Online shopping in China reached 250 billion yuan (US$37 billion) in the first half of 2010, equal to the whole of last year, according to Chinanews.

A Ministry of Commerce report says there are now more than 100 million online shoppers in China. Most are female, as are the majority of online shop owners.

Xu Ruihong, CEO of Febay International E-commerce Great China, told the 2010 Guangzhou E-business Trade Conference that since females dominate online buyers, female retailers are best placed to understand their needs.

China had more than 20,000 e-business websites at the end of June, with three function modes: B2B (business to business), B2C (business to customer) and C2C (customer to customer).

(CRIENGLISH.com September 19, 2010)