Online shopping in Beijing rose rapidly in recent years. In 2017, online retail sales of wholesale and retail enterprises above designated scale in the capital exceeded 237.1 billion yuan (US$34.4 billion), which was almost 20 times more than that of 2010. However, according to a recent survey on this year's Nov. 11 online shopping festival, online shopping trends have become more based on the needs of everyday living.

In 2017, the per capita spending on goods or services purchased through the internet in Beijing was 952 yuan, up 158 percent from 2013, and the average annual growth rate was 20.3 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the city's per capita consumer spending during the same period. On average, urban residents spent 1,073 yuan on online shopping, twice as much as they did in 2013, while rural residents spent 180 yuan per capita, with an average annual increase of 38.7 percent.

Beijing's statistics department revealed that since the popularization of online shopping and with the help of smart and mobile terminals, spending has become faster and more convenient, which promoted the growth of online spending. Meanwhile, the burgeoning sharing economy brought new vitality while take-out restaurants, education, training, and other categories of spending targeted at specific groups added new energy into online spending. Now traditional spending patterns and habits are being reshaped and a new era of consumer spending has arrived.

According to the statistics department, the decade from 2009 to 2018 was a witness to the birth of the Nov. 11 online shopping festival and its gradual maturity, as well as to the rapid development of China's online economy. A telephone survey was recently conducted on the online shopping festival covering 16 districts in Beijing and involving 2,000 residents aged 18 to 65 who had been living in the city for more than half a year.

The survey shows that 47.6 percent of the respondents participated in this year's Nov. 11 online shopping festival, and their online purchases tend to be based on needs. Of all the consumers who took part in the festival, 66.1 percent made purchases according to their actual needs. It also shows that consumers tend to buy a wide variety of goods online but are more inclined to purchasing based on daily needs. 

The survey also spotted differences in participation rates in the festival between age groups: The highest rate occurred within the age group from 21 to 30, reaching 67.9 percent, while the rate of those aged 61 and above was the lowest at 30.5 percent. In terms of the amount of money spent on online shopping, most of the respondents who participated in the festival spent less than 8,000 yuan, 80.1 percent spent less than 4,000 yuan, and 1.3 percent spent more than 12,000 yuan.

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