Trade to emerging markets surges on website DHgate

DHgate.com, a website enabling Chinese suppliers to trade with foreign buyers, said mobile traffic accounted for 26 percent of its total traffic, while transactions from mobile devices took up 17 percent of its total last year.

The increasing use of mobile devices in the e-commerce sector comes as more people are accessing the Internet via such devices.

The website is the fifth-largest in the Chinese business-to-business market, with a 2 percent share, after alibaba.com, Global Sources, Hc360.com and Made-in-china.com, according to domestic research company Analysys International.

Trade to emerging markets is also increasing on DHgate.com, in contrast with a slowing appetite from developed countries. Transaction volumes to Russia increased by 150 percent year-on-year in 2012, and those to Brazil by 230 percent, said Diane Wang, its founder and chief executive officer.

In a report by PayPal Inc, the online payment arm of online shopping company eBay Inc, last year Chinese small- and medium-sized e-commerce exports to Argentina increased by 96 percent, to Israel by 72 percent and to Ukraine by 71 percent from July 2011 to June 2012.

However, small- and medium- sized enterprises trading to foreign customers through e-commerce websites still comprise just a fraction of the total number of SMEs in China.