China B2C market generated US$ 38 billion (RMB 240 billion) in sales in last year, up 131% from the same period a year ago, according to a report by Beijing-based market researcher AnalysysInternational.
For the last quarter of 2011, the transaction volume reached 12 billion across the market.
The report shows that the momentum behind last year’s soaring growth is fourfold:
1. Capital-driven
Constant inflow of hot money from venture capitals has shoved the B2C players to stride forward. According to a statistic by Internet think tank Zero2IPO, more than US$ 4.7 billion flowed into Chinese ecommerce territory, up from the 1 billion in 2010.
2. Traditional Firms Step in
Traditional firms including one of the largest Chinese shoe makers Belle (ecommerce offspring: Yougou.com), department stores Yintai (Yintai.com), China’s Best Buy Suning (suning.com) all stepped into the market with intensive investments and quite aggressive efforts.
3. Verticals Emerging
Verticals are emerging across the whole forefront, to name a few:
Group buying verticals: Jumei.com, Miqi.cn
3C verticals: 51buy.com, coo8.com, 500ccc.com
Shoe verticals: Okbuy.com, Letao.com, Yougou.com, s.cn,
Sportswear: K121.com, Xijie.com
Luxury goods: Xiu.com, Vipstore.com, Vipshop.com, Shangpin.com, Secoo.cn
4. Big Names Power up
Taobao Mall (or Tianmao, Sky Cat) recorded US$ 12.6 billion (RMB 80 billion) in sales, up 187.5% yoy. For 360buy, the 3C turned online general store pulled in US$ 4.8 billion (RMB 30.9 billion) in last year, up 200% + from the same period a year ago.
It’s noteworthy that Tencent also launched its B2C platform QQ Wanggou in last year to compete with Taobao and 360buy.