Online shopping booming in China

网络购物跻身中国主流消费模式

在距离北京约4000公里的西藏首府拉萨，30岁的医生周南已经习惯了网上购物。尽管这里的海拔有3500米，但中国的网商在成都设立了配送中心，将触角伸向这雪域高原。

CNS -- Dr. Zhou Nan, 30, lives in Lhasa, 4,000 km away from Beijing at an elevation of 3,500 meters. "I ordered an oven from Amazon and the goods were shipped from Beijing within three days," said Zhou, obviously pleased.

Online shopping options have developed into a major consumption model within just one decade in China. According to statistics from Ministry of Commerce, the number of online consumers on the Chinese mainland hit 194 million at the end of 2011.

Correspondingly, e-commerce is also booming. Taobao, one of China's largest online shopping websites, said it created 2.46 million new jobs in 2011. And the number of employees in the logistics industry grew by 35 percent in 2010.

A Ministry of Commerce report also declares that total online retail sales reached 782.56 billion yuan in 2011, a 53.7 percent hike. Expectations are high that China will house the largest global online retail market by 2013.