(File photo)

SHANGHAI, June 22 (Xinhua) -- The e-commerce market in China is expected to grow by about 19 percent year on year in 2017, a report said on Thursday.

China has entered "a new retail era" characterized by online and offline (o2o) retail that has created huge potential and demand, especially for customized products, according to a report released by consulting firm McKinsey & Company Thursday.

The popularity of social media spurs online buying, it said.

Many e-commerce traders that are expanding into online social networks, however, often offer lower quality service compared with that provided by major online shopping sites, the report said.

There is huge market potential if they can just improve their services, it said.

After years of explosive growth, China has emerged as the world's largest e-commerce market, equaling the combined size of the next six major markets including the United States, Britain, Japan, Germany, South Korea and France, it said.

Last year, China's e-commerce market expanded 19.8 percent year on year to 26.1 trillion yuan (3.82 trillion U.S. dollars), accounting for 39.2 percent of the world's total, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.