China e-commerce hits $928B in 2011

China's e-commerce market brought in 5.88 trillion yuan (US$928 billion) in trades last year, registering a 29.2 percent year-on-year increase, according to an official from the Ministry of Commerce.

In a Tuesday statement by the ministry, Jiang Yaoping, vice minister of commerce of the People's Republic of China, added that e-commerce represented 12.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011. The minister presented the findings at the 12th China International E-commerce Conference held in Beijing.

Jiang said China's online retail market took in more than 750 billion yuan (US$118 billion) which accounted for more than 4 percent of the total consumer retail market.

According to tech.sina.com, the ministry released a report on the development of e-commerce in China in 2011 which noted the number of online shoppers in China reached 194 million in 2011. The report also predicted the country would become the top e-commerce market by 2013. If proven true, this would be two years ahead of predictions by the Boston Consulting Group published in November 2011.

During the event, Li Jinqi, director-general of the department of electronic commerce and informatization, revealed that trading volume by Chinese third-party payment systems reached 2.16 trillion yuan (US$341 billion) in 2011, noted the Sina report.