China’s third-party internet payment transactions reached 4,058.43 billion yuan (USD 609.93 billion) in Q1 2016 with a year-on-year growth rate of 67% according to iResearch.

China’s third-party internet payment transactions on online shopping have been declining since Q1 2015 despite a slight increase in Q2, falling to 14.2% in Q1 2016. The share of the fund related transactions have increased from 18.9% in Q1 2015 to 21.9% in Q1 2016.

In terms of market share of China’s third-party internet payment providers, Alipay has 43.3% market share, followed by Tenpay (20.1%), Yinshangpay (11.1%), and 99Bill (7.0%).

Besides, Chinese internet users also make payment through WeChat banking. In another survey by iResearch, China WeChat banking users prefer to use WeChat banking on ICBC (37.9%), China Construction Bank (34%), and China Commercial Bank (28.1%). The top several WeChat banking that users use more often is ICBC (18.4%), China Construction Bank (15.9%), and Commercial Bank of China (15.2%).

Nearly 60% of Chinese internet users consider themselves early technology adopters according to a survey by the CTA.

62% Chinese internet users plan to purchase their next technology products digitally; only 38% in store. In other select countries in Asia-Pacific, internet users who plan to purchase their next technology product in physical stores are more than those who will purchase digitally. 74% of Philippines internet users plan to purchase  their next technology product in stores and only 24% digitally.

China is the only country that has over 50% of internet users who plan to purchase their next technology product online among the surveyed countries in Asia-Pacific.

A survey from PwC in February showed that 62% of Chinese online shoppers shop online because of the convenient shopping environment. Chinese online shoppers are drivers  in China online shopping market including technology sector.

China ranks the first of the top ten sources of tourists to Asia pacific destinations with 50.4 million international overnight visitors; it is nearly 20 million more than that of South Korea which ranks the second according to a MasterCard research.

Of the top ten most popular Asia pacific destinations, Bangkok is the most popular destination for Chinese tourists with 8.2 million international overnight visitors, followed by Seoul (5.2 million), Tokyo (2.7 million), and Phuket (2.5 million).

Bangkok is also the most popular destination among ten Asia pacific destinations with 21.5 million international overnight visitors, followed by Singapore (12.1 million), Kuala (12.o million), and Tokyo (11.7 million).

Of the top ten sources of tourists to Asia pacific destinations in 2016 ranked by total expenditure, China spends 45.3 million dollars in 2016, accounting for 18.2% of the total share; and, the total expenditure of China is slightly more than twice the sum of South Korea.

By 2025, China’s investment in tourism will reach US$278.7 billion, taking over the US as the world’s largest tourism country; by 2025, China will surpass Spain and France to be the second largest country by tourism revenue and the most spending country.

Also read: China Online Travel Market Overview for Q1 2016

As 40% china online consumers buy foreign goods, cross-border e-commerce in China will hit $85.76 billion this year according to the analysis of eMarketer.

E-marketer estimated that China’s each online shoppers will spend an average of $473.26 on foreign goods. By 2020, the cross-border consumers will account for 50.7% of total digital consumers, up from 20% in 2014.

The growth of living standard and global digital sales platforms greatly boomed China’s cross-border e-commerce market. Alibaba’s Tmall Global, JD Worldwide, and other B2C global platforms provide convenient accesses for both sellers and buyers to trade. China’s consumers prefer foreign goods such as milk powder, diapers and pet food, which make international brands break the market quicker and easier.

On April 8 2016, China implemented cross-border electronic commerce retail sales (enterprise to consumers, B2C) import tax policy and adjustment of personal postal articles tax policy. Cross-border e-commerce retail goods are no longer charged by personal postal articles tax but imposed tariffs on goods, import value-added tax and consumption tax.

Some product such as jewelry and infant formula has slightly increased due to the new tax policy. But, the marketer analyst Shelleen Shum noted, “the demand for foreign goods via the cross-border e-commerce channel is still expected to remain strong due to better prices compared to offline retailers, perceived quality and better variety.” She added that since the merchants selling on these B2C platforms have to be authorized, they are considered more trustworthy.

B2C platform sales are expected to take up a growing share of cross-border e-commerce market in 2016. The cross-border consumer will be a quarter of the total population by 2020 according to estimation of eMarketer.

Thanks to the combination of overseas travel, increased internet usage, exposure to foreign brands and convenience of online retail, as well as the surging demand of foreign products, China is projected to become the largest cross-border e-commerce market by 2020.

Also read: Chinese online shoppers insights 2016

China has 450 million mobile devices; and, 7,350 Chinese companies have developed over 33,000 mobile apps. China mobile usage has increased by 23% from 2014 to 2015, accounting for near 10% of the global.

Photography is the most popular apps category with a growth rate of 267% year-on-year, followed by health & fitness (128%), travel (105%) and lifestyle & shopping (103%) according to Flurry Analytics. Although the growth rate of  game applications is -18%, it is still the strong force of

Although the growth rate of  gaming apps is -18%, it is still the strong force in China’s mobile market. Niko Partners reports that mobile games now account for nearly 40% of the country’s total digital games revenue.

Phablets increases from 31% in Aug 2015 to 41% in Mar 2016, and it is estimated to over 50% by the end of 2016.

Also read: China’s mobile market analysis in Q2 2015