When talking about e-commerce, China, the world’s biggest e-commerce market, only accounted for less than 1% of the global e-commerce market decades ago. And that was way, way lower than it is today. But what makes it so successful locally and internationally? 

Here are some of the reasons why.

1. Internet usage within the country has increased drastically 
Earlier this year, China recorded 1.02 billion internet users in the country, with Gen Zs accounting for 22% of the total active internet users population. With those figures, China exceeded the United States and India’s internet users combined, which paved the way for the country to provide more e-commerce opportunities.

2. A Shopaholic Nation, Offline and Online
When you talk about shopping both online and offline, you can’t be not talking about Chinese shoppers as the country recorded around 850 million people who have already bought products online. I mean, who wouldn’t want to establish an e-commerce business in a country with people like this, right? 

3. Lack of Brick-and-Mortar Stores in Lower Tier Cities
The physical presence of some of the biggest stores in China has been abundant in some of its biggest cities. But as a consequence, further areas inside the country lacked physical stores leaving people to have limited options. And to solve this problem, people switched to buying online to look for products and buy them without the need to travel too far. 

4. A Strong Mobile Penetration Rate 
Mobile phone usage has been popular among Chinese consumers, having a 59.9% mobile penetration rate. A number this huge can be a good indicator for brands who are planning to enter the e-commerce market of the country,  a great sign to understand the market and an assurance that someone out there will be browsing and searching for your product.