China's embrace of online shopping has been confirmed by a new survey showing people living in Beijing shopped online an average of 5.9 times per month last year, up slightly from 2017, while 20.6 per cent shopped over 10 times a month.
The report by the Survey Office of the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing (reported by the Beijing Daily) showed 66.1 per cent of online shoppers in Beijing in 2018 were female; they made up 68.3 per cent of the total sales value.
The report, compiled from a survey of 820 active online shoppers in Beijing, revealed that people with higher educational backgrounds tended to prefer online shopping. Online shoppers with a highest educational attainment of junior college degree, bachelor's degree and master's degree were 22.1 per cent, 41.7 per cent, and 11.6 per cent respectively.
People in the 30-49 age group made up 60 per cent of the total value of online transactions, spending significantly more money than other age groups shopping online.
There also seems to be little impulse or less controlled buying. Of the goods and services bought online in 2018, 82.8 per cent accounted for items people would have needed to buy anyway, while only 17.2 per cent of purchases were impulse buys spurred on by online deals or advertising, explained a spokesman from the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing.
With a high rate of 93.8 per cent, air and train tickets topped the charts in regards to offline purchases people had replaced with online purchases, while the replacement rate of crafts and collectibles was the lowest. It's thought this is because handicrafts are more personal and so people prefer to see them in person before they buy.
Meanwhile China's younger generations are also driving up the value of the country's pet industry, as furry animals occupy the personal lives of more and more people. The industrial chain established around pets is breeding a market that might soon be worth hundreds of billions of yuan.
According to a recent report, the market value of China's pet industry hit 170.8 billion yuan in 2018, up 27 per cent from 2017. The figure is expected to reach 200 billion yuan by 2020.
Last year 73.6 million people in urban China had a pet last year, with those born between 1980 and 2000 accounting for 75 per cent of this group. Another report, issued by the research institute of Sinolink Securities, revealed millennials are promoting the development and upgrading of the pet industry, as many in the group are single and like the company of a pet.
Liu Chang, who graduated from college two years ago, is now living in a 20sq m room with three pets. She spends nearly half of her salary each month on her animals. Du Min, who currently works in Beijing, spends over 5,000 yuan ($745) on her three-year-old dog every month.
The industry, which until now has focused on basic demands such as food, is starting to upgrade as the status of pets within society increases.
Following the catering industry, shopping and housekeeping services which took to the internet for modern solutions, the pet industry is also offering innovative services, such as a call-out vet service, with Qiao Wei, CEO of an online platform selling pet commodities, saying: "The Internet has become a lifestyle for today's young people, so to offer quality services online is an obvious solution."
Content sourced and amalgamated from the the People's Daily Online from the two links below.
Beijing citizens shop online 5.9 times per month
Younger generations boost development of China's pet industry