Ecommerce shops drive more smartphone sales in China - report

The countrys e-tailers, which include JD.com, Suning Yigou, and Alibabas Tmall, are helping smartphone makers reach more consumers, according to market researcher IDC, citing its quarterly mobile phone tracker, zdnet.com reports. In unit growth, the number of smartphones sold through e-tailers climbed 58% year-on-year in Q2, 2015.

IDCs Asia-Pacific senior market analyst for client devices, Tay Xiaohan, said: With operators reducing their smartphone subsidy, there is greater opportunity in the open market for vendors and e-tailers are a key channel that vendors are focusing on, and e-tailers in China often offer discounts or free gifts to consumers, besides selling phones at a lower price as compared to the offline retail shops. They have also started offering more services in the recent years., the source cites.

IDC said ecommerce operators were expected to increase their share of the countrys overall smartphone sales, fueled by several key factors such as regular promotions including the annual mega online shopping festival, Singles Day. Also, some phone models would only be made available online through the e-tailers, which further offer a wider range of handset models compared to vendor-branded physical stores. IDC added that some ecommerce operators provided additional services such as insurance for mobile screens as well as alternative payment options, allowing consumers to trade in their old phones or pay for their phone through monthly instalments.

IDC noted that handset makers increasingly were turning to ecommerce websites to boost sales, including vendors such as Xiaomi that focused primarily on selling via their own website. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer, in May 2015, inked a deal to launch an online store on JD.com. Despite the fact that Alibaba and JD.com had made efforts to expand their coverage in rural areas across the country, it would take a while before consumers in these markets adapt to buying handsets online.