Retired workers surfing on an e-commerce website in a residential community center in Shenyang, the capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning province. (Dong Fang/For China Daily)
Elderly Chinese consumers said they like shopping on online marketplaces such as taobao.com and dangdang.com, contrary to conventional wisdom that online shopping is mostly the province of the younger generation, new research has shown.
The research conducted jointly by supply chain and retail solutions provider JDA Software and cloud computing logistic solutions provider Centiro which polled 1,500 consumers in China aged between 18 and 64 said that about 80 percent of consumers aged above 55 said they like to shop online. Almost all consumers in this age segment said they have purchased online in the past year, with 63 percent saying they have shopped online more than 10 times in 2015.
The result is surprising at first glance, but considering the fast development of mobile devices and how they are popular among all consumer segments in China, it is easily understandable how Chinese consumers across all ages are embracing online shopping, said Patrick Viney, Vice President, Retail Industry Strategy APAC.
Overall, 88 percent of polled consumers said they believe in the next five years online platforms will become their major shopping channel.
For online retailers, increasing costs of management for supply chains, delivery and other details in fulfilling the orders may dent profitability, and as consumers' tolerance to late delivery, delivering the wrong items or difficult returns shrink, retailers may need to allocate more resources to these aspects, the research said.
