Women have become a driving force in the growth of China's online-to-offline (O2O) shopping sector, according to a study by Baidu Nuomi. (Photo : REUTERS)
Despite being a minority in the country’s Internet population, women have become a potent force behind the boom in China’s online-to-offline (O2O) shopping sector, China Daily reported.
A recent study on group buying by e-commerce website Baidu Nuomi showed that 62 percent of O2O revenues are generated by women, who now account for 46 percent of the country's Internet users.
Baidu Nuomi claimed that women accounts for a fifth of daily sales in the rapidly growing O2O market that allows online customers to pay online for bricks-and-mortar services, such as movie tickets and restaurant bookings.
According to Tang Lihua, a director at Baidu Nuomi, attracting and retaining female online shoppers has become critical for any O2O platform as what results showed.
"We plan to provide more baby-related and beauty-related services and products, for instance, in order to further grow our business, as we think that's likely to be strong selling point for women," Tang said.
Since the start of 2015, female O2O spending has far surpassed that by males, with the gap growing, particularly during major shopping events such as Qixi, Chinese Valentine's Day, the study showed.
The report said that in the beauty-related sector, women also outspent men in other lucrative areas, including gyms and leisure, and hotels.
Gao Shuang, an analyst with China Internet Network Information Center, said that the main simple reason is that women are more decisive when it comes to shopping.
"They are not only buying for themselves, they are also shopping for their parents, their husbands and children," Gao said, adding that women's pickiness is also driving up improvements in services and product innovation.
According to the center's statistics, the number of female online shoppers has risen to 180 million by the end of 2015, more than double the number in 2010.
Statistics also showed that female online shoppers spend 4.17 hours a day surfing the Internet, higher than the daily average of 3.74 hours spent by all Internet users in the country.
The top three O2O sellers for women are restaurants, travel spending and movie trips, the report said.
Zhou Shu, a senior executive at Yuxiang Renjia, a restaurant chain specialized in Sichuan dishes, noticed that when it comes to deciding where to eat, women have the stronger say.
"And they are more willing to try new services and new products," Zhou said. "Most importantly, though, they are happy to communicate and exchange their feedback after eating at a new restaurant, which makes them more influential in the O2O market."
