E-commerce rakes in 5.9t yuan

China's e-commerce trade volumne totaled 5.88 trillion yuan in 2011, 29.2 percent more than that in the previous year, and contributed 12.5 percent to the nation's gross domestic product, said Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) Jiang Yaoping on Tuesday in Beijing.

The country recorded 750 billion yuan in online retail sales last year, which contributed more than 4 percent to total retail sales of consumer goods, said Jiang at the China E-Commerce Conference.

The ministry released its China E-commerce Report analyzing the country's e-commerce development and described the future outlook. The report said more than 40 percent of small- and medium-sized enterprises are using e-commerce.

Manufacturers making standardized products are receiving the largest impact from e-commerce, said Lei Jun, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Technology Ltd Co.

The e-commerce industry has been investing a lot, especially in consumer education to enlarge the consumer group. "Gaining a new e-commerce customer costs 1 to 1.5 million yuan, and the costs are shared by all the e-commerce companies," said Lei.

China's online shoppers hit 194 million last year, and the Chinese online retail market will top the world in 2013, according to Li Jinqi, director of the information technology department of the MOC.

The customers' churn rate is very high owing to a low churn cost. "The e-commerce competition is fierce and cruel," said Chen Nian, chairman and CEO of Vancl.com.

Lei said the top three things for e-commerce business is product attractiveness, consumers' trust, and to go beyond the consumers' expectation.

Lei Jun and Chen Nian in 1999 founded Joyo.com, an online retailing platform, which acquired by Amazon.com in 2004.