industry
6.6.2 Typical website analysis
6.6.3 Summary of the profit model of gift collection industry E-commerce
6.7 China's nutrition and healthcare industry
6.7.1 E-commerce development of China's nutrition and healthcare industry
6.7.2 Typical website analysis
6.7.3 Summary of the profit model of nutrition and healthcare industry E-commerce
6.8 China's cosmetic industry
6.8.1 E-commerce development of China's cosmetic industry
6.8.2 Typical website analysis
6.8.3 Summary of the profit model of cosmetic industry E-commerce
6.9 China's food and drink industry
6.9.1 E-commerce development of China's food and drink industry
6.9.2 Typical website analysis
6.9.3 Summary of the profit model of food and drink industry E-commerce
6.10 China's clothing industry
6.10.1 E-commerce development of China's clothing industry
6.10.2 Typical website analysis
6.10.3 Summary of the profit model of clothing industry E-commerce

7. Viewpoints and conclusion