Increasing workforce wages and commercial real estate rental fees in main cities of China has led to the emergence of e-commerce, which has the upside of saving about 60% of operating cost. The importance o the E-commerce trend in China can no longer be ignored. In 2013, online shopping accounted to approximately US $300 billion of e-commerce market in China, and is estimated to reach US $445 billion this year. China’s lighting e-commerce business models are gradually shifting from Customer-to-Customer (C2C) to Business-to-Customer (B2C), according to Analyst Figo Wang of EnergyTrend, a division of global market intelligence firm Trendforce, while attending LEDforum 2014 held in Taipei, Taiwan, on Oct. 24 2014.
China’s E-Commerce market value reaches US $2.3 billion, TMall becomes main B2C platform
China’s e-commerce lighting market value is around US $2.349 billion in 2014, 14.4% of overall China lighting market, and is expected to reach 30% by 2017 to become the largest distribution channel of lighting products, under rapid growth of e-commerce market.
In China’s e-commerce market, B2C has a higher ratio of 55% than C2C with TMall – a subsidiary of Alibaba Group - as the largest platform, and JingDong and YiHaoDian following.
Among all online shopping platforms, TMall has been users’ first choice since a lot of lighting brands established virtual shops on it. The platform’s trading volume during the first three quarters of 2014 reached 30 million units for luminaire products and 21 million units for lighting. Bestselling luminaire products include ceiling lamp, suspended light and desk lamp with Opple, NVC and Aozzo emerging as the top three brands, in the light source segment bulbs and LED tubes remain the most popular products, and leading selling brands include Philips, Opple and Aozzo.
Mobile Online Shopping Rate Increasing as China Mobile Network Spreading
Even though currently over 70% consumers buy lighting products online via PC, smartphone and tablet have grabbed market share of 32% and 24% respectively. Moreover, the spread of China mobile network has led to persistent growth of mobile online shopping consumer base, this is the reason e-commerce vendors should value the emergence of mobile online shopping, said Wang.
In addition, to avoid products being damaged during delivery, choosing a safe and reputable logistic company is also critical to ensure delivery quality, which can further boost consumer’s willingness to buy lighting products through online retail.
