A group of new mainstream customers is emerging in China, rapidly advancing in size and purchasing power, a report released by Mckinsey & Co said.
The transaction size of China's online shopping market will surpass the US by 2013, becoming the world's largest online trading market.
Shopping in the fashionable stores of New York, London and Paris may soon be a thing of the past for Chinese customers.
The growing number of shoppers has fueled online shopping in China, and that has been aided by the rising costs of setting up physical stores.
China is likely to surpass the United States as the world's biggest online retail market around 2015.
The total online shopping revenue in China for 2011 is expected to hit 800 billion yuan, with 3.65 billion pieces of express mail and parcels sent, said He Liming, chairman of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.
A recent survey by market research firm J.D. Power shows that fierce competition in China's auto market offers such a wide range of options that the majority of consumers closely compare models and have little preconceived brand loyalty.
Zhou Qiyuan does not like shopping. His distaste for shopping spans many years. "There was nothing to shop for in the late 1970s and early 1980s," says the 65-year-old Beijing resident. "It was all about getting coupons, standing in long queues, choosing from the few goods that were available and, more often than not, being bullied by salespersons."