Top 10 provinces with the highest average online shopping spends on Taobao are Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Tianjin, Beijing and Liaoning according to Taobao based on data from October 2014 to September 2015. Provinces with the lowest average spends are Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet.

Regional economic level influenced the development level of the online shopping market. The top five provinces with the highest online consumption located in the southeast coastal provinces where citizens got a higher income level than the average.

E-commerce in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong has entered an advanced stage. These five regions received and delivered most online order packages in China.

Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai in total account for 15% national delivery packages on Double 11 shopping festival in 2015. Packages the three provinces received on Double 11 accounted for 25% of total and packages sent from these provinces accounted for half of total. High population concentration, a large volume of e-business companies (such as Alibaba in Hangzhou, Zhejiang) and low delivery fees led to busy logistic transportation here.

Well-developed transport and logistics system further stimulated online shopping. The purchasing power is relatively strong in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong provinces. Many were new demands stimulated by online shopping market.

Xinjiang and Sichuan ranked sixth and seventh respectively surpassing Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong and other provinces which mainly resulted from various good categories and low costs in online shopping. Traditional commerce in Xinjiang wasn’t as developed as other regions in China; thus online shopping became an essential channel to buy products unavailable or expensive locally.

Taobao data also showed that Shanghai, Guangdong, Beijing, Tianjin, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang ranked top for being the most diversified online shopping consumption regions. Regions with advanced economic level tends to be more diversified in online consumption. Tianjin, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu also ranked in the top.

Also read: China Retail V.S. Online Shopping 2015

The total number of fans of China e-commerce websites on Weibo reached 24 million by the end of July 2014, becoming a large online community for online retailers.

The post-80s are the primary group of the e-commerce sites fans on Weibo. 20% are from Guangdong province, followed by Beijing (11%), Zhejiang (9%), Shanghai (8%) and Jiangsu (6%).

Women of 26, 27 years old in Guangzhou represent the biggest fan group of China’s e-commerce websites..

China e-commerce total transactions reached RMB2.83 trillion (US$460 billion) in the second quarter this year, a QoQ growth rate of 7.1% and YoY growth rate of 19.9%.

Alibaba Ali Institute and Chinese Academy of Information Technology jointly started “E-Commerce Development Index” research in 2010. This year, Ali Institute studies 294 cities and released “China’s Top 100 Best E-Commerce Cities 2013” report.

1. Shenzhen
2. Guangzhou
3. Hangzhou
4. Beijing
5. Shanghai
6. Jinhua
7. Zhuhai
8. Xiamen
9. Suzhou
10. Nanjing

Among the top 100 e-commerce cities, 11 are from Zhejiang and Jiangsu province respectively, followed by Guangdong (10 cities) and Fujian province (9 cities).

796 million products are published on Taobao by over 8 million sellers by end 2013.

E-commerce is huge in China and online shopping has even become part of some China internet users’ life. According to data from Taobao, there were 5,758 Taobao users who spent over one million shopping on Taobao in 2013, 1,053 of which are from Guangdong province.

Mobile transaction occupied 20% of total on Double 11, and the transaction grew 560% compared to 2012. This was regarded as the omen of mobile shopping outbreak. Nearly half of post-90s used mobile phone to purchase on Double 11, 2013. It means that online shopping began to transfer from PC to mobile.

Taobao data showed that mobile transaction reached 5.35 billion yuan (USD 872 million), and mobile Taobao daily active accounts hit 127 million. The number of Taobao mobile transaction on Double 11 was 35.9 million, 21% of total transaction. At present, mobile Taobao users reached 320 million.

Different from PC-end online shopping, mobile shopping showed personalized, fragmented and information push features.

30% Middle and Western China Consumers Did Mobile Shopping

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province consumers are the main force for online shopping, however, data showed that consumers from middle and western China surpassed tier one cities in mobile shopping.

Tibetan mobile transaction occupied 29.1% of its total transaction, ranking the first in mobile shopping. Followed by Shaanxi and Jiangsu with 27.3%, Shanxi ranked fourth with 27.3%, and Zhejiang ranked the fifth with 27.2%.

Post 90s Love Mobile Shopping

Young people below 25 years old seem to prefer mobile shopping, especially young women. Data showed that 46% young female below 25 purchased via mobile on Double 11 2013, and male consumers below 25 who purchased via mobile occupied 37%. Mobile shopping had become the life-style of post 90s. If PC represents the post 80s, then mobile represents post 90s.

Mobile Shoppers Love to Purchase on Bed

During 4am-7am on November 11 2013, mobile-end transaction surpassed PC-end. Data showed that most people closed their computer at 4:40 am, while most mobile shoppers were still active. Mobile transaction during the period occupied 63%.

Mobile Taobao allows users to check product information and purchase without limit on location and time. Newly mothers loved to shop in the midnight, milk powder, diapers and other babies products sales went up in the midnight.

 Product Information Sharing

Mobile shopping is not only about shopping, it includes getting information and sharing it. Maybe consumers gain information about products through multiple channels, such as Sina Weibo, SNS, advertising, but the purchasing process is more and more centered on mobile. At the same time, the percentage of adding favorite product pages in PC and pay it on mobile is increasing.

Mobile Taobao is more suitable for users to share purchasing experience. One hour after the beginning of Double 11, millions of consumers shared their shopping information on mobile Taobao.

Shanghai-based Stenvall Skoeld & Company calculated the iOS penetration rate (Apple’s iPhone and iPad, not including iPod touch) in all Chinese provinces and municipalities; and, their estimate puts the total number of iPhones and iPads in China at end of 2011 at 21 million active devices, distributed as shown above.

More than half of all iOS devices are found in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and the Yangtze Delta Region. In Beijing and Shanghai there is one iOS device for every nine and eleven people, in the rest of China penetration is still very low.