(L-R) Jack Ma, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group; Li Yanhong, CEO of Baidu.com; and Liu Qiangdong, CEO of JD.com, attend the 2014 World Internet Conference. (Photo : Getty Images)
The consumer shopping trend is still a mystery to companies across the globe. In China, JD.com and Alibaba Holdings, two of the biggest e-commerce companies, have found ways to obtain focused insights into the spending habits of shoppers.
It is reported that there are over $17 billion of online transactions in just one day in China, and they analyze this data to form indexes, which in turn help retailers make decisions.
According to Bloomberg, the monitoring, analysis and data collection of these companies produce indexes, which will make the lives of certain retailers easier.
JD.com produces different indexes, ranging from liquor purchases to the trending appliances that are selling.
Meanwhile, Alibaba, the dominant online marketplace in the country, is also planning to release its indexes.
Big companies like Starbucks and Walmart look at the insights and indexes in order for them to analyze how billions of people in China purchase.
Experts say that these indexes are exponentially better, as they serve a larger sample size compared to surveys. Hence, the surveys will matter most in China due to its rising number of online users that contribute to total online consumption.
It is reported that e-commerce accounts for more than 11 percent of the total consumption as online retail sales rise. It increased by nearly 26 percent during the past Double 11 Shopping Festival, wherein it is reported that sales hit about $18 billion.
JD.com is tracking closely the purchases of baiju, a Chinese hard liquor. The alcohol, which is rated at 40-60 percent proof, recently crossed oceans and made its way to foreign bars, selling as high as $90 per bottle in New York City.
In China, however, the sales decreased significantly when President Xi Jinping decided to curb corruption, and the indexes from JD.com indicate that the prices started to rise.
JD.com and Alibaba aren't the only ones that provide tracking to the online consumers. The Tsinghua University in Beijing has the Internet-based Consumer Price Index (iCPI).
Alberto Caballos also developed the Billion Prices Project that includes daily inflation indexes.
As China's consumption continues to vary, experts say that more types of indexes that are focused on sales may appear in the future.
