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China's E-commerce: Surfers Are Not Enough
Some economists maintain that any industry that achieves a customer base of 20 million in China, will have a "great leap forward", according to China Radio International.
The theory has been proven by such electrical products as TVs, refrigerators and air-conditioners.
But Li Kai, from ChinaBizOne Dot Com, says at least 50 percent of net surfers just play on-line games, or are students who don't have a steady income. He says while they might be potential customers, they don't buy regularly on the net.
Li Kai says those 20 million surfers are different from electrical pruduct consumers. While good news for portal companies, many surfers are not familiar with the concept of on-line payment, which is a problem for e-commerce companies.
Li Kai says at present, the bottle neck for e-commerce is not IT techonology, but on-line payment and delievery of goods, and since 1998, e-commerce companies, banks and manufacturers have started to address these problems. He believes a breakthrough will be made soon in on-line payment, with China Merchants Bank and another two national banks launching on-line payment businesses.
Li Kai says more than 15 percent of on-line buyers complain that they didn't get what they ordered. He says this is not a small number and urges the establishment of a credit system to curb the problem.
The manager says most e-commerce companies, including his, are in red. But he expects their newly developed business will bring good money this year.
Li Kai says his company are involved in another kind of on-line trade - selling intelligence. They organize programmers to write computer programs for foreign companies and the business is conducted via the internet. During the Chinese new year holiday next week, they have a backlog of orders to finish.
But Li Kai says this is just a temporary business. He says in the long run, his company wants to establish its own brands and build up a customer base within China.
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