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China e-commerce boom transforms business and society

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Subject

E-commerce in China.

Significance

Online retail sales in China reached 9 trillion renminbi (1.3 trillion dollars) last year, up 24% from 2017. With high smartphone penetration across age groups, more than 40% of world’s e-commerce transactions now take place in China.

Impacts

  • More warehouses and related facilities will be built in rural areas, with an increasing use of artificial intelligence and robotics.
  • Chinese citizens’ preference for higher-quality goods and foreign brands will force Chinese companies to upgrade their products to compete.
  • E-commerce blurs the lines between online shopping, social media and entertainment, affecting traditional firms in these industries too.
  • Big data analytics will make products and services more personalised, putting companies without access to data at a disadvantage.

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