Consumers can use Alipay in China's wet markets. (Photo : Getty Images)
According to eMarketer, a digital research company, online sales in China is tremendous because the marketplace is centralized to Alibaba.
Sales through Alibaba accounts for 75 percent, which includes transactions through its affiliates Tmall and Taobao. Amazon.com, the largest e-commerce site in the U.S., only takes 26 percent of American online commerce.
Purchases done through customer's handheld devices are also predicted to increase. Researchers at eMarketer foresee that sales in China will reach $334 billion this year.
Monica Peart, the site's forecasting director, said, "An overwhelming majority of China's Internet users now regularly access the Internet via mobile phones."
There is 87.4 percent of users in China who use smartphones or tablets to buy online. Mobile device users in the U.S. comprise of 74.6 percent of U.S.'s Internet users.
The large proportion of smartphone users in China also indicated why e-commerce is widely used in the country.
E-commerce sites have a cheaper and easier way to advertise. Through various sites and Internet platforms, buyers can purchase products even without going to the site itself.
Payoneer, a B2B online payments company, agreed and said that e-commerce links business to customers that are hard to reach.
Scott Galit, CEO of Payoneer, said, "Instead of going through a brand or intermediary, they're able to leverage this marketplace as a new intermediary. A very powerful way to get into marketplaces around the world that otherwise would have been possible."
In the case of China, Alibaba can reach second to third tier areas and deliver goods. This way, consumers can order imported brands like Nike.
Amazon China is also setting a good reputation among online customers. Based on a survey conducted by Payoneer, most of 900 respondents from the mainland and Hong Kong prefer Amazon.cn than Alibaba.
The respondents said that they found Amazon to sell more quality products.
