Online shopping in China - missing facts
TweetA nice but short article about online shopping in China by the Economist (here) is good, but perhaps underestimates the importance of Taobao.
When we talk about ecommerce in the UK or US, there are a few giants (Amazon and ebay), but there are also numerous small retailers (myself included) who make up the long tail of the online ecosphere. But in China, there is really only one one ecommerce platform.
taobao.com is literally the only place where my wife and her friends buy goods online. There's a tiny smattering of purchases made through Groupon-style clones (it's called 团购), but this might be around 5% at most. The rest is done through Taobao.
And it's grown rapidly. In 2006 my wife spent 900 RMB on taobao.com - in 2011 she's spent over 75,000 RMB. Her individual income is 87,000 RMB a year, but together we buy clothes, cat-sand, imported foods, packaging for my business, furniture, christmas trees and more through various small taobao stores. Normally the golden rule of shopping is that you'll always get it cheaper on Taobao. Deliveries take 1-2 days to arrive at your door, and delivery costs are low (10-20 RMB).
Of my wife's friends, she's one of the lowest spenders. Another friend who only started using taobao this year has already spent 150,000 RMB in 11 months. I'd say we're all relatively well off, but this isn't excessive consumerism - it's just that a huge proportion of our wages are spent via taobao.
So it's an important part of the online ecosystem in China - small independent retailers (like my Chinese tea store) don't have the oxygen to breathe next to taobao.com