Mobile commerce has been an area of intense focus in recent years. According to a recently published report by iResearch, China mobile commerce reached USD 37 Billion in 3Q2014, surpassing overall ecommerce growth of ~50%YoY over the same period. During the quarter, mobile GMV accounted for ~33.4% of total online shopping GMV, some 2.8ppt higher than that in 2Q14. We attribute the robust growth in mobile commerce mainly to a growing profusion of mobile devices in China and an accompanying rapid evolution in buying behaviors. We envision an ever-growing mobile penetration rate as mobile remains a clear focus across most of China’s ecommerce platforms.
Alibaba remains the clear leader in China mobile commerce with an 86.2% market share (vs.86.1% in 2Q), followed by JD.com at 5.4% (vs.4.4% in 2Q) and VIPShop at 2.1%. Meanwhile, according to our recent merchant survey, the mobile commerce market has become increasingly competitive with alternatives such as Weixin posing as a direct threat to Alibaba’s own mobile platform. Vertical players such as Vipshop also chose to push mobile adoption
aggressively via mobile platforms such as Weixin, appstore promotions, etc. Also the Mobile GMV for VIPShop has topped over 60%.