Chinese E-commerce Market: History, Development, and Challenges

This report evaluates the history and development of the e-commerce market in China, with a focus on online shopping. The report discusses the advantages and challenges of the e-commerce market in China, including the impact of reliable internet connection and a national logistics channel on the growth of online shopping. The report also compares the growth of the e-commerce market in China to the global market and discusses the various factors that have contributed to its popularity.

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Chinese Trade and Investment Law
Electronic Commerce in China

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Abstract
The electronic commerce (e-commerce) market of China is evaluated in this report. The
history of the global e-commerce market is analysed in this report to compare it with the
growth of the e-commerce market in China which has grown more rapidly. The
development of online shopping in China is discussed in this report to understand how
reliable internet connection and a national logistics channel assisted in promoting online
shopping in the country. Lastly, various advantages and challenges relating to the e-
commerce market in China are discussed in this report to understand reason for its
popularity and challenges.

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Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................3
History of e-commerce...............................................................................................................4
History of e-commerce in China.................................................................................................5
Online shopping development in China.....................................................................................7
Advantages of e-commerce in China.........................................................................................9
Disadvantages of e-commerce in China...............................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................14
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
The electronic commerce or e-commerce industry is has grown substantially across the
globe with the popularity of smartphone and easy access to the internet. E-commerce is
referred to buying and selling of goods and services on the internet. This is a new model of
commercial business which is used by corporations worldwide due to its various advantages.
This model breaks the national and regional boundaries and enables corporations to expand
their operations across the globe.1 However, the e-commerce market in China is different
from the rest of the world because the government has imposed many restrictions on the
internet. In this essay, the e-commerce market of China will be discussed. The history and
development of the e-commerce market in China will be analysed in this essay. The online
shopping market in China and how it is affecting the country and its economic growth will be
evaluated in this essay. Various advantages and disadvantages of the e-commerce market in
China will be discussed from the perspective of people, organisations and the government.
1 Efraim Turban et al., Electronic commerce 2018: a managerial and social networks perspective (Springer,
2017).

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History of e-commerce
The history of e-commerce started 40 years ago after which it quickly becomes a key part of
people’s lives in various countries. The e-commerce market has proliferated in the past few
decades due to innovations, new technologies and thousands of businesses who use this
platform for reaching a wider audience. The Electronic Data Interchanges and teleshopping
facilities in the 1970s started the operations for modern-day e-commerce stores. The history
of e-commerce is related to the history of the internet without which this industry would
not have existed.2 Amazon was the first ever e-commerce website in the United States after
the internet become public in 1991. However, online shopping was invented in 1979 by
Michael Aldrich in the United Kingdom who connected a modified domestic television with a
telephone line which allows users to make a purchase real-time. In 1992, an online
bookstore was created by Charles M. Stack who begins selling books online. The first online
transaction was made to sell marijuana by student of MIT as per some reports in 1972;
however, the first online shopping transaction was made on August 12, 1994, between two
friends of a Sting CD.3
Between the period of 1960 and 1982, the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) replaced
traditional ways of mailing and faxing. Organisations started using this method for digitally
transferring data from one computer to another. Between 1982 and 1990, the population of
business to business online shopping become popular with online service used by Videotex
terminal machine which connected millions of users to a computing network.4 In the early
1990s, the internet becomes public, and it opened new opportunities for companies in e-
commerce market. Although many parties tried to establish their online operations,
however, the marketplace emerged with Amazon entering the market. The company
offered about 200,000 books on its website in the beginning; however, due to lack of
physical limitations of brick-and-mortar bookstores, the corporation was able to offer
exponentially more products to its customers. Later the company started to expand its
operations which include not only books but electronics, apparel, food, toys, furniture,
2 Gong Baihua, “The Establishment of “eWTO” Regulations on Cross-border E-commerce”, (2016) (4) Journal of
WTO and China.
3 Zhao Huang and Morad Benyoucef, “From e-commerce to social commerce: A close look at design features”,
(2013) 12 (4) Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 246-259.
4 Dave Chaffey, Digital business and e-commerce management (Pearson Education Limited, 2015).

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music and video downloads and others. As the online payment methods evolved, the e-
commerce market started to take over the world and corporations started offering their
products on online platforms.
History of e-commerce in China
In China, the history of e-commerce is short, but this market has evolved fast. The history of
e-commerce in China started back in 1990 when technologies such as EDI and Electronic
Fund Transfer (EFI) started entering into Chinese markets.5 The period between 1993 and
1997 was the starting period for e-commerce market in Chine. In 1993, the government of
China introduced ‘Three Golden Projects’ to build an information-based national economy.
The three projects were focused on building a national public commercial internet service
which covers the entire country. They were targeted on building a national credit card
network in Chine along with digitalisation of currency. Lastly, these projects were aimed to
link custom points through EDI system while promoting paperless trade in the country.
These three objectives were set by the government which was incorporated in areas such as
transportation, healthcare and others. The internet was fully available across China in 1994
which lay the foundation of e-commerce in the country. Jack Ma created ‘China Yellow
Page’ in 1995 which provided web page creation facilities to corporations. The first ever
vertical website in China was launched in 1997 called China Chemical Network. However,
the Chinese e-commerce market changed completely in 2000 and entered into a new phase
with setting up of first online advertisement. In 1997, the Chinese Goods Ordering System
(CGOS) was launched which allowed customers to order products online.6 In 1998, the first-
ever online transaction was made in China, and official business to customer website was
first launched in China in 1999. However, after worldwide dot-com collapse, the Chinese e-
commerce market suffered which resulted in disappearing of most B2C companies.
In 2003, Jack Ma founded the Alibaba Group which stepped into customer to customer
(C2C) market. HuiCong was the first ever listed B2B Company in China which went public in
Hong Kong Growing Enterprise Market (GEM).7 After introduction of a large number of
5 Jay Kim, The evaluation of China’s ecommerce space (2018) <https://www.techinasia.com/talk/evolution-
china-ecommerce> viewed 17 November 2018.
6 Dong Dujiao and Xiao Yimin, “On China's Legal Innovation for Cyberspace in 21st Century”, (2006) (5) China
Law 108-110.
7 Yu Zhang, Jing Bian and Weixiang Zhu, “Trust fraud: A crucial challenge for China’s e-commerce market”,
(2013) 12 (5) Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 299-308.

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competitors in the e-commerce market of China, it started to expand rapidly. In 2007, online
retail trade in China reached $8.3 billion (56.1 billion CNY). Due to the influence of e-
commerce industry in China, the economy of the country started to proliferate with
popularity of online payments, logistics, supply chain links and other supporting
technologies. After 2008 Beijing Olympics Game, the e-commerce market of China
skyrocketed which bring it to the spotlight. In the same year, the number of internet users in
China has increased to 253 million, and it dethrones the United States to become the
country with the highest number of internet users. A major milestone was set by Alibaba on
November 11 by initiating its sales day in which it generates sales of $7.35 million (50
million CNY). In this sale, there was only 27 participating sellers. China becomes the largest
online retail market in the world by surpassing the United States in 2013. During this period,
the e-commerce transactions in the country reached 10 trillion CNY, and online retail
transactions topped 1.85 trillion CNY which is equivalent to 7.8 percent of the total retail
sales of the social consumer goods in China.8 In the same year, Alibaba partnered with other
logistic and financial corporations to start Cainiao.
This decision was taken to build a smart logistics network (CSLN) in the country which
supports a daily average of 30 billion retail sales (about 10 trillion annually). Due to this
system, the parties were able to deliver goods in any region in China within 24 hours in next
5-8 years.9 The logistics volume of China reached 14 billion in just a short period after its
launch, and it became the largest in the world in 2014. In China, more than 15 percent of all
retail-based transactions are made through online methods which attributed to e-commerce
in 2016 and corporations generate more than $752 billion (5.16 trillion CNY) through online
transactions. It shows that China has a short history of e-commerce market than compared
to other countries, but it has evolved significantly faster. In the present day, many e-
commerce giants such as JD and Taobao gained significant popularity in China. The internet
penetration rate reached almost 60 percent in China in 2016 with estimated 731 million
Chinese people who were active online. The world started to take notice of this lucrative
market in which single day sales of Taobao and T-Mall were surpassing combined sales of
8 Maxime Klooster, History of the Future: how China takes over world e-commerce? (2017)
<https://www.1421.consulting/2017/08/how-china-takes-over-world-e-commerce/> viewed 17 November
2018.
9 Ying Liu et al., “Online purchaser segmentation and promotion strategy selection: evidence from Chinese E-
commerce market”, (2015) 233 (1) Annals of Operations Research 263-279.

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Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States which were the biggest shopping days
in the country.10 The history of e-commerce industry in China shows how drastically people’s
lives in China have changed in the past 20 years with the introduction of online shopping in
the country. This also benefits the small and large seller in the country who offers their
products and services through the online platform by creating new opportunities to reach a
wider audience.
Online shopping development in China
Online shopping is referred to the process by which customers purchase products through
an online platform without any intermediary. In this process, the customers did not have to
go to shopping centres or different stores to shop. They can visit an online shop to purchase
products or services which is an alternative option of bricks-and-mortar retailers. This is
called a business-to-customer (B2C) process. Along with B2C, the popularity of e-commerce
expanded B2B market as well in which the businesses directly purchase products or services
from other businesses. Online shopping comprises B2C and B2B dealing, whereas, e-
commerce is referred to a type of business model in which the information is transferred
across the internet which include a wide range of businesses from customer-to-retail sites
to customer-to-customer.11 The development of online shopping started in 1990 along with
expansion of e-commerce market which becomes popular due to the popularity of the
internet. In China, the technology becomes popular in 1999 after citizens were connected to
the internet. It started increasing the number of B2C websites in the country which
promoted online shopping. However, no everyone was supporting this idea, and there were
many businesses and people who were sceptical about e-commerce market.
In 2000, it was found that there were only 8.9 million internet users in China and most of
them did not use online shopping. Therefore, at the beginning of 2000s, e-commerce was
not a large market in China. There was an issue of logistics as well because the size of China
is considerably large and appropriate logistics facilities were not available which connected
major cities with other areas. During that period, the issue of online payment was not
10 Kate Taylor, Alibaba just had the biggest online shopping day of all time, nearly tripling every company's
2017 Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales combined (2018) <https://www.businessinsider.com.au/alibaba-
singles-day-2018-biggest-online-shopping-day-2018-11> viewed 17 November 2018.
11 Xiaoying Guo, Kwek Choon Ling and Min Liu, “Evaluating factors influencing consumer satisfaction towards
online shopping in China”, (2012) 8(13) Asian Social Science 40.

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resolved as well. It was found that most Chinese consumers were afraid to use the online
payments system because they were unsure whether these technologies are secured or not.
The three golden projects implemented by the government resulted in increasing the trust
of the organisations and individuals in the e-commerce sector. These three projects resulted
in connecting Chinese consumers from all regions to stable internet and provided
opportunities for online payment system which is highly secured and reliable.12 Due to the
involvement of the government, the consumers started getting trust in the online shopping
which expanded e-commerce market in the country. The implementation of Cainiao with
the collaboration between Alibaba and other logistics firms resulted in building a logistic
channel across China which connected small regions with major cities. This allowed the
corporations to provide their services and products across China in just 24 hours.
All these factors resulted in developing online shopping in China which was a major
milestone for its e-commerce sector. As the number of online shopping activities grows,
corporations started to realise that it is a lucrative market with large number of customers.
They started selling their own products through e-commerce websites which expanded their
operations in the country. It also assisted them in generating a wider audience which
created new business opportunities for them. The e-commerce market is China has
developed through the ease of access to online shopping facilities. As the online payment
transactions continued to become more stable and secured with technologies such as QR-
code scanning, two-step authentication and others, it becomes easier for Chinese
consumers to take benefit of the online shopping facilities.13 For foreign companies, it is
difficult to establish their business in China due to strict regulatory requirements. However,
these strict regulations were helpful for Chinese e-commerce companies because they
reduced their number of competitors while providing them access to a large number of
consumers. Corporations such as JD, Alibaba and others were benefited from these
opportunities, and they continued to develop their online shopping facilities in the country.
It assisted them in becoming one of the world’s biggest e-commerce websites who have
access to large number of consumer with small number of competitors.
12 Wen Gong, Rodney Stump and Lynda Maddox, “Factors influencing consumers' online shopping in China”,
(2013) 7 (3) Journal of Asia Business Studies 214-230.
13 Michael Clemes, Christopher Gan and Junli Zhang, “An empirical analysis of online shopping adoption in
Beijing, China”, (2014) 21 (3) Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 364-375.

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Advantages of e-commerce in China
With the rapid change in technologies, the e-commerce industry has developed
considerably fast in China. It is opposed to the brick and mortar (retailing) industry which
took many years to become a significant industry because of physical restrictions. On the
other hand, the e-commerce market is China proliferated rapidly which provided various
advantages to consumers, businesses and the government. Following are various
advantages of e-commerce market in China.
No time or space limit
When compared with traditional retailing business methods, the e-commerce sector has the
biggest advantage of no time and space limit. Traditionally, corporations have to purchase
or lent a location to build their stores. Purchasing the land was risky because the prices of
the property could fluctuate and if the store did not work, then the company suffers a loss.14
On the other hand, renting a property is also expensive because the corporation has to pay
rent every month irrespective of the fact that the business is working or not. Many times
the landlord starts charging high rent due to which the company might have to switch their
position that resulted in loss of all customers. Thus, there is a space limit in traditional
retailing business model. Similarly, there is a time limit as well because the stores close in
the night. There are many 27x7 stores available, but they are not present everywhere, and it
is expensive to run these stores because the sales are relatively low in the night. The sales
and customers of brick and mortar stores are limited to a particular area as well. People
prefer to purchase products from their nearby stores which limit their audience. On other
than hand, the e-commerce sector eliminates all these factors and provides a competitive
advantage to businesses. Firstly, there is no space limit in case of online stores because the
website can be operated from its headquarters and the businesses can continue to sell their
products from their current locations.
Many corporations such as Amazon invests in warehouses, however, it is not necessary, and
products can directly be sold to businesses to consumers without setting a physical store.
Secondly, there are no time limitations in the e-commerce sector. The internet is available
14 Jacqueline Kacen, James Hess and Wei-yu Chiang, “Bricks or clicks? Consumer attitudes toward traditional
stores and online stores”, (2013) 18 (1) Global Economics and Management Review 12-21.

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24x7 which means that customers can shop whenever they want too. With the introduction
of 24 hours logistics systems in China, people are able to get their products in just one or
two days which means the process must easier. Lastly, the audience of businesses expands
substantially in the e-commerce market. One company can easily sell its products and
services throughout the country through just one website, whereas, the retail stores are
limited to a single location. The ability to sell products throughout China assisted
corporations in quickly expands their business through e-commerce market which
supported the economy of the country. Small businesses which were not able to build large
stores were limited to sell their products in their nearby areas; however, they were also able
to sell through products to a large customer base through e-commerce sector without
paying charges for setting new stores.15 The popularity of e-commerce market created new
jobs in China in logistics sector which reduced unemployment from the country. Thus, the
development in e-commerce sector provides various benefits to small businesses, and it
created more jobs in the country.
Ability to check specifications and compare products
In the traditional retailing stores, customers would go to one or two of the nearby stores
and purchase their products. It limits their choices because they have to go to another place
if they did not find something which they like. On the other hand, the internet has opened
up a new world for customers where they can check out new products online and compare
their information with other products to know what is best for them. It has makes it easier
for customers to choose the products which suit their requirements. The e-commerce
market has made it easier for consumers to get what they want through online shopping.
These websites display a wide range of products from all categories which are displayed on
the website along with their description. 16 All the specifications and information about the
products are mentioned on the website for customers. The consumers who purchase the
products also have the option to give a rating and review regarding their experience about
the product. It makes it easier for consumers to compared different products based on the
available information and the experience of other customers. It makes the choice easier for
15 Charmen Leong et al., “The Emergence of Self-Organizing E-Commerce Ecosystems in Remote Villages of
China: A Tale of Digital Empowerment for Rural Development”, (2016) 40 (2) MIS Quarterly 475-484.
16 Liu Ying and Zhang Weijia, “The Future Development of Rules for Trade in Financial Services in China’s Free
Trade Agreements: From the Perspective of the TPP”, (2016) (2) Journal of WTO and China.

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them. These options are not available in traditional retailing stores where the customers
have limited options to compare products with, and they cannot get reference from other
customers to learn about their experience with the products. Chinese consumers can go to
different websites such as Taobao, JB or Alibaba to compare the specifications of different
products which help them make a better choice. It is a key reason due to which the e-
commerce sector is highly popular in China.
Display of products
The e-commerce websites use online multimedia facilities to display the products to
consumer. Chinese consumers prefer to purchase products by thoroughly checking them
before making a decision just like customers in other nations. Therefore, the online
shopping websites provide services such as zooming of products and videos to let
consumers know about the products. While purchasing a product through retail stores, the
consumers cannot check all the types of products closely, and they certainly cannot see any
videos to understand who the product works and whether it is suitable for their needs. 17
However, the e-commerce websites provide them this option where they can closely check
out as many products as they want and watch videos on them to understand how they work
which makes it easier for them to make a decision.
Cheaper products
The princes of products and services in traditional retail stores are comparatively higher
than e-commerce market because there were a large number of middlemen. The process of
bringing the products to the stores from the manufacturer requires that companies must
have warehouses to store and protect the products. They have to transport them and pay
for insurance charges. They also have to deal with defective products. On the other hand,
there are comparatively fewer issues in the e-commerce sector. Firstly, there are no
middlemen which mean that businesses can directly sell their products to consumers
without dealing with retailers. The online websites did not have to invest in building
warehouses to stores and protect the products. They can simply connect the seller to the
buyers through their platform, and the logistics companies handle the rest of the work
17 Miao Cui and Shan Pan, “Developing focal capabilities for e-commerce adoption: A resource orchestration
perspective”, (2015) 52 (2) Information & Management 200-209.

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which includes insurance and transportation charges as well.18 Thus, it resulted in reducing
the prices of products which are available online which attracts more consumers to the e-
commerce platform. In China, the demand for cheaper products is relatively high because
there are a large number of consumers who did not prefer to pay higher prices for everyday
products. Therefore, e-commerce sector is successful in the country because it enables
companies to offer lower prices to Chinese consumers.
Close relationship with consumers
The internet is used by e-commerce websites as an interactive communication tool to
express their feeling. It is easier for customers to contact the e-commerce platform to
resolve their queries regarding the products. They can simply call or message the company
to raise a query and get a quick reply which built a close relationship between the consumer
and the organisation.19 Moreover, consumers can easily share their feedback on the
websites regarding their experience with the product and the services of the e-commerce
websites. It helps to resolve issues faced by other consumers. Alibaba and JB are known for
providing effective consumer services in China which assist them in building strong
relationships with their consumers.
Disadvantages of e-commerce in China
Along with various advantages, there are many disadvantages relating to e-commerce
sector in China as well. These disadvantages are faced by Chinese consumers, businesses
and the government which hinders the effectiveness of e-commerce transactions. Following
are various challenges relating to e-commerce sector in China.
Lack of human connection
Chinese consumers prefer to purchase products from their local stores because they have a
strong connection with them. It is in the culture of China that they prefer to build strong
relationships with their local sellers. However, with the introduction of e-commerce
websites, this culture is quickly becoming scares. Many old consumers in China still prefer to
18 Ismail Sila, “Factors affecting the adoption of B2B e-commerce technologies”, (2013) 13 (2) Electronic
commerce research 199-236.
19 Nachiappan Subramanian et al., “Customer satisfaction and competitiveness in the Chinese E-retailing:
Structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to identify the role of quality factors”, (2014) 41 (1) Experts
Systems with Applications 69-80.

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purchase from local stores where they know the seller.20 The lack of human connection in
online transactions resulted in reducing the number of consumers for Chinese e-commerce
companies, especially older people.
Limited scope of application
Although, in theory, the implementation of e-commerce services resulted in increased
efficiency and effectiveness of online purchases, however, the scope of application of these
features is limited. The online structure is still not suitable for many products in China due
to attributes and characteristics of products. For example, Chinese prefers to purchase meat
from local markets where they can check whether the meat is fresh or not. There are many
other products which are popular in the country relating to food items which customers did
not prefer to purchase online.21 It limits the scope of e-commerce market in China.
Lack of psychological satisfaction
Many people like to shop in the traditional way by visiting their local stores or supermarket.
They prefer to see and feel the products before purchasing them for psychological
satisfaction. The consumers did not get this satisfaction in online shopping because they are
not able to enjoy the shopping experience.22 The satisfaction level of Chinese consumers
cannot be attained through e-commerce websites in the country; therefore, still, retailing
stores are competing with e-commerce websites in China.
20 D Gangeshwer, “E-commerce or Internet Marketing: A business Review from Indian context”, (2013) 6 (6)
Science and Technology 187-194.
21 Mesut Savrul, Ahmet Incekara and Sefer Sener, “The potential of e-commerce for SMEs in a globalizing
business environment”, (2014) 150 Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 35-45.
22 Brain Bieron and Usman Ahmed, “Regulating e-commerce through international policy: Understanding the
international trade law issues of e-commerce”, (2012) 46 J. World Trade 545.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, the history of e-commerce market in China is not very old, but the market has
grown rapidly in the past few decades. Unlike the history of online retailing in general, the
popularity of e-commerce market in China was less fluctuating, and it quickly becomes a
significant part of people’s lives due to popularity of websites such as Taobao, JD and
Alibaba. The government and e-commerce websites played a significant role in promoting
online shopping in the country by making it easier for consumers to purchase products
online. The e-commerce market expanded in the country due to reliable internet connection
available in different regions and strong logistics connection in the country which assisted in
quick delivery of products. The advantages of e-commerce sectors such as lack of time and
space limitations, cheaper products, close relationship with consumers, and ability to check
and compare products resulted in expanding the popularity of e-commerce in the country.
Still, there are still various challenges for e-commerce industry in China which include lack of
human connection, no psychological satisfaction and limited scope of application. However,
the e-commerce market in China has still grown substantially becoming the world’s biggest
online retailing platform which provides business opportunities to a large number of small
and large businesses in the country. It will continue to sustain its growth in the future with
technological advancements and innovations.

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Bibliography
A. Books
Chaffey, Dave, Digital business and e-commerce management (Pearson Education Limited,
2015).
Turban, Efraim, Jon Outland, David King and Jae Kyu Lee, Electronic commerce 2018: a
managerial and social networks perspective (Springer, 2017).
B. Articles
Baihua, Gong, “The Establishment of “eWTO” Regulations on Cross-border E-commerce”,
(2016) (4) Journal of WTO and China.
Bieron, Brain and Usman Ahmed, “Regulating e-commerce through international policy:
Understanding the international trade law issues of e-commerce”, (2012) 46 J. World Trade
545.
Clemes, Michael, Christopher Gan and Junli Zhang, “An empirical analysis of online shopping
adoption in Beijing, China”, (2014) 21 (3) Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 364-
375.
Cui, Miao and Shan Pan, “Developing focal capabilities for e-commerce adoption: A resource
orchestration perspective”, (2015) 52 (2) Information & Management 200-209.
Dujiao, Dong and Xiao Yimin, “On China's Legal Innovation for Cyberspace in 21st Century”,
(2006) (5) China Law 108-110.
Gangeshwer, D, “E-commerce or Internet Marketing: A business Review from Indian
context”, (2013) 6 (6) Science and Technology 187-194.
Gong, Wen, Rodney Stump and Lynda Maddox, “Factors influencing consumers' online
shopping in China”, (2013) 7 (3) Journal of Asia Business Studies 214-230.
Guo, Xiaoying, Kwek Choon Ling and Min Liu, “Evaluating factors influencing consumer
satisfaction towards online shopping in China”, (2012) 8(13) Asian Social Science 40.

16 | P a g e
Huang, Zhao and Morad Benyoucef, “From e-commerce to social commerce: A close look at
design features”, (2013) 12 (4) Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 246-259.
Kacen, Jacqueline, James Hess and Wei-yu Chiang, “Bricks or clicks? Consumer attitudes
toward traditional stores and online stores”, (2013) 18 (1) Global Economics and
Management Review 12-21.
Leong, Charmen, Shan-Ling Pan, Sue Newell and Lili Cui, “The Emergence of Self-Organizing
E-Commerce Ecosystems in Remote Villages of China: A Tale of Digital Empowerment for
Rural Development”, (2016) 40 (2) MIS Quarterly 475-484.
Liu, Ying, Hong Li, Geng Peng, Benfu Lv and Chong Zhang, “Online purchaser segmentation
and promotion strategy selection: evidence from Chinese E-commerce market”, (2015) 233
(1) Annals of Operations Research 263-279.
Savrul, Mesut, Ahmet Incekara, and Sefer Sener, “The potential of e-commerce for SMEs in a
globalizing business environment”, (2014) 150 Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 35-
45.
Sila, Ismail, “Factors affecting the adoption of B2B e-commerce technologies”, (2013) 13 (2)
Electronic commerce research 199-236.
Subramanian, Nachiappan, Angappa Gunasekaran, Jie Yu, Jiang Cheng, and Kun Ning,
“Customer satisfaction and competitiveness in the Chinese E-retailing: Structural equation
modeling (SEM) approach to identify the role of quality factors”, (2014) 41 (1) Experts
Systems with Applications 69-80.
Ying, Liu and Zhang Weijia, “The Future Development of Rules for Trade in Financial Services
in China’s Free Trade Agreements: From the Perspective of the TPP”, (2016) (2) Journal of
WTO and China.
Zhang, Yu, Jing Bian and Weixiang Zhu, “Trust fraud: A crucial challenge for China’s e-
commerce market”, (2013) 12 (5) Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 299-308.
C. Websites

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Kim, Jay, The evaluation of China’s ecommerce space (2018)
<https://www.techinasia.com/talk/evolution-china-ecommerce> viewed 17 November
2018.
Klooster, Maxime, History of the Future: how China takes over world e-commerce? (2017)
<https://www.1421.consulting/2017/08/how-china-takes-over-world-e-commerce/>
viewed 17 November 2018.
Taylor, Kate, Alibaba just had the biggest online shopping day of all time, nearly tripling
every company's 2017 Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales combined (2018)
<https://www.businessinsider.com.au/alibaba-singles-day-2018-biggest-online-shopping-
day-2018-11> viewed 17 November 2018.