China is going digital very quickly. By 2016, the country will have more than 730 million Internet users and more than 380 million online shoppers, up from 460 million and 145 million, respectively, in 2010. Even China’s lower-tier cities are migrating swiftly to digital technologies. More than 16 million netizens from the country’s tier 3 and 4 cities are using mobile Internet, 80 percent of all Chinese netizens accept mobile payments, and 100 percent have used weibo (Twitter-like microblogs). Finally, as each new digital platform has been added, adoption rates have gained momentum, rising with increasing speed
China’s mobile Internet users are now ~80% of total China Internet users. More critical mass for mobile web than anywhere, and leading mobile commerce revolution.
Six of top 10 Internet properties “made in USA”—down from 9 of top 10 last year—with more than 86% of their users outside America. “China rising fast.”
For approximately 60 percent of regular online shoppers in China, the Internet has become the primary source for learning about products, brands, and prices, according to our research. An additional 30 percent regard online and offline information sources as equally important.
Microblogging services such as Sina Weibo have grown in popularity. To date, however, their importance as a source of product or brand information has been mixed. Around 80 percent of our respondents reported that they followed 18 enterprise or company-run weibo on average, but fewer than 20 percent of these consumers said they paid much attention to those blog.
Weibo run by celebrities, however, are of much greater interest and importance to consumers. Not only do consumers follow more celebrities—on average, consumers followed more than 30 celebrity weibo—but they also seek to learn more information about and read opinions from their favorite celebrities.
All of the behaviors in the purchase funnel—notably learning, purchase, and advocacy—are increasingly conducted via mobile Web. A combination of inexpensive hardware and well-designed ecosystems has led to high mobile penetration in China, particularly on social networking sites. Smartphone sales exceed those of feature phones, and the leading social-networking sites in China are well suited to the “mobile native.”
The shoppers analyzed in our research spent an average of 82 minutes online each day via mobile and tablet platforms. Eighty percent had used location-based services, nearly half had scanned shopping-related QR codes, and one-third had made purchases via mobile device
China should be 70% urban by 2030. Almost 1 billion of China’s 1.4 billion.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.