How China became the world's e-commerce king

"For anyone with an Amazon Prime account, the idea that online shopping could get any easier might seem like an unlikely proposition. Yet of course we know it can. Free two-day delivery was exciting at first. Until they introduced one-day. Then same-day. Successful e-commerce is about more than just delivery, however. It's about the shopping experience itself and the ease with which we can find and buy items. The better the experience, the more people will buy."

"The US stats are generally mirrored in most major economies with one notable exception. In China the 2015 total retail sales to e-commerce split was approximately 85 to 15. To put that in perspective, if the US had matched these figures online sales would have more than doubled to $717 billion. (For those who are counting, China's total retail sales for 2015, according to eMarketer, were $4.227 trillion, with e-commerce sales representing $634 billion.) So what makes China the outlier?"

"The first thing to understand about Chinese e-commerce is its unique degree of centralization. Unlike in the U.S., where all major retailers and many of the minor ones operate their e-commerce sites independently, in China most retailers big and small operate as storefronts on Alibaba's Tmall.com (business-to-consumer site). In fact, more than 75 percent of Chinese e-commerce is transacted through Alibaba, which includes Tmall and sister site Taobao (Alibaba's consumer-to--consumer sales site)."

Online shopping convenience has progressed from free two-day delivery to one-day and same-day services. E-commerce success depends on the shopping experience and the ease of finding and purchasing items. U.S. online shoppers spent $340 billion in 2015 while total U.S. retail sales were $4.785 trillion, producing about a 7% e-commerce share. China showed about a 15% e-commerce share in 2015, with $634 billion online sales of $4.227 trillion total. If the U.S. matched China’s rate, online sales would have reached about $717 billion. Chinese e-commerce is highly centralized, with over 75% transacted through Alibaba's platforms.

Read at The Drum