Amazon China sees explosive growth

Chinese consumers have demonstrated strong cross-border buying power as their spending on the overseas sites of Amazon.com saw explosive growth in first 10 months of this year.

The China unit of Amazon.com Inc said on Thursday that the money Chinese consumers poured into the overseas sites of Amazon between January and October exceed the total amount they spent on overseas products in the past 20 years.

US-headquartered Amazon runs 14 online shopping sites worldwide.

Doug Gurr, president of Amazon China, said his company's strategy in China is all about cross-border e-commerce.

"In the next year, we are going to invest hugely to make sure our customers in China get even faster and cheaper shipping when buying from abroad," he said.

Sales records from Amazon show that the majority of those who shop abroad from online channels are young, well-educated and well-paid people in China.

Statistics from Amazon China said about 80 percent of Chinese cross-border online shoppers are aged below 35. More than 90 percent have at least bachelor degrees and half have a monthly salary of more than 5,000 yuan ($776.5).

Online shoppers from developed first-tier cities continue to lead cross-border consumption and those who live in Southern China stay ahead of those in the North in terms of shopping abroad. Of the top 10 spending cities on Amazon, Beijing is the only one in North China.