China Starts Buying (But Not Paying) Online

Online shopping is catching on in China and the country 'is poised to become a huge market for shopping in cyberspace', according to ACNielsen. Uniquely, China's buyers are most likely to pay by cash-on-delivery. As many as 63% of Internet users in the 38-country study said they had made at least one purchase online.

The twice-yearly global Online Consumer Opinion Survey polled over 21,100 respondents in Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America and South Africa regarding their last online purchase and the payment methods used and preferred.

At 7.9%, China's Internet penetration is low (source: China Internet Information Center), but unlike many other countries is skewed toward well-educated male teenagers or young people in their early twenties, most likely young students or those who just graduated from college, according to Nielsen. The most popular items purchased on the Internet by people in China are Books (56%), Videos / DVDs / Games (24%), Music (23%) and Clothing / Accessories / Shoes (23%). China is unique in having cash-on-delivery (34%) as the most used payment method for online purchases, followed by Bank Transfer (31%) with credit cards ranking only third (26%) and Money Transfer close behind on 23%.

'Youngsters form the majority of online shoppers in China, and not surprisingly, their shopping patterns have created a strong impact on the overall online shopping trend', commented Glen Murphy, MD of ACNielsen China. 'These finding are consistent with our recent regional and country-specific consumer studies, which indicated that a major concern in lesser developed markets is the safety of online - and offline - payment methods, while in more developed markets, online shoppers are demanding more sophisticated payment methods'.

Visa is the most used card for online purchases in Asia Pacific as a whole, but in China the local brand, China Union Pay, is used by over half of respondents (52%). ACNielsen is online at www.acnielsen.com.cn.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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