E-shopping fuels domestic consumption

 BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- With an Internet population larger than that of the United States and Japan combined, China saw its online shopping maintain an annual growth of 140 percent in sales since 2004, making it a powerhouse in driving up domestic consumption.

Online shopping in China has an immense Internet consumer base, said Liang Da, an expert with the National Bureau of Statistics.

The number of online shoppers has grown at an annual rate of nearly 50 percent since 2008. Sales of online retailers² accounted for 4.3 percent of the country's overall retail¹ sales of consumer goods in 2011, up from 0.08 percent in 2004, according to the bureau's statistics.

Chinese shoppers spent 511.9 billion yuan online in the first six months of this year, up 46.6 percent year-on-year, according to a report by the China e-Business Research Center, a market analysis company based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

China was home to 214 million online shoppers by the end of June, up 23.7 percent year-on-year, the report said.

Chinese online shops, such as 360buy.com, Tmall.com and Suning.com, are providing a variety of goods and services for customers, sometimes at a discount price that make them attractive to netizens, market experts said.

Many online shops have less inventory³ pressure and all have lower operational costs, enabling them to set lower prices to compete with traditional shops for custom. For example, books sold at online shops are usually 30 to 40 percent off the regular prices and cosmetics⁴ are usually 20 to 30 percent off.

The burgeoning⁵ of online shopping is also related to the quick pace of modern life and people's desire to follow new and trendy patterns of consumption. That is why online shopping is especially popular with younger people and those who have advanced degrees. Among them, many look to purchase luxuries online.

A report by McKinsey & Co says that China's luxuries market is growing at a rate of 18 percent every year and is expected to take up 20 percent of the global market share by 2015. According to statistics from China e-Business Research Center, sales of online luxuries amounted to 10.7 billion yuan in 2011, increasing by 67.2 percent. The figure is expected to rise to 23.8 billion yuan by 2013.

Increases in people's income, the popularization of personal computers and advances in Internet technology set the stage for China's booming online retail market.

The disposable income of urban residents averaged 21,810 yuan in 2011, representing an annual growth rate of 9.2 percent after taking inflation into account. The income of rural residents averaged 6,977 yuan, an annual increase rate of 8.1 percent.

Disposable income refers to the amount of money that households have available for spending and saving after income taxes have been accounted for. Disposable personal income is often monitored as one of many key economic indicators⁶ used to gauge⁷ the overall state of the economy.

China's per capita gross domestic product exceeded $5,400 last year. In big cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai, per capita GDP has reached $10,000. The accumulation of wealth has greatly boosted people's purchasing power, driving the growth of online shopping and domestic consumption as a whole, according to the NBS

Savings⁸ deposits of urban and rural residents will be the major force in pushing economic growth. The per capita savings deposits in China are very high, reaching more than 20,000 yuan at present. By contrast, residents in the US each owe an average of $15,000 to the banks, Liang said.

The savings of residents are the prerequisite⁹ for online shopping and they also make personal computers and advanced Internet technology accessible to more and more people, thus providing the essential tools to accelerate the upward trend.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

3 inventory   

n.详细目录，存货清单

参考例句：

• Some stores inventory their stock once a week.有些商店每周清点存货一次。
• We will need to call on our supplier to get more inventory.我们必须请供应商送来更多存货。

4 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

5 burgeoning   

adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝）

参考例句：

• Our company's business is burgeoning now. 我们公司的业务现在发展很迅速。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These efforts were insufficient to contain the burgeoning crisis. 这些努力不足以抑制迅速扩散的危机。 来自辞典例句

6 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

7 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

8 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

9 prerequisite   

n.先决条件；adj.作为前提的，必备的

参考例句：

• Stability and unity are a prerequisite to the four modernizations.安定团结是实现四个现代化的前提。
• It is a prerequisite of entry to the profession that you pass the exams.做这一行的先决条件是要通过了有关的考试。