MobilityTechzone

Latest News

TMCNet: China Focus: Chinese job seekers open e-shops amid employment pressure (2)

[February 18, 2009]

China Focus: Chinese job seekers open e-shops amid employment pressure (2)

Feb 18, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Taobao claims to be Asia's largest consumer auction site. Last year, it had a total consumer-to-consumer transaction volume of 98 billion yuan, more than double that of 2007, which accounted for some 82 percent of the country's total C2C transaction volume.

With it, Taobao outsold all individual retailers in the country including Bailian Group and Wal-Mart.

The other 18 percent market share went to other major consumer auction sites such as Tom Eachnet, a joint venture between TOM Online and eBay, and Paipai, the online trading arm of China's largest instant messaging firm Tencent.

According to an industry report released by the Shanghai-based iResearch Consulting Group, an Internet market researcher, China's online transaction volume last year rocketed 128.5 percent year-on-year to 128.2 billion yuan, which was 65 times more than that of 2003. That meant every Chinese spent more than 1,600 yuan last year on online purchases, 582 yuan more than the previous year.

The report said a quarter of China's nearly 300 million netizens took to online shopping last year. Most consumers bought things at C2C websites, with less than 10 percent of them doing online shopping at business-to-consumer (B2C) auction sites.

Zhang Yanping, writer of the report, said the advantages of online shopping, such as lower product prices and convenience, became even more evident during the financial crisis.

"During hard times, people are often faced with more working and living pressure, and they tend to consume less. Internet shopping could help them cut expenditure and save energy," she said.

According to Zhang, the financial crisis was affecting individual sellers, particularly those selling luxurious goods, but it might probably provide another opportunity for China's entire online shopping industry after the epidemic of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in early 2003.

She projected a growth of 80 percent and more than 230 billion yuan of transaction volume this year for the industry.

During the SARS period, many Chinese avoided public places including shops and markets for fears of being infected by the deadly virus, so they first began to buy things online. It was then that Taobao was set up.

Zhang said the booming development of the C2C business not only provided a new choice for consumers, but also created a lot of jobs. Amid heavy employment pressure, young Chinese like Yang and Wei put their faith in the C2C online shopping.

An iResearch survey, conducted in December among Taobao's sellers, showed nearly 30 percent of them opened shops last year.

And about two thirds of respondents cited "low investment" as the top reason to open e-shops.

According to Taobao's spokesman Lu Weixing, by the end of 2008, more than 570,000 people nationwide were working for Taobao's e-shopping business. That was equal to the number of new jobs created last year in Shanghai.

Lu said more than half of the 570,000 people are aged between 23 and 33, and opening e-shops was gaining popularity among college students and graduates.

About two thirds of Taobao's employees had a monthly income ranging between 1,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan, and only two percent of them earned more than 6,000 yuan every month. Taobao said online shopping currently could only provide jobs, instead of producing high-incomes.

Lu also said Taobao had so far created more than one million jobs indirectly, most of which were in such industries as logistics, finance and marketing. Enditem NOTE: Yang Zi's e-shop is available at: http://store.taobao.com/shop/view_shop-10e8f34af10b100e50e0d6c493340b77.htm Wei Xiu's is available at: http://store.taobao.com/shop/view_shop-06921a5b45fb17fbc8d5cc9363bbf080.htm

[ Back To MobilityTechzone Homepage's Homepage ]
FOLLOW MobilityTechzone

Subscribe to MobilityTechzone eNews

MobilityTechzone eNews delivers the latest news impacting technology in the Wireless industry each week. Sign up to receive FREE breaking news today!
FREE eNewsletter
Interview with VPI Systems
TMC's Rich Tehrani speaks with Russ Green, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Management for VPI Systems
Interview with Thrupoint
TMC's Paula Bernier speaks with David Jodoin, Chief Strategy Officer for Thrupoint
Interview with Nuance
TMC's Erik Linask speaks with Christy Clark Murfitt, Sr Manager of Solutions Mktg, Enterprise Division for Nuance
Interview with Abukai
TMC's Erik Linask speaks with Philipp Schloter, President & CEO of Abukai
Interview with DragonWave
TMC’s Stefanie Mosca speaks with Greg Friesen, VP, Product Management of DragonWave