A recent data from iResearch shows that the number of online orders in China’s e-commerce market reached a whopping 560 million in Q4 2010, up 45.8% from Q3 2010. The quarter-to-quarter growth is slightly higher than in Q4 2009.
The C2C online order growth pattern in China’s e-commerce market is similar to last year’s, showcasing a strong seasonal growth trend. Meanwhile, B2C online orders experienced steady growth.
The chart pattern is largely influenced by seasonal factors: Q4 is a period of holidays, which coincides with China’s National Day (October 1st), New Year’s Day and Christmas. Well, it is also close to Chinese New Year too. Aggressive marketing efforts from online retailers, coupled with the festive mood, have greatly influenced the Chinese’s buying behavior.
In Q4 2010, the aggregate online sales conversion rate is recorded at 5.5 percent (about 5 orders out of every 100 unique visits). Despite a higher sales order figure, conversion rate in Q4 2010 is 0.8 percent lower than in Q4 2009.
In other words, the Chinese online retailers are successful in driving traffic to their websites but aren’t enjoying the same success when converting web traffic to sales.
From a macro perspective, the aggregated online retailers’ online marketing strategy work fine but more focus should be placed on conversion. Reducing the number of steps to purchase, introducing user-friendly web interface and making different types of payment available are some basic steps to improve online sales conversion rate.
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