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China Urged to Expand E-Commerce
China ought to take measures to catch up with developed countries in E-commerce, said entrepreneurs and experts attending the ongoing International High-Tech Industries Week in Beijing.
Development of E-commerce is based on a comprehensive trade, storage and distribution system, said Dr. Dongping Zhu, president of the Zaptron digit research company in Silicon Valley. "It is not a castle in the air," said Zhu, a graduate of Virginia Tech in the United States.
By the end of last year, China's Internet surfers had exceeded 8.9 million, but few of them ever tried to purchase goods over the net. And most of Chinese on-line shoppers are aged between 20 and 35 with college degrees, said Dr. Xiaoying Chen, an E-commerce specialist at Japan's Softbank Publishing Inc..
In contrast, at least 40 percent of Japan's 30 million Internet surfers have experience in on-line shopping, Chen said. "Even elderly women and high school students in Japan would use their mobile phones to surf the internet for shopping," she said. By the end of 1998, the United States had more than 100 million Internet users, and 70 percent of them ordered commercials via the net.
Statistics show that Americans ordered nine billion US dollars worth of gifts during 1999 Christmas on the net, known as "E- Christmas."
Personal computers, auto spare parts and books do brisk trading on the internet in developed countries. "E-commerce has shortened the distance between the manufacturers and consumers," she said.
In China, few stores have gained profits from E-commerce due to limited sales volume.
Incomplete credit card systems and high telecommunications charges are to blame, said Dr. Zhang Weibai, vice president of Mackarl Enterprises Inc. of the United States. Zhang is a graduate of the University of Southern California.
Enhanced protection of intellectual property rights, training of more professionals, and developing interesting websites for surfers, are crucial to the growth of E-commerce in China, experts said.
The Chinese-born experts and entrepreneurs gathered at a forum during High-tech week.
Dr. Weidong Wang, an E-commerce adviser at Sidley & Austin law office in Chicago, called for the lowered taxation for E-commerce sellers.
Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation acknowledged that there are problems hindering the expansion of E-commerce.
As the number of Chinese internet surfers grow at an alarming speed, experts predicted that in the years to come, China's E- commerce market volume could be larger than that of the US.
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