China's e-commerce revenue hits $175b in 2012

BEIJING - China's booming online commerce industry is expected to reap more than 1.1 trillion yuan (about $175 billion) in revenue in 2012, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said on Friday.

"The total revenue of online commerce is estimated to be around 1.1 trillion yuan (about 175 billion) to 1.2 trillion in 2012," said Chen, noting that the exact figure was not available.

China's online commerce has experienced rapid growth in recent years, with its total revenue expanding from 25.8 billion yuan in 2006 to 780 billion in 2011, the commerce minister told a press conference held on the sidelines of the ongoing national legislature.

"Online shopping is changing people's way of life and consumption, taking advantage of the huge potential of China's industrialization and urbanization," Chen said.

The commerce minister said the growth dwarfed that of many western countries, attributing to the fact that China's commerce industry was not as developed in the first place, and online shopping could serve to reduce the cost of logistics by a huge margin.