Ecommerce Turns into Mcommerce in China

The shift of ecommerce sales from the desktop to mobile devices has been under way in China for a couple of years. And according to data from the end of 2015, the tilt toward mobile is clear.

Analysys International Enfodesk reported that nearly two-thirds of retail and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) ecommerce sales in China in Q4 2015 occurred via mobile. That was up from 55.5% the previous quarter—the first time mobile accounted for a majority of ecommerce sales in the country.

2015 may have been a turning point, but the rise of mobile has been ongoing since early 2013, when 9.0% of retail and C2C ecommerce sales occurred via mobile devices.

eMarketer estimates that mcommerce sales were just shy of the 50% mark as a share of ecommerce sales for the full year last year.

This year, eMarketer forecasts retail mcommerce sales in China will grow by 51.4%, to reach 55.5% of retail ecommerce sales in the country this year. That will still amount to just 10.9% of total retail sales, however.

By 2019, the end of our forecast period, mobile users in China will spend nearly $1.5 trillion on mobile commerce, which will amount to nearly a quarter of the country’s retail market.