Women leading online shopping boom (2)

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.

For e-businesses, it is essential to make sure that the payment is safe for buyers, as concerns over unsafe payments have become one of the most frequent causes for failed transactions, said Gong Wenxiang, an e-business industry observer in Guangzhou.

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