China online retail sector set to surpass US' by 2015

Beijing, Apr 13 (ANI): China's online retail sales are likely to surpass that of US by 2015, a latest survey has revealed.

Boston Consulting Group in their findings has claimed that the growing number of Internet users, along with an increasing consumer acceptance of e-commerce, is driving the online sales surge in the nation.

It has been predicted that China would have 700 million Internet users in 2015, which would be nearly 200 million more than now, and twice the online population of Japan and the US combined, Xinhua reports.

Christoph Nettesheim, a BCG Senior Partner and Co-author of the report said that the Internet was "going down to smaller cities, villages and counties in China" and rural people are also gaining access to the mass medium.

China's overall Internet penetration rate is expected to have exceeded 50 percent by 2015, as compared to 38 percent in 2011.

According to the report, the share of online shoppers will likely have reached 47 percent by 2015. The country already has more online shoppers (193 million) than any other market, including that of US (170 million). (ANI)