Welcome to the Digital Marketing Inner Circle

Top 10 Chinese Provinces in Online Purchase Value

The ranking of the top 10 provinces by order value is obvious from the chart but what surprised me was the order amount and growth.

In terms of geographic distribution, the chart highlights that eCommerce uptake is more prevalent  in the Eastern part of China followed by the Southern then Northern regions.  

According to an iResearch report the top 10 provincial-level administrative regions for online shopping orders between January and November of 2010 were:

(All figures in RMB growth rates are YoY for Q3)

1 Guangdong: 182.25 million, +34.7%

2 Zhejiang: 126.1 million, +40.3%

3 Jiangsu: 112.17 million, +69%

4 Shandong: 80.96 million, +117.2%

5 Fujian: 68.34 million, +21%

6 Hunan: 61 million, +43.1%

7 Sichuan: 59.3 million, +92.4%

8 Hubei: 58.99 million, +80.3%

9 Shanghai: 58.3 million, +8.7%

10 Heilongjiang: 55.55 million, +153.2%

$1 = ¥6.59 

Top 10 Provinces in Online Order Growth Rate

This is an interesting look at eCommerce  as it shows online orders are growing fastest in second-tier and third-tier provinces. From the table below, we see the 3rd quarter growth rate of 487.6% in Anhui followed by Jiangxi Province and Jilin Province's.

Although the iResearch tool is simply a single indicator, it reflects with what else I am seeing in China with the rapid push by multinational companies into the 2nd and 3rd tier cities as they recognize fierce competition in the main cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

According to data published by Taobao, 2010 saw men make up the greater proportion of total online shoppers (54 percent)and were the bigger spenders, women bought more items. Men tended to purchase goods with higher price points such as consumer electronics, household appliances and sports shoes while women tended to purchase goods on the lower end of the pricing scale such as clothing, food and accessories, according to Taobao data analysis. Even within the same product category, such as clothing, average spending by men was higher than women.

Shopping on Taobao via mobile phones gained substantial traction in 2010. Mobile shopping is notably more popular among men, who made up two-thirds of the user population during the year. The Yangtze River Delta region had the highest concentration of users, snagging 15 percent of total Taobao mobile shopping accounts. Three-quarters of users are between ages 19 to 28. The top 10 best-selling items on Taobao mobile shopping were, in descending order:

• mobile phone credit;
• women’s clothing;
• consumer electronics;
• men’s clothing;
• online gaming cards;
• skincare products;
• snacks and other dry food items;
• sports shoes and bags;
• car accessories; and
• books and magazines.

These top 10 product categories made up 73 percent of all mobile shopping transactions.

Hope that this information helps you in knowing more about the habits of online purchase in China.

Source: iResearch