Smartphones and tablets are becoming the preferred choice for Chinese consumers when shopping online as the value of goods sold on mobile gadgets exceeds that on personal computer for the first time in the second quarter this year, a research finds.

Share of mobile sales in online sales nationwide gained 3.2 percentage points from the first quarter this year to 50.8 percent in the second, the first time more transactions occurred on mobile gadgets than on PC, according to a report released by consultancy iResearch on Friday.

China's largest online retailers have been pushing for more sales of their mobile apps amid growing penetration of smartphones in China. More than 594 million people had access to mobile internet by the end of the first half of this year, up 6.7 percent from the same period a year ago, according to China Internet Network Information Center.

In August, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said in its quarterly results ending June 30 2015 that mobile transactions account for 55 percent of gross merchandise value on its online marketplaces Tmall.com and Taobao.com

Alibaba's rival JD.com also said in its second quarter results that mobile orders nearly tripled year-on-year in that period to account for 47 percent of all orders.

Over the past two years, domestic smartphone makers Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo have been expanding their offering of budget phones, most with a price tag around 1,000 yuan (around 160 U.S. dollars). This has made smartphones increasingly affordable, especially among rural Chinese, iResearch says.

China's online retail expanded nearly 40 percent year on year in the second quarter of this year to 872.41 billion yuan, accounting for 12.3 percent of total retail sales in China. Endite

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