What do people in China buy online?
April 29, 2015 6:48 AM Subscribe
BBC: "Huang's new project is based on a similar idea - this time, he asked people to display everything they've ever bought online. The results are a testament to the overwhelming popularity of online shopping, particularly China's most popular internet shopping platform, Taobao."
"More than half of China's 1.4bn population can access the internet via a broadband connection. Many also have access to mobile internet and can shop online using their smartphones. Internet sales rose 49.7% last year, according to Chinese government statistics, in comparison to a 12% rise in all retail sales across the country."
- BIDNESS: "The company has teamed up with China Telecom Corporation Limited, which has over 186 million users, to sell models of low cost smartphones in China's rural and less affluent areas. The low-cost mobile phones, which will be embedded with software geared especially for mobile online shopping, would incite growth and spread e-commerce activities in China’s rural areas."
- Guardian: "Revenue from China rose 71% to $16.82bn. That compares with $21.3bn in the Americas region, which was up 19%. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has previously predicted that China will become Apple’s largest market."
- NYT, November 2013: China’s One-Day Shopping Spree Sets Record in Online Sales.
- MetaFilter, previously: Let me Take a Photo of Everything You Own.
"More than half of China's 1.4bn population can access the internet via a broadband connection. Many also have access to mobile internet and can shop online using their smartphones. Internet sales rose 49.7% last year, according to Chinese government statistics, in comparison to a 12% rise in all retail sales across the country."
- BIDNESS: "The company has teamed up with China Telecom Corporation Limited, which has over 186 million users, to sell models of low cost smartphones in China's rural and less affluent areas. The low-cost mobile phones, which will be embedded with software geared especially for mobile online shopping, would incite growth and spread e-commerce activities in China’s rural areas."
- Guardian: "Revenue from China rose 71% to $16.82bn. That compares with $21.3bn in the Americas region, which was up 19%. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has previously predicted that China will become Apple’s largest market."
- NYT, November 2013: China’s One-Day Shopping Spree Sets Record in Online Sales.
- MetaFilter, previously: Let me Take a Photo of Everything You Own.
"(A Buddhist monk) finds religious items, including yak butter lamps and candles, are cheaper online than in local stores" - it's a trap! Support your local merchants!
posted by King Sky Prawn at 8:07 AM on April 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by King Sky Prawn at 8:07 AM on April 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Awww, they're gonna have a baby in that one picture.
posted by resurrexit at 8:54 AM on April 29, 2015
posted by resurrexit at 8:54 AM on April 29, 2015
it's a trap! Support your local merchants!
Having spent the better part of last year living and working in Shanghai, I can tell you that one of the primary reasons online shopping is so popular in China right now is precisely because your average person simply doesn't trust their local merchants. So they see this as a feature, not a trap.
Really, commerce (and e-commerce) in China is so completely different than it is anywhere else. It's really, really hard to explain unless you can witness it firsthand.
posted by Doleful Creature at 9:12 AM on April 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Having spent the better part of last year living and working in Shanghai, I can tell you that one of the primary reasons online shopping is so popular in China right now is precisely because your average person simply doesn't trust their local merchants. So they see this as a feature, not a trap.
Really, commerce (and e-commerce) in China is so completely different than it is anywhere else. It's really, really hard to explain unless you can witness it firsthand.
posted by Doleful Creature at 9:12 AM on April 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Doleful (may I call you Doleful?), I hope then that the online competition will encourage the local merchants to improve or adapt, to where it's just a difference in price.
posted by King Sky Prawn at 9:20 AM on April 29, 2015
posted by King Sky Prawn at 9:20 AM on April 29, 2015
I hope then that the online competition will encourage the local merchants to improve or adapt, to where it's just a difference in price.
As a business owner I can tell you it seldom works that way.
I often see items for sale on line for nearly my cost, and that is before shipping.
posted by boilermonster at 9:47 AM on April 29, 2015
As a business owner I can tell you it seldom works that way.
I often see items for sale on line for nearly my cost, and that is before shipping.
posted by boilermonster at 9:47 AM on April 29, 2015
While my original post was meant in fun, I'm very conscious of how online businesses can use economies of scale and also selling at or below cost to destroy competition.
posted by King Sky Prawn at 10:25 AM on April 29, 2015
posted by King Sky Prawn at 10:25 AM on April 29, 2015
Maybe it's not this way everywhere in China, and maybe there's a perception difference between internet-savvy Chinese users and other groups, but my impression is that there is a really strong undercurrent of distrust regarding merchants and businesses of all stripes. In my experience, most Chinese don't enjoy haggling on price, either. Internet sales completely removed that dynamic, while flattening prices at the same time. Everyone fucking loves that.
posted by Doleful Creature at 1:24 PM on April 29, 2015
posted by Doleful Creature at 1:24 PM on April 29, 2015
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posted by rebent at 7:17 AM on April 29, 2015