“Consolidation” is the name of the ecommerce game in China. The country’s top platforms are growing so fast as to make smaller ones non-viable.

1. China’s Top 11
Ecommerce Platforms

2. “Consolidation” is the name of the
ecommerce game in China. The country’s top
platforms are growing so fast as to make
smaller ones non-viable.
Takeaway:

3. 11 Dang dang
Sales in 2013: $600m
!
YOY Growth: 46%
!
Daily Page Views: 2.3m
!
Members: 15.7m
!
Monthly Orders: 1.93m
What started out as primarily an online bookstore obviously branched out, into household
merchandise, cosmetics, digital, appliances, and more.
!
Is it for you? Once strictly retail, Dang Dang is now offering vendors their own stores. With
over 40% of China’s online shoppers having made a purchase on Dang Dang, the platform
certainly has legs for brand-building, although not nearly the power of other platforms.

4. 10 Vancl
Sales in 2013: $1.4b
!
YOY Growth: 50%
!
Daily Page Views: 598,500
!
Members: 10m
!
Monthly Orders: .27m
Deftly cribbing the ‘real-folks’ branding of the Gap, and melding it with Zara’s
devastating time to market with knock-offs of high fashion, Vancl is one of the few top
ten ecommerce platforms in a definite niche.
!
Is it for you? No. Their brand, their clothes.

5. 9 VIP
Sales in 2013: $1.75b
!
YOY Growth: 135%
!
Daily Page Views: 4.9m
!
Members: 50m
!
Monthly Orders: .28m
“Discount luxury” is the concept upon which VIP’s platform metastasizes. Flash sales, in
which a Chinese shopper might save up to 90% on an ostensibly upscale handbag, keep
the punters checking in daily.
!
Is it for you? Have you ever heard of Kisscat, pictured above? Nor we, admitted non-VIPs
that we are. VIP uses its reputation to promote all manner of brands as the world’s most
luxurious, with under-informed Chinese shoppers so far none-the-wiser. You can fool
some of the people some of the time…

6. 8 GOME
Sales in 2013: $9b
!
YOY Growth: 126%
!
Daily Page Views: 8.1m
!
Members: 100m
!
Monthly Orders: N/A
Gome (pronounced “gwoh – may”) was China’s reigning appliance/electronic big box
chain, before the ecommerce revolution. Since then, Gome’s physical stores grow
increasingly shuttered, as the company does a creditable job of repositioning. The sales
and member figures above are for online/offline sales combined.
!
Is it for you? No. A relic of less competitive times, Gome will treat your brand as a state-
owned-enterprise would, with brutal inefficiency.

7. 7 Yihaodian (1Mall)
Sales in 2013: $1.8b
!
YOY Growth: 68%
!
Daily Page Views: 2.9m
!
Members: 57m
!
Monthly Orders: .48m
1 Mall had a great thing going as China’s online food market of choice. Further to
investment by Walmart, it seems to have an even better thing going.
!
Is it for you? 1 Mall also offers vendors their own stores within the ecosystem, but is
primarily a retail platform. Walmart’s strategy most likely does not hinge around
empowering private vendors to seamlessly promote and manage their own products.

8. 6 Yixun
Sales in 2013: $1.1b
!
YOY Growth: 90%
!
Daily Page Views: 1.02m
!
Members: over 10m
!
Monthly Orders: .36m
Yixun was the go-to site for electronics & electronic components, before deciding like its
fellow top tenners that a super long tail was more lucrative. Actually, Yixun is still
primarily thought of as a place for good deals on electronics. Motor oil, not so much.
!
Is it for you? Perhaps. Yixun is a retailer only recently experimenting with brand stores. If
you’re a global electronics brand, you doubtless have quasi-sanctioned distributors
using it as a channel, though.

9. 5 Amazon
Sales in 2013: N/A
!
YOY Growth: 38%
!
Daily Page Views: 10.4m
!
Members: N/A
!
Monthly Orders: 2.4m
10 years in, and Amazon is still a distant third to the true giants of China B2C
ecommerce, detailed below.
!
Is it for you? A familiar western platform is nice. Getting squeezed out by much more
robust native giants, bad. It’s tough not to think of Google as a cautionary tale in this
case, although that is a tad extreme, as Amazon’s about products, not information, a
much more sensitive commodity.

10. 4 Xiaomi
Sales in 2013: $6b
!
YOY Growth: 135%
!
Daily Page Views: 2.8m
!
Members: N/A
!
Monthly Orders: N/A
You want Chinese innovation? Here it is, perhaps not in product but in concept and
service. Founder Lei Jun fancies himself a Sino Jobs, flipping the script by letting
external developers dictate new updates, and by only offering his products online.
!
Is it for you? Yes, as a lesson in the power of China’s Internet. Xiaomi has built its brand
entirely online.

11. 3 Suning
Sales in 2013: $17.5b
!
YOY Growth: 7%
!
Daily Page Views: 9.03m
!
Members: 20m (online)
!
Monthly Orders: N/A
Suning was Gome’s main competitor in the brick-and-mortar arena, and is clearly ahead
in the ecommerce game, rapidly changing game though it is.
!
Is it for you? No, for the same reasons as Gome’s.

12. 2 JD
Sales in 2013: $16.8b
!
YOY Growth: 83%
!
Daily Page Views: 15.25m
!
Members: 100m+
!
Monthly Orders: 4.33m
360 Buy, Jingdong, and now JD, the platform changes names like a rapper trying for
ever more cred-worthy personas. For a store that began in opticals, however, its 20% of
China B2C market share is laudable.
!
Is it for you? Still primarily a retailer, but with offerings for branded stores, JD is a
legitimate ecommerce channel consideration, especially for clearing up gray market,
due to its size and reach.

13. 1 Tmall
Sales in 2013: $57b
!
YOY Growth: 68%
!
Daily Page Views: 147m
!
Members: 500m+
!
Monthly Orders: 19.5m
Quite simply the king (emperor?) of China ecommerce. Notice the layout familiar to all the
other platforms mentioned save VIP’s and Amazon’s? Tmall pioneered it. With over 50% of
China’s B2C ecommerce, Tmall is the online shopping hub.

14. 1 Tmall
Is it for you? If you’re going to go with a 3rd party platform (click here if
you’re considering), yes. Tmall has been about vendors managing their
own brands from the get-go, and is always improving its suite of
marketing/advertising services to help them. Every other big platform is
mimicking its progress or trailing lamentably behind. Accept no
substitute.

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