A customer looks at an Amazon gift card, used mainly for online shopping, at a supermaket. (Photo : Getty Images)
"I keep looking at my watch and calculating how long I should wait before the next round of gift money grabbing on Taobao," said Cheng Xiao, 25, as he competed to get as much of the digital currency as he could.
Cheng wanted the money to prepare for the Singles' Day shopping festival. The college student has so far spent 10,000 yuan ($1,572) for his online shopping habit.
When it comes to shopping, the consensus is that women are more adept at and are generally more interested in the matter. But a recent survey said that men have overtaken women, at least, as far as online shopping is concerned.
China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC) reported that there are 25 percent more men online shoppers than women.
Marketing and advertising research authority Nielsen released findings confirming that men make up for 55 percent of the Chinese online shopping population.
Men apparently spend more. There are twice as many men than women who spend more than 10,000 yuan in a year online, according to a different CINIC report.
This may be coming from the fact that men buy more big ticket items like computers, phones, high-end electronic appliances and a host of expensive gadgetry.
Of course, male shoppers would insist how the male decisiveness applied on "real world" shopping translates to shopping online.
Cheng boasted of being a quick shopper. He goes online already knowing what he wants, looks for it then buys it. On the contrary, he describes his girlfriend's habit as fickle and inefficient, jumping from one store to another and being caught up in indecision.
