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THE Internet is old news. To say the Internet has revolutionized an industry or a sector is to be at best five years – and at worst a decade – behind the times.
Or so you’d think. Look a bit closer， and you’ll see the Internet hasn’t done changing the game just yet. A number of industries did actually resist early onslaughts by the Big Connect. Retail was a standout – many consumers continued to head for the shops and malls to try on a new pair of shoes or to choose from halls full of white goods.
Nevertheless online retailers， or “e-tailers，” have slowly been capturing market share from their brick-and-mortar competitors. These days it’s safe to say that anything can be bought online – from cinema tickets and underwear to building materials and flowers.
Like most industries in China， the growth of online shopping for day-to-day items has been rapid. A host of Chinese Internet portals， chief among which is Taobao， have grown into national economic heavyweights in a few years. They attract customers with safety guarantees， prompt delivery and， of course， rock-bottom prices.
Perhaps more so than anywhere， online shopping is extremely common in China’s big cities. Consumers have taken to “e-tail” with alacrity and reap the benefits of an increasingly competitive sector.
Taobao This， Taobao That
Taobao， literally meaning “search for treasure，” is China’s biggest online shopping portal. Particularly popular among the youth， the site enjoys such widespread use that， like Google in English， it’s used as a verb. These days， spending thousands of Renminbi on the site is the rule， not the exception.
Ms. Li Lin， a white-collar worker in Beijing， is a case in point. Early in 2013， she received her statement of account for 2012 from the website， and was surprised to see she’d spent RMB 13，178 for the year. She outspent 85.4 percent of the website’s customers in the capital. Her statement of account also de-tailed her spending habits and the time she spent on the site.
Ms. Li fi rst “Taobao-ed” in 2011 after she hurt her leg and was confi ned to her home. She quickly found that everything she could ever want – from daily necessities to things that were hard to fi nd in stores， such as dental water jets and picnic baskets – was available for immediate purchase. She also looked beyond the portal and found top-end brands all had webstores from which she could order directly. What’s more， she could compare prices between online stores with the click of a mouse –something that would require hours of walking in the department stores. Li was hooked. Shen Hao is another fan of online shopping. Born in the 1980s， he’s a classic “millennial” consumer， focusing on new gadgets and trending items. But he also searches out day-to-day items online – “I buy what I need，” he says. All online shoppers should keyword search， read user reviews on products and compare several stores， he advises. His Taobao statement of account reveals he’s bought water taps， a sofa， wallpaper， lamps and a bookcase， all of which， he says， are for his new home. No doubt he’s saved considerable time and money buying all these furnishings online rather than traipsing around specialty stores.
Some people take the new habit too far. “Sitting in front of my computer， I can’t help opening up Taobao and searching for something new to buy. It’s an inseparable part of my day now. I’m attracted to discounts and free-postage goods，” says Hu Jie. Hers is a common problem that comes with sitting behind a computer at work all day. Spendthrift habits can also be exacerbated in a cashless shopping environment.
“Buying one item can be cheap， but if you’re purchasing every day， the expenses pile up，” Hu says. After seeing her statement of account for 2012， her husband set her a budget of RMB 700 per month for her online shopping activities.
Taobao is owned by the Alibaba Group， a private conglomerate based in Hangzhou. It is chaired by Jack Ma， whose personal net worth stands at over US $3 billion， according to Forbes. Through its exclusively Internet-based business holdings Alibaba has grown into a domestic giant. Forbes last year forecast that the company could be worth US $150 billion by 2016.
Alibaba recently announced that 2012 business transactions on taobao. com and tmall.com （a Taobao offshoot） reached RMB 1 trillion. This represents fi ve percent of total retail sales of consumer goods in China. Consumers aged between 25 and 35 constituted 59 percent of the two sites’ customers. Those aged below 24 accounted for 16 percent. Fully 40 percent sales in clothes， shoes， bags and cosmetics in the mainland were transacted on Taobao and Tmall， representing RMB 300 billion.
“Data from the National Bureau of Statistics display that in the fields of cosmetics and communications items the two websites accounted for 38 and 37 percent of sales respectively in the whole of China. These are remarkable figures that show Taobao and Tmall have become the main consumption channel for the bulk of the Chinese people in some aspects，” said Che Pinjue， head of Taobao consumer research intelligence department.
Reshuffl ing in the Group Purchase Market
Though Taobao dominates， other websites have sprung up to provide goods and services in niche markets – which in themselves can be massively lucrative given the size of China’s economy.
“Group purchasing” is one such niche that peaked in China in early 2010. By the end of that year US $500 million of capital had been invested in the burgeoning sector. Sequoia Capital， a U.S.-based venture capital firm， was an early investor in China， and it was soon joined by a host of followers including Northern Light Venture Capital， GSR Ventures and CDH Investments. Profi ts were relatively high – around 10 percent – in the sector in the early days. But as the number of group purchase portals ballooned to 5，000 in 2011， the average profi t margin fell to one to three percent， and some even ran in the red.
The intensifying competition in the sector triggered a weeding-out. According to statistics from tuan800.com， a group purchase search website， at the end of 2012 the ranks of group purchasing websites had shrunk to below 3，000， with roughly six such websites vanishing everyday.
Zhang Bo’s first contact with group purchase was in the summer of 2010 when a new cinema opened. She spent RMB 50 for two regular RMB 100 tickets， including drinks and snacks. She informed all her relatives and friends about the bargain， and word obviously spread， because by the end of the day the discounted tickets – all 10，000 of them – had sold out.
Zhang is now a regular on group purchase websites. She often makes more than one purchase a day. Among her recent buys are buffet dinners， skiing lift passes， hot spring resort coupons and theater tickets.
She does have some complaints， however. “Though the prices for group purchases are low， sometimes the quality of the purchases is not satisfactory. For example， the meals might not be very good， and inconvenient locations can also lead to high commuting costs. Sometimes it’s just not worth it.”
As some group purchases have gone out of business， the focus of the sector has shifted away from sheer price competition toward better quality services.
As one industry insider said， there’s no limit to what websites can offer： there should be deals not just on cheaper services， but also on better ones. Prices are not the sole lure， and customers have begun choosing websites based on their actual needs rather than just buying wherever the bargains are. In the end， it’s a good sign for the industry. Increasing the range of goods and services on offer is vital for every group purchase website. Gone are the days when there was just one deal one day on one website. Tuan800.com revealed that in 2010 alone the monthly number of group purchase products available soared from less than 100，000 to over 300，000.
Ms. Zhang argues that more and more choices and extending the validity of deals to weeks or even months are making group purchase buying the fi rst source people turn to when looking for deals.
E-Commerce for the Real Economy
In February of 2013， Suning Appliance Co.， Ltd， China’s largest electric appliances retailer by sales， announced that it had changed its name to Suning Commerce Group Co.， Ltd， and revealed that its future mode of operations would be one combining online retailing with traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
Recently suning.com has widened its online shelves to include books， dayto-day goods， furnishings and virtual services. It is the latest site to take on Taobao and 360buy， and is already capturing market share. Suning’s rise is good news for consumers and ensures Taobao’s large market share won’t turn into a monopoly.
Low prices online don’t mean the end of sales. On November 11， 2012， now jokingly known as Single’s Day among Chinese netizens， Alibaba and other online stores jointly held a “sales carnival.” The sales were announced abruptly online， and within a minute， 10 million people had logged on to Taobao and Tmall. In eight hours， sales online had reached RMB 5 billion； in 13 hours they’d reached RMB 10 billion. At day’s end， revenue had topped RMB 19.1 billion – a 260 percent increase on the daily average and a 24-hour-period record.
Alibaba Group President Jack Ma sees online business as the future of“real” business. The traditional business model， he says， is already on the back foot. “[What we are engaged in] is a war against this traditional business model. We are forcing manufacturing and traditional merchants to adapt. Changes have already begun.”
That much should be obvious. With RMB 1 trillion in sales last year， Taobao has already earned itself a place in China’s growing consumer society. But whether e-commerce will wholly replace the brick-and-mortar tradition is an open bet. In fact， Jack Ma and Wang Jianlin of the Dalian Wanda Group， a mainly traditional retailer， made just such a bet at an awards ceremony that quickly became famous on the mainland. Ma， of course， was adamant that the online realm would replace the shop front， while Wang argued that the present low proportion of consumers who engage in big-purchase online shopping， the irreplaceable value of the retail channels and the more active measures retail businesses take to court consumers would ensure the shop front a dominant role in the future. They called it the trillion RMB bet – to the winner would go the market spoils –and agreed to review their predictions in 10 years.
We’ll find out who wins soon enough， but surely not even Wang could deny that online shopping is a growing trend in China. But that doesn’t mean operators of traditional premises are out of the game： they recognize that the two sides of the economy are by no means mutually exclusive， and are expanding their own online presence. Suning is doing it， and so is Wang Jianlin’s own Wanda Group. At the end of the day， let the tycoons compete among themselves. It’s the consumers who will ultimately benefit.
Or so you’d think. Look a bit closer， and you’ll see the Internet hasn’t done changing the game just yet. A number of industries did actually resist early onslaughts by the Big Connect. Retail was a standout – many consumers continued to head for the shops and malls to try on a new pair of shoes or to choose from halls full of white goods.
Nevertheless online retailers， or “e-tailers，” have slowly been capturing market share from their brick-and-mortar competitors. These days it’s safe to say that anything can be bought online – from cinema tickets and underwear to building materials and flowers.
Like most industries in China， the growth of online shopping for day-to-day items has been rapid. A host of Chinese Internet portals， chief among which is Taobao， have grown into national economic heavyweights in a few years. They attract customers with safety guarantees， prompt delivery and， of course， rock-bottom prices.
Perhaps more so than anywhere， online shopping is extremely common in China’s big cities. Consumers have taken to “e-tail” with alacrity and reap the benefits of an increasingly competitive sector.
Taobao This， Taobao That
Taobao， literally meaning “search for treasure，” is China’s biggest online shopping portal. Particularly popular among the youth， the site enjoys such widespread use that， like Google in English， it’s used as a verb. These days， spending thousands of Renminbi on the site is the rule， not the exception.
Ms. Li Lin， a white-collar worker in Beijing， is a case in point. Early in 2013， she received her statement of account for 2012 from the website， and was surprised to see she’d spent RMB 13，178 for the year. She outspent 85.4 percent of the website’s customers in the capital. Her statement of account also de-tailed her spending habits and the time she spent on the site.
Ms. Li fi rst “Taobao-ed” in 2011 after she hurt her leg and was confi ned to her home. She quickly found that everything she could ever want – from daily necessities to things that were hard to fi nd in stores， such as dental water jets and picnic baskets – was available for immediate purchase. She also looked beyond the portal and found top-end brands all had webstores from which she could order directly. What’s more， she could compare prices between online stores with the click of a mouse –something that would require hours of walking in the department stores. Li was hooked. Shen Hao is another fan of online shopping. Born in the 1980s， he’s a classic “millennial” consumer， focusing on new gadgets and trending items. But he also searches out day-to-day items online – “I buy what I need，” he says. All online shoppers should keyword search， read user reviews on products and compare several stores， he advises. His Taobao statement of account reveals he’s bought water taps， a sofa， wallpaper， lamps and a bookcase， all of which， he says， are for his new home. No doubt he’s saved considerable time and money buying all these furnishings online rather than traipsing around specialty stores.
Some people take the new habit too far. “Sitting in front of my computer， I can’t help opening up Taobao and searching for something new to buy. It’s an inseparable part of my day now. I’m attracted to discounts and free-postage goods，” says Hu Jie. Hers is a common problem that comes with sitting behind a computer at work all day. Spendthrift habits can also be exacerbated in a cashless shopping environment.
“Buying one item can be cheap， but if you’re purchasing every day， the expenses pile up，” Hu says. After seeing her statement of account for 2012， her husband set her a budget of RMB 700 per month for her online shopping activities.
Taobao is owned by the Alibaba Group， a private conglomerate based in Hangzhou. It is chaired by Jack Ma， whose personal net worth stands at over US $3 billion， according to Forbes. Through its exclusively Internet-based business holdings Alibaba has grown into a domestic giant. Forbes last year forecast that the company could be worth US $150 billion by 2016.
Alibaba recently announced that 2012 business transactions on taobao. com and tmall.com （a Taobao offshoot） reached RMB 1 trillion. This represents fi ve percent of total retail sales of consumer goods in China. Consumers aged between 25 and 35 constituted 59 percent of the two sites’ customers. Those aged below 24 accounted for 16 percent. Fully 40 percent sales in clothes， shoes， bags and cosmetics in the mainland were transacted on Taobao and Tmall， representing RMB 300 billion.
“Data from the National Bureau of Statistics display that in the fields of cosmetics and communications items the two websites accounted for 38 and 37 percent of sales respectively in the whole of China. These are remarkable figures that show Taobao and Tmall have become the main consumption channel for the bulk of the Chinese people in some aspects，” said Che Pinjue， head of Taobao consumer research intelligence department.
Reshuffl ing in the Group Purchase Market
Though Taobao dominates， other websites have sprung up to provide goods and services in niche markets – which in themselves can be massively lucrative given the size of China’s economy.
“Group purchasing” is one such niche that peaked in China in early 2010. By the end of that year US $500 million of capital had been invested in the burgeoning sector. Sequoia Capital， a U.S.-based venture capital firm， was an early investor in China， and it was soon joined by a host of followers including Northern Light Venture Capital， GSR Ventures and CDH Investments. Profi ts were relatively high – around 10 percent – in the sector in the early days. But as the number of group purchase portals ballooned to 5，000 in 2011， the average profi t margin fell to one to three percent， and some even ran in the red.
The intensifying competition in the sector triggered a weeding-out. According to statistics from tuan800.com， a group purchase search website， at the end of 2012 the ranks of group purchasing websites had shrunk to below 3，000， with roughly six such websites vanishing everyday.
Zhang Bo’s first contact with group purchase was in the summer of 2010 when a new cinema opened. She spent RMB 50 for two regular RMB 100 tickets， including drinks and snacks. She informed all her relatives and friends about the bargain， and word obviously spread， because by the end of the day the discounted tickets – all 10，000 of them – had sold out.
Zhang is now a regular on group purchase websites. She often makes more than one purchase a day. Among her recent buys are buffet dinners， skiing lift passes， hot spring resort coupons and theater tickets.
She does have some complaints， however. “Though the prices for group purchases are low， sometimes the quality of the purchases is not satisfactory. For example， the meals might not be very good， and inconvenient locations can also lead to high commuting costs. Sometimes it’s just not worth it.”
As some group purchases have gone out of business， the focus of the sector has shifted away from sheer price competition toward better quality services.
As one industry insider said， there’s no limit to what websites can offer： there should be deals not just on cheaper services， but also on better ones. Prices are not the sole lure， and customers have begun choosing websites based on their actual needs rather than just buying wherever the bargains are. In the end， it’s a good sign for the industry. Increasing the range of goods and services on offer is vital for every group purchase website. Gone are the days when there was just one deal one day on one website. Tuan800.com revealed that in 2010 alone the monthly number of group purchase products available soared from less than 100，000 to over 300，000.
Ms. Zhang argues that more and more choices and extending the validity of deals to weeks or even months are making group purchase buying the fi rst source people turn to when looking for deals.
E-Commerce for the Real Economy
In February of 2013， Suning Appliance Co.， Ltd， China’s largest electric appliances retailer by sales， announced that it had changed its name to Suning Commerce Group Co.， Ltd， and revealed that its future mode of operations would be one combining online retailing with traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
Recently suning.com has widened its online shelves to include books， dayto-day goods， furnishings and virtual services. It is the latest site to take on Taobao and 360buy， and is already capturing market share. Suning’s rise is good news for consumers and ensures Taobao’s large market share won’t turn into a monopoly.
Low prices online don’t mean the end of sales. On November 11， 2012， now jokingly known as Single’s Day among Chinese netizens， Alibaba and other online stores jointly held a “sales carnival.” The sales were announced abruptly online， and within a minute， 10 million people had logged on to Taobao and Tmall. In eight hours， sales online had reached RMB 5 billion； in 13 hours they’d reached RMB 10 billion. At day’s end， revenue had topped RMB 19.1 billion – a 260 percent increase on the daily average and a 24-hour-period record.
Alibaba Group President Jack Ma sees online business as the future of“real” business. The traditional business model， he says， is already on the back foot. “[What we are engaged in] is a war against this traditional business model. We are forcing manufacturing and traditional merchants to adapt. Changes have already begun.”
That much should be obvious. With RMB 1 trillion in sales last year， Taobao has already earned itself a place in China’s growing consumer society. But whether e-commerce will wholly replace the brick-and-mortar tradition is an open bet. In fact， Jack Ma and Wang Jianlin of the Dalian Wanda Group， a mainly traditional retailer， made just such a bet at an awards ceremony that quickly became famous on the mainland. Ma， of course， was adamant that the online realm would replace the shop front， while Wang argued that the present low proportion of consumers who engage in big-purchase online shopping， the irreplaceable value of the retail channels and the more active measures retail businesses take to court consumers would ensure the shop front a dominant role in the future. They called it the trillion RMB bet – to the winner would go the market spoils –and agreed to review their predictions in 10 years.
We’ll find out who wins soon enough， but surely not even Wang could deny that online shopping is a growing trend in China. But that doesn’t mean operators of traditional premises are out of the game： they recognize that the two sides of the economy are by no means mutually exclusive， and are expanding their own online presence. Suning is doing it， and so is Wang Jianlin’s own Wanda Group. At the end of the day， let the tycoons compete among themselves. It’s the consumers who will ultimately benefit.