Online sales in China should reach 360 billion dollars in 2015 according to the Boston Consulting Group, making China the world’s largest online market. The country currently has the largest number of online shoppers.

According to the group, in 2015 there will be 700 million internet users in China, “double the online populations of Japan and the USA put together”. China currently has around 200 million internet users who spend 3.6 hours per day online, compared to 2.8 hours in 2008. Within the next three years, the percentage of internet users should increase from 38% to 50% - an increase not down to the younger generations, but to the over fifties.

China already has 190 million online shoppers compared to the USA’s 170 million. The percentage of Chinese internet users who buy online has risen from 28% to 36% in the past two years and should reach 47% by 2015.

“This rapid growth is a unique opportunity for those businesses that are able to connect with China's digital generation”, said David C. Michael, senior partner at BCG and the report’s co-author. The report also states however that a number of business have still not yet turned to the internet.

Only 13% of advertising expenditure in 2011 was for the internet, and this percentage should only rise to 15% in 2015. A lot less than the 64% of time dedicated by users to the internet over other media, notes the Boston Consulting Group.