Women leading online shopping boom

Lu Jishu, a 32-year-old lecturer, was on a high-speed train from Suzhou to Shanghai when he received three text messages from his bank, notifying him that three online payments totaling 286 yuan ($46) had just been made from his account.

Lu's first response was to phone his wife and ask about her online purchases.

"A set of cutlery which was discounted, 40 percent off," said Yao Juan, Lu's wife, an avid online shopper.

Lu said this is a typical conversation with his wife, keeping him up to date with what his family has bought recently.

"Usually my wife browses the Internet, makes a purchase using my bank account and then asks me to pick up the parcels up from the guards when things are delivered to my office," Lu said.

Lu was not surprised to learn that he is one of thousands of men in China who have disclosed their online payment PIN to their wives.

A recent survey by China Internet Network Information Center of 2,300 people across the mainland found 65.4 percent of married women know their husbands' PIN number. About 71.9 percent also said they are the decision-makers for their family's online shopping.

"I don't bother shopping online so I let my wife handle these things," Lu said. "I know some male friends do the same because an online payment PIN is a sign of the family's good wealth management."

China's online retail market has seen significant growth in the past five years. In 2007, the value of the online retail market was about 54 billion yuan, which soared to 523 billion yuan in 2010. Last year, the number surged to 756 billion yuan, a 44 percent year-on-year growth.

On Nov 11 alone, the Chinese version of busy online shopping days Black Friday in the United States and Boxing Day in the United Kingdom, 19.1 billion yuan was spent on Tmall.com, one of China's major online shopping platforms.

By the end of June, about 187 million residents in China had made an online payment, about 34.8 percent of all netizens in the country. Online payments have become one of the fastest-growing applications of the Internet, which saw an average annual growth of 47.5 percent in terms of user numbers.

By 2015, China will see the total value of the online retail market reach 2 trillion yuan, surpassing that of the United States, according to an estimate by Boston Consulting Group.

The CNNIC poll showed that women are the major drivers of the boom in online retail. Some 79.2 percent of respondents said they had paid via a third-party account balance, and 75.7 percent said they settled the payment through online banking.

"I have noticed that there is criticism over women's passion for online shopping," said Wang Yue, a 36-year-old housewife.

She said traditionally women are the purchasers for a family's necessities, from spices used in kitchen to winter clothes - in many cases women buy things not because they are shopaholics but because the family needs them.

Wang said online shopping can even reduce costs through savings from bulk purchases, special offers and relatively lower prices than shopping in department stores and supermarkets.

"With convenient delivery services these days, I can buy groceries every day online - the food is affordable, safe and I don't need to bother hanging several plastic bags on my arm and walking half an hour from the supermarket to my home," Wang said.

Despite the convenience of online shopping, shoppers need to be aware of the risks, as some buyers can easily disclose their bank account information and PIN to phishing websites and frauds.

About 3.2 percent of respondents said they have experienced an unsafe online payment, among which 64.4 percent were payments on phishing websites.