China's mobile e-commerce market miles ahead of US, to grow to US$505 billion by 2016

Mobile e-commerce sales will account for more than half of all online retail shopping in China by 2016, according to new data.

New York-based research firm eMarketer predicted that mobile e-commerce sales will make up 10.9 per cent of total retail sales in the country next year, and 55.5 per cent of total online retail shopping, as the sector grows 51.42 per cent to reach a record high of US$505.74 billion, up from an estimated US$333.99 billion this year.

That milestone would further widen the gap between mainland China and the United States in terms of total retail transactions over smartphones, media tablets and other mobile devices.

Mobile e-commerce sales in the US are forecast to advance 28.41 per cent to US$96.22 billion next year, from an estimated US$74.93 billion this year. US mobile e-commerce transactions will only account for 1.9 per cent of total retail sales in the world's largest economy next year.

Monica Peart, a forecasting analyst at eMarketer, said in a report that those figures indicated that mainland China's retail market is more digital -- and specifically, more mobile -- than the US.

"An overwhelming majority of China’s internet users are regularly accessing the internet via mobile phones in 2015, 87.4 per cent versus that of US internet users at 74.6 per cent," Peart said.