More businesses look to online solutions to tap Internet consumer market
By Rachel Kelly, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 24 November 2009 2018 hrs

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SINGAPORE : More businesses in China are turning to online solutions to tap into the growing Internet consumer market.

And with the number of online transactions projected to climb, Alipay - a unit of Alibaba Group - believes it will become the world's number one number one e-payment firm as early as two years from now.

There are currently more than 300 million Internet users in China.

But this is set to jump to more than half a billion in the next three years, making China the largest Internet country in the world.

Growing affluence and rising consumer demand on the Chinese mainland are seen as key factors pushing the online business forward.

"I believe there are a lot of opportunities in the Internet world, not only in China but also in India and elsewhere... we are going to have a lot of small business (as) more entrepreneurs start their business on the Internet," said Jack Ma, founder and CEO of Alibaba Group.

For Alibaba Group, this means there will be great potential for growth on the business-to-consumer (B2C) market.

Up to now, the company has been mainly focused on the business-to-business market (B2B) market, connecting Chinese manufacturers with other companies around the world looking for suppliers.

With the jump in online purchases, Alibaba's e-payment unit Alipay believes it can overtake rival PayPal in two years to be the world's top e-payment firm by transaction value.

Currently Alipay handles about US$150 million in transactions daily, serving some 180 million users every day.

According to an estimate by Credit Suisse, China's e-commerce industry will grow to 1.4 trillion yuan (US$205 billion) by 2015, based on merchandise value. - CNA /ls