Chinese Consumer Trust Powering Hidden
Champions in B2C Sector
September 09, 2010 09:21 AM Eastern Daylight Time
BEIJING--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Growing trust among Chinese consumers is powering a new generation
of online retailers in the country, with trusted e-commerce websites unlocking consumers' growing spending power
and dominating their niches, according to a recent report by Z. H. STUDIO.
While it is no secret that China's overall population of internet users is growing fast – it currently stands at about 420
million – their main online activities had long been confined to entertainment and gaming.
But in the recent two years, the number of Chinese shoppers willing to buy products online reached a critical mass,
fueling the success of a handful of B2C websites that have quickly become "hidden champions" in vertical
marketplaces.
"E-commerce has lagged behind total internet development in China because of the make-up of internet users, who
are mostly aged under 30," said Peter Lu, managing partner of China Intelli Consulting. "Now it is the main focus."
Although the total value of goods bought over the internet in China was just 1% of the total value of goods bought
and sold in China in 2009, it is doubling every year and this rapid growth is predicted to continue for up to five years.
And that's good news for CEOs such as Zhao Cheng of Boheshop.com, which has carved out a successful niche
selling women's cosmetics and healthcare products over the internet.
Rapid urbanization is creating wealth, but it is also leading Chinese to have sedentary lives and eat more unhealthy
processed food. Some 10 million city-dwelling Chinese are becoming obese each year, according to surveys cited
by China Economic Review magazine.
As both wallets and waistlines expand, demand for slimming pills and nutritional supplements as well as anti-aging
products is on the rise, buoying Boheshop's sales.
Founded in 2007 with just 50,000 yuan ($7,300), Boheshop made 600,000 yuan ($90,000) in