Business-to-business (B2B) transactions hit 1,250 billion yuan
(168.9 billion U.S. dollars) in China last year, up 25.5 percent
from 2006, according to a survey released on Tuesday.
The "Netguide 2008" survey, which provides a wrap-up of 2007,
polled more than 300 web sites and about 200 enterprises, with
50,786 interviewees around the country.
The survey, conducted by the Data Center of the China Internet
(DCCI), reported that the newly-listed Alibaba.com was first in the
e-commerce marketplace and accounted for about 70 percent of market
share.
Alibaba.com is one of China's fastest-growing Internet
companies. Its registered members soared to 24.6 million in 2007
from 6 million in 2004. Paying members increased to 255,000 by June
2007 from 77,000 in 2004.
Alibaba.com, which reportedly has the world's biggest base of
online suppliers, raised 1.5 billion U.S dollars in its initial
public offering (IPO) last November -- the second-largest Internet
offering in history after Google's IPO in 2004.
Other e-biz dotcoms on the top list are netsun.com,
globalsources.com, cn.made-in-china.com and hc360.com, according to
the survey.
The Netguide 2008 also forecasts that China's B2B trade volume
will exceed 1,620 billion yuan (218.9 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008
and 2,130 billion yuan (287.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2009
(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2008)