China may become the world's largest online market with sales ranging from US$420 billion to US$650 billion annually by 2020 amid the country's huge online shopping population as well as expanding and upgrading of telecommunications infrastructure.
Online retail will play a pivotal role in bringing a broader economic impact by lifting China's private consumption an extra 4 to 7 percent by 2020, consultant McKinsey & Co said in a study released yesterday.
"Online retail could play a role in realizing the government's goal of increasing domestic consumption to drive further development and growth instead of relying on exports," the firm's research arm McKinsey Global Institute said in a study yesterday.
According to its estimate, online retail will account for as much as 10 to 16 percent of China's overall retail sales by 2020, more than double the 5 percent in 2012.
"In lower-tier cities, online shopping contributes to a large part of incremental spending rather than just a replacement channel for purchasing," said Chen Yougang, a partner with McKinsey & Co. China's 1.2 trillion yuan online retail market was close to that of the United States in 2012.