Julianna
Recent reports indicate that China has surpassed the United States in Internet use. The Pew Internet and American Life project estimated the number of American Internet users to be between 165 and 210 million for July 2007. According to internal research by Charles Zhang, CEO of Sohu.com (the website ranks among the top 5 trafficked sites worldwide), the number of Chinese Internet users exceeded 150 million in 2007 and may be closer to 200 million. Internet World Stats corroborates these findings, reporting 162 million Chinese Internet users for June 2007.
The rise in Internet adoption has been astronomical since December 2005 when 100 million users were reported. If China has not exceeded the U.S. yet, it certainly is poised to do so bringing far-reaching consequences for the Chinese citizenry and the worldwide business climate.
On social and political levels, the proliferation of Internet access among Chinese citizens and the fact that China shares a single written language – in contrast to its multiplicity of spoken languages – has experts speculating it could have a unifying effect on the country’s widely dispersed citizenry. Despite the government’s so-called “Great Firewall“, a sophisticated filter that censors websites containing content that is considered critical or controversial, Chinese citizens have nevertheless gained unprecedented access to information and ecommerce.
With the rise in Internet use, China’s consumer demographics are also changing. While traditional Chinese consumers tend to be conservative spenders and hesitant to engage in e-commerce, sales are now being led by a younger generation willing to buy on credit and shop online. In fact, it’s estimated that half of all China’s Internet users are under 24 years old.
According to a recent Business Week article on the state of ecommerce in China, surveys conducted by China Market Research Group (CMR) with youth between 18 and 28 years of age in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou indicate more than 80% were willing to buy items online and over 70% said they would use a credit card if they could. Young Chinese professionals are keen to purchase luxury goods including personal electronics, cosmetics, designer clothing and other status items. Despite the willingness, credit card penetration remains low and Chinese banks are only beginning to catch up to the demand.
The aggregate of all online transactions in China is impressive. Last year, the total value of all online transactions, both business and consumer, soared to $127.5 billion, up from $85 billion in 2005. The consumer side represented a fairly small portion of this amount, but with an estimated 50 million Chinese engaged in e-commerce, growth is extremely promising.
This snapshot of statistics confirms China as the next frontier of global e-business. For businesses wanting to make inroads into the receptive Chinese marketplace, registering their business name in a .CN is a good way to start. According to Verisign, sales of .CN has increased 402% this year alone making it the 3rd most popular ccTLD after Germany and the United Kingdom.
More than 80% of enterprises with an online presence in China use a .CN domain, including giants such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook and the official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. .CN is the favoured domain extension of the Chinese government. Chinese officials have often voice that China’s Internet security is best maintained by the use of .CN domain names because China has more direct control over those top-level domain name servers. This past Spring China’s Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) formally launched a “One Million Websites Using Chinese Domain Names” program.
Click here to search for your .CN domain at Webnames.ca. No Chinese presence requirements are required for registration.
More Information
Business week, Chinese Cozy Up To Ecommerce
Boing Boing, How Chinese net-censorship works – Reporters Without Borders report
Times Online, Gates defends China’s internet restrictions