As China 's 300 m members of the middle class drive domestic consumption with their increasing use of smart mobile devices , plans for the expansion of China 's e - commerce industry are being buoyed by the recent successes of the China group . By creating a " digital access road " China aims to boost " consumption power " in China even further and continue to drive the economy forward , so that it will account for 50 % of the global e - commerce retail market by 2018 . China 's potential online successes may also help the Asia - Pacific region ’s total sales to reach projections of $ 1.892tn . Indeed , eMarketer has suggested that e - commerce in China is forecast to account for 28.6 % of total retail sales in the country by 2018 , up from an estimated 15.9 % for 2015 .
As China's 300m members of the middle class drive domestic consumption with their increasing use of smart mobile devices, plans for the expansion of China's e-commerce industry are being buoyed by the recent successes of the Alibaba group. By building a "digital silk road" China hopes to boost "consumption power" in China even further and continue to drive the economy forward, so that it will account for 50% of the global e-commerce retail market by 2018. China's potential online successes may also help the Asia-Pacific region’s total sales to reach projections of $1.892tn. Indeed, eMarketer has suggested that e-commerce in China is forecast to account for 28.6% of total retail sales in the country by 2018, up from an estimated 15.9% for 2015.