China’s online retail market reached 945.1 billion yuan (US$143.5 billion) with a growth rate of 45% in Q3 2015 according to Analysys. The growth rate was lower compared with the previous quarters in 2015.

The growth rate of China’s online retail market slowed down in 2015. The market tended to mature. However, total online retail sales only accounted for 12.3% of total retail sales. The online market still faced enormous development opportunities.

More shoppers were active on the mobile end than PC in Q3 2015. Mobile online sales reached 524.3 billion yuan (US$79.6 billion) which surpassed PC as the major online shopping channel as of Q3 2015.

The business pattern of China’s B2C market remains the same in Q3 2015. Tmall and Jingdong dominated the market both in market and business innovative capacity. E-commerce suppliers were trying to win subdivision market to seek a breakthrough.

China’s online retail market has been stabilized since 2014. Three business formats have shaped, online fair, online department store, and online discount retailer. Tmall, Jingdong, and Vipshop were representative companies of each format.

Tmall was the earliest online fair platform in China which has built a relatively perfect system for followers. Tmall has been devoted to building a high-quality shopping platform by strict selection of merchants and to provide consumers a safe and efficient platform. Total online transaction values on Tmall reached 91.2 billion yuan (US$14.25 million) on Double 11 in 2015.

Jingdong started as an online magneto-optical store, but soon diversified, selling electronics, mobile phones, computers, etc. Self-built delivery stations and pick-up stations were the core of Jingdong’s diversified services.

Vipshop was a leading online discount retailer for brands in China. The Company offered high-quality and popular branded products to consumers throughout China at a significant discount from retail prices targeting at women buyers. Vipshop reported net revenues up by 63% to 8.67 billion yuan (US$1.36 billion) in Q3 2015.

Also read: China Retail V.S. Online Shopping 2015

Over a quarter of Irish online shoppers purchased on China’s online shopping platforms in 2015 according to a recent research by Paypal.

About 1.9 million Irish online shoppers bought cross–border products online accounting for 86% of Irish total online shoppers. Over three-fourths of online buyers shopped on British shopping websites, 38% shopped on American sites, and 26% in China’s shopping platforms.

The Irish were the most active cross-border online shoppers among 29 countries surveyed according to PayPal. Due to the lack of online shopping channels and high prices, more than three-fourths Irish online shoppers shopped cross-border products from other countries to gain affordable and high-quality products. And 73% made online cross-border purchase to buy products they couldn’t buy in Ireland.

26% Irish online buyers shopped from China’s online shopping websites mainly due to low prices and localized shopping experience. China’s retailers and online shopping websites with prices displayed in Euros are attractive to the Irish shoppers although domestic shopping websites are still the top choice among the Irish people.

35% China’s online shoppers bought cross-border goods in 2015 compared to 26% in 2014 according to PayPal. Penetration rate of cross-border online shoppers in second-tier cities was lower than that of first-tier cities while the average spend and shopping frequencies were quite close. Nearly 88% of the second-tier city consumers will buy cross-border goods online according to Nielsen.

Also read: China Retail V.S. Online Shopping 2015

Transaction values of China’s B2C online market reached 503.6 billion yuan (US$78.58 billion) with an increase of 49.7% in the third quarter of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014 according to Analysys.

Although China’s B2C market tended to slow down while it maintained a modest growth in the third quarter with 4 percentage points higher compared to the growth rate in the second quarter of 2015.

Owing to the Double 11 shopping festival and Black Friday cross-border shopping season, China’s B2C market is expected to achieve a much larger transaction sales. And from November to December 2015, Chinese online shoppers are expected to spend US$150 billion in total and the average expenditure will reach US$209.87 according to Adobe Digital Index.

China’s online shopping market has maintained a relatively stable structure: Tmall (54%) led the market with an overwhelming advantage, Jingdong (23.2%) came next, and followed by Vipshop (3.3%), Suning (3.2%) and Gome (1.6%).

Total online transaction values on Tmall reached 91.2 billion yuan (US$14.25 million) on Double 11 in 2015. Although the transaction sales during Black Friday shopping season this year haven’t been reported, consumers spent an average of US$79.22 per order and per capita consumption of more than US$156.25 on Nov 20th according to Ymatou.

Also read: China Retail V.S. Online Shopping 2015

As of November 2014, total fans of China B2C e-commerce websites Weibo accounts exceeded 30 million, which provided a large number of consumers for  China online shopping market. According to Weibo’s latest research, here is the profile of Weibo fans of China B2C e-commerce websites accounts in 2014.

By geographic, most fans were from southeastern coastal areas in 2014. 82% Sina Weibo users shopped online in Q3 2014.

Also read: Reasons Why China Internet Users Buy on Weibo

In 2014, China internet users were active on Weibo, 82% Sina Weibo users bought online in Q3 2014, which made Weibo top among social apps in the world according to data of Global Web Index. The top 3 e-commerce campaigns on Weibo were Tmall’s “Let Hongbao Fly”, Jingdong’s “618 Party On”, Dangdang’s “Gan Zuo Gan Dangdang” in 2014.

Related: China’s Top 10 B2C Websites on Weibo in 2014

No. 3 CeDangdang’s Weibo Campaign

Celebrating its 15 year birthday on 20 October, Dangdang used this opportunity to re-brand itself as a complex B2C e-commerce platform. This 15-day campaign attracted over 40,000 Weibo users to participate.

Also read: WeChat, Weibo or Alipay? Who Won Hongbao War in 2015?

China mother and baby products market reached 1.43 trillion yuan ($230 billion) and expected to exceed 2 trillion yuan ($320 billion) in 2015, 6.8% of total consumer retail market in China.

China mother and baby products online market is expected to reach 295.92 billion yuan ($47.38 billion) in 2018, compared to 86.03 billion yuan ($13.77 billion; 6% penetration rate) in 2013 according to iResearch.

Online mother and baby product buyers between 25 and 35 years old represent 50% of total. 51.5% are female.

Tmall represented 55.5% market share by transaction value, ranking top in China mother care market in Q3 2014, followed by Jingdong and Dangdang. Japanese brand Merris was the best seller in Tmall‘s baby care category with a total sales value of RMB32.97 million ($5.37 million) in September 2014.

Read more: Understanding New Generation of Chinese Moms

There are 20 million new babies in China every year. The total value of parenting market in China exceeds RMB500 billion involving over 10 industries. With the increase of family income and stronger consumption awareness for mom and her baby, the market can be seeing strong growth in China.

Among all new generation of Chinese moms, post-80s accounted for 85.1% which are the major group in China. Besides, post-90s are now becoming new moms; their consumption habits and can bring changes to China baby apparel market.

Among the Chinese moms with expectation for babies gender, post-90s favor girls more than boys in China. That’s against Chinese tradition that a boy is often preferred

Housing price in China can influence post-90s and they tend to have baby at an older age.

61.6% of new generation young Chinese pregnant mother have positive attitudes to having new babies. The younger Chinese moms are, and more anxious they tend to be.

Chinese moms who worry about the lack of knowledge and experience accounted for 60.9% in China, which is their primary concern, followed by the worry of whether someone can give a hand with babycare.

Chinese moms tend to trust mom & baby’s magazine, expert & doctor and parenting website & online community with more powerful and useful knowledge.

Also read: China Mother Care B2C Market Exceeded $3 Bln in Q3 2014

Recently, according to the news leaked on the internet, Weibo will integrate the original payment interface to launch “unified checkout counter”.

All applications on Weibo can access the unified one to enjoy payment service in different scenarios. Besides, such “unified checkout counter” can adapt to a certain payment scenario automatically according to merchant’s business and recognize the client-side version to assign payment channel.

In July 2014, Sina Weibo fully opened its payment system and provided order acceptance service for verified company accounts. Once the application is approved, merchants can post content with product card on Weibo, so other users can buy such product with clicking on the card on Weibo.

However, Weibo covers desktop and mobile devices which indicates users can make payment in various devices. In order to adapt to different payment scenarios, companies will choose corresponding interface which may affect service efficiency. With the launching of “unified checkout counter”, companies only need to access one interface to realize payment coverage in different scenarios.

One Weibo staff did a demonstration with a product card posted on Weibo; users can buy the product on mobile device or desktop. In addition Weibo URL can be shared in other applications, and users who are interested in the product can use Weibo payment service without visiting Weibo.

The person who takes charge of Weibo business tools said, “the purpose to launch ‘unified checkout counter’ is to improve efficiency and service quality for company accounts”. As of early December 2014, Weibo shops have accessed the “unified checkout counter’， and other applications will have access to it soon.

Weibo monthly active users (“MAUs”) were 167 million as of September 30, 2014. 82% Sina Weibo users do online shopping in Q3 2014, which made Weibo rank top among social apps in the world according to data of Global Web Index.

As of October 2014, the number of users who paid on Weibo was nearly 8 million. Besides, in Q3 2014, the companies’ transaction value via Weibo payment had more than tripled from Q2 2014.

Also read: China B2C E-commerce Performance on Weibo in Sep 2014

China, as the biggest digital market in the world, its online retail market keeps growth with an increase of 25% YoY, estimated by Bain & Company. And, the growth rate of China online B2C retail market is 3 times higher than overall China retail market. By 2018, half of the revenue of China online retail market will come from tier-3 & lower cities.

The total retail sales of consumer goods reached 2,396.7 billion yuan (US$390.15 billion) in China in October 2014 while online retail sales exceeded 1.8 trillion Yuan, 9.64% of total retail from January to September 2014.

From 2010, the penetration rate of major online products is increasing. For example, in 2013, penetration rate of consumer electronic product increased to 20% and of clothing increased to 18%. Such products’ rapid growth in penetration rate is mainly due to Chinese consumers’ great passion for e-commerce market as well as efficient online payment methods.

In 2013, China was the biggest online market in the world and it is expected to lead mobile e-commerce market in 2014. As of June 2014, China internet users exceeded 632 million, of which 527 million were mobile phone internet users. Over 80% Chinese online shoppers shopped at least once on smartphones in 2013 and 20% of them do mobile online shopping every week.

China sees the highest intent for both online-shopping and online-purchase for categories including clothing, cosmetics, personal care, toys and alcohol drinks according to the research of Nilsen. Further, Chinese post-90s are more willing to spend and they tend to favor mobile shopping and use mobile payment.

On double 11 2014, with great promotion of online retailers, the sales value of Tmall increased to RMB57.1 billion (US$9.3 billion) which created a new sales record in the world. China’s double 11 indicates some changes in China online retail market.

1. Total sales value increased by 60% YoY and sales value from mobile device increased by about 300%, which shows more online retailers are trying on mobile business.
2. China e-commerce market is positively expanding abroad. Double 11 attracted buyers and sellers from more than 200 countries.
3. More social media’s engagement. Global Web Index’s data shows 82% Sina Weibo users purchased a product online and 80% of them searched product or service to buy in Q3 2014.

Efficient online payment methods.

In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China third-party online payment market exceeded RMB2,015.43 billion (US$328.1 billion). In 2013, top third-party online payment provider—Alipay’s transaction value exceeded RMB3.5 trillion (US$0.57 trillion), which was nearly the 3 times more than the transaction value of PayPal. Alipay Wallet is the most popular mobile payment app by MAUs, followed by Tenpay, Bestpay, Alipay and Lakala in September 2014 in China.

In terms of China logistics market, there was 9.2 billion packages delivered in 2013. The average number of daily delivered packages of six logistics companies in China (SF Express,STO Express, YTO Express, Yunda Express, ZTO Express, TTK Express) were over one million. With the investment of logistics companies, online retailers can delivery their packages to tier-1 & 2 & 3 cities in 2 days and lower tier cities in 4 days.
Also read: Alipay’s Off-line Strategy Worked on Double 12 Shopping Day

In Oct 2014, total online advertising spend of consumer electronic brands exceeded RMB93.06 million (US$15.19 million) in China.

Among all the consumer electronic brands, Haier spent RMB15.37 million ($2.5 million) on online advertising in October, ranking first, followed by Microsoft and Midea according to data from iResearch.

Web portal, online video platforms, and IT website are the top three ad placement channels for consumer electronic companies in China in October 2014. The advertising spend on web portal exceeded RMB35.59 million (US$5.8 million), accounting for 38.2% of the total spend, followed by online video (23.7%) and IT website (7.8%).

Also read: China 3C Home Appliance B2C Market in Q3 2014

In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China online shopping market was RMB691.41 billion (US$112.69 billion) with an increase of 49.8% year on year. Total retail value exceeded RMB6.5 trillion (US$1.05 trillion) and China online shopping accounted for 10.6% of total consumer retail market according to data from National Bureau of Statistics of China.

China e-commerce companies are now not only optimizing logistics and after-sale services, but also actively making efforts in tier-3 & tier-4 cities even in rural China. Besides, international strategy and mobile shopping become new strength in online shopping market in China.

The online transactions generated by counties and villages in north China, central China and south China, have shown stronger growth momentum, accounting for 30% of the overall online transactions made by counties and villages in 2013 in China.

Total transaction value of China B2C market was RMB305.38 billion (US$49.77 billion), representing 44.2% in online shopping market in Q3 2014. China B2C market value in Q3 2014 increased by 38.8% from the same period of prior year and increased by 70.4% year on year, much more rapid than growth rate of C2C market.

Total transaction value of China mother care market exceeded RMB23.48 billion and China 3C home appliance B2C market was RMB107.88 billion; China clothing B2C market was RMB91.62 billion ($14.91 billion) with an increase of 54.2% from the same period of prior year according to data from EnfoDesk. All these added powerful strength for rapid growth of China online shopping market in Q3 2014.

China C2C market is featured with various categories and large number of products which can meet online shoppers’ personalized needs. E-commerce also pay attention to C2C market. Paipai.com, part of Jingdong, is launching micro-shop platform for both business and individual sellers targeting C2C mobile shopping market. China B2C and C2C markets will both develop steadily.

In China B2C market, Tmall represented 57.6% market share by transaction value in Q3 2014, ranking top, followed by Jingdong(19.3%) and Suning(4%). In terms of online shopping websites with self-operated products, Jingdong accounted for 51.9% market share, followed by Suning and Vipshop in Q3 2014. Find out more on B2C performance in Q3 2014 here.

With Alibaba and Jingdong’s IPO, their standings have been confirmed in China online shopping market. Other e-commerce companies are positively making great efforts.

Related to Q3 2014 Performance in online shopping: Jingdong, Alibaba, Dangdang, Vipshop, GOME.

Also read: Chinese Consumers STRONG Intention for Online Purchase with Higher Buying Rates Than Browsing

In China mobile phone B2C market, Jingdong, Tmall, Suning, Yihaodian and Dangdang accounted for over 90% of market share by sales volume in Q3 2014. Sales volume of Jingdong and Tmall combined accounted for over 80% market share; and Jingdong accounted for 53%.

By sales value, Jingdong, Tmall and Suning together accounted for over 80% in China mobile phone B2C market in Q3 2014. Jingdong ranked top in China mobile phone B2C market by sales volume and by sales value in Q3 2014.

From different price ranges of China mobile phones, 30.4% market share by sales value of Jingdong were from mobile phones priced between 1,000 and 2,000 yuan; 22.2% were from ones between 2,000 and 3,000 yuan.

There were over 250 mobile phone brands in China mobile phone B2C market in Q3 2014 and total transaction value was RMB10.2 billion ($1.66 billion). Huawei, Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi accounted for over 60% of market share by sales value and Huawei ranked top, followed by Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi according to iResearch. The competition in China mobile phone B2C market is fierce.

Only Huawei, Samsung and Xiaomi each had over 10% market share by sales volume in Q3 2014. Among China mobile phone brands with sales value over RMB100 million ($16.35 million), Apple, LG, Sony, OnePlus, HTC, Nubia, Meizu and Samsung were ones with high average price. As Coolpad mobile phone’s price were lower than average price in China mobile phone B2C market in Q3 2014, it’s the fifth largest mobile brand by sales value though its sale volume was fourth.

Also read: PwC: 77% Chinese Buying Products on Mobile Phones

In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China mother care market exceeded RMB23.48 billion ($3.82 billion) with an increase of 129% from the same period in 2013.

Tmall represented 55.5% market share by transaction value, ranking top in China mother care market in Q3 2014, followed by Jingdong and Dangdang. Japanese brand Merris was the best seller in Tmall‘s baby care category with a total sales value of RMB32.97 million ($5.37 million) in September 2014.

China’s professional mother care products sprang up from recent two years and its great power generated from post-80s consumers in China, who have high salary and mature online shopping habit. As post-80s and post-90s consumers are reaching marriage and childbearing age, their demand for mother care products will increase which further drive China mother care market’s rapid growth.

At present, China mother care B2C e-commerce market is still at early stage where consumers are cultivating their shopping habits. Different B2C e-commerce companies are exploring business models, such as products with special offers, O2O model and mothers’ online community. On desktop, online community’s UVs exceeded 360 million with an increase of 15.5% YoY in August 2014. Online Community will be more powerful in China social media for Chinese moms.

Also read: INFOGRAPHIC: China’s Top 30 B2C Websites

In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China 3C home appliance B2C market was RMB107.88 billion ($17.56 billion) with an increase of 67.9% from the same period of the prior year.

In Q3 2014, Suning launched new channels of “Big party” & “Shanpai” on its platform which drove up its sales. Overall, China 3C home appliance B2C market had stable growth in Q3 2014. In category of major home appliance and kitchen appliance, Midea ranked top among all the brands on Tmall/Taobao in September 2014.

Jingdong represented 36% market share in Q3 2014, followed by Tmall and Sunning.

Here are the highlights in China 3C home appliance B2C market:

1. There’s rapid growth in traditional home appliance, such as refrigerator, washing machine, air condition and FPD (Flat Panel Display). The demand for dust purification equipment, personal care equipment and functional kitchen appliance in China is increasing nowadays.
2. China 3C home appliance B2C e-commerce companies have high standards about delivery, home installation and after-sales service. For example, Suning and Gome have complete service system for online selling. Tmall purchased RRS.com (a website of Haier Group) which strengthened home appliance delivery service. Jingdong not only has self-logistics system but also provides extra service like “refund goods within 30 days without a reason”.
3. Penetration of online shopping for major home appliance is still low and there is great potential in tier-3 & tier-4 and lower cities in China. Besides, the competition among China home appliance e-commerce companies will be more fierce.

Also read: INFOGRAPHIC: China’s Top 30 B2C Websites

In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China clothing B2C market was RMB91.62 billion ($14.91 billion) with an increase of 54.2% from the same period of prior year according to data from EnfoDesk.

Tmall represented 73.4% market share by transaction value in Q3, remaining top in China clothing B2C market. Jingdong kept working on project of “Shang Jingdong” in Q3 which made it to 5.5% market share. Jingdong surpassed Vipshop, ranking second in Q3 2014. Total transaction value of China online shopping market was RMB691.41 billion (US$112.55 billion) with an increase of 49.8% year on year in Q3, which was much more than transaction value in Q2.

Nowadays, China B2C clothing market’s development is relatively mature. Clothing is an active vertical among online goods. In Q3, various e-commerce enterprises made great efforts competing in this vertical.

Clothing is a category with high net profit and potential retention; and it accounts for major revenue for e-commerce companies in China. Four leading online retail websites in China, Tmall, Jingdong, Dangdang and Vipshop, are now all promoting heavily the clothing and apparel vertical and associating their brand with “fashion”. China clothing B2C market tends to be featured with more elements of fashion and young.

Also read: Stats of Top Selling Brands on Taobao/Tmall in 18 Categories in Sep 2014

In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China third-party online payment market exceeded RMB2,015.43 billion (US$328.1 billion) with increase of 41.9% year on year and 9.5% quarter on quarter.

In Q3, traditional online payment related industries like air ticket booking, online gaming…all had increase in total online payment transaction value.

In Q3 2014, total concierge transaction value of China UnionPay was RMB842.67 billion (US$137.18 billion) with increase of 9.3% QoQ and 79.8% YoY. With rapid growth of China third-party online payment market, China UnionPay plays an important role in standardizing the market.

In Q3 2014, Alipay accounted for 49.2% in China third-party online payment market, followed by TenPay (19.4%), Unionpay Merchants Services (11.6%) and 99Bill (6.9%).

As end of Q1 2014, Tencent had made cooperation with JD to integrate B2C and C2C business with each other. This cooperation made slight change to online shopping market. Alibaba still remained its leader status in Q3 as its stable online shopping profit as well its IPO; and Alipay’s market share had slight increase in Q3 while TenPay had a decrease. 99Bill and Unionpay Merchants Service benefited from Jingdong due to their cooperation relationship.

Total concierge transaction value of China third-party online payment market exceeded RMB2,627.3 billion (US$427.7 billion) with an increase of 14.3% quarter on quarter in Q3 2014 according to data of EnfoDesk.

Alipay, China UnionPay and TenPay represented 37.31%, 32.07% and 15.06% respectively in China third-party online payment market by concierge transaction value in Q3.

In Q3 2014, total settlement transaction value of China third-party online payment market was RMB2,237.6 billion (US$364.29 billion). The top three third-party online payment providers were Alipay, TenPay and China UnionPay Merchants Service.

Mobile payment is growing more and more popular as mobile internet and e-commerce developed, Alipay ranked top in China mobile payment market in Q2 2014, accounting for 79.9% by total transaction value, followed by Tenpay and Lakala according to iResearch data.

In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China third-party mobile payment market was RMB1,433.27 billion (US$233.24 billion) with an increase of 415.5% from the same period of prior year. The transaction value mainly generated from mobile e-commerce, mobile group buying, mobile business trip and mobile-related consumption.

Alipay remained top in third-party mobile payment market by transaction value in Q3 2014, followed by Tenpay and Lakala.

Due to the popularity of Wechat payment since the former three quarters in 2014, Tenpay’s market share had a big rise in Q3 2014. Lakala’s transaction value kept stable by Q3 2014.

Having gone through the finance fluctuation in first half of 2014, mobile finance went stable in Q3 2014, of which mobile payment representing from 35% to 40%.

Also read: China Top 5 Online Payment Mobile Apps in Sep 2014