surged 60 percent in the first half, as more consumers and businesses went shopping online, state media said Wednesday.
2.25 trillion affected transactions yuan (331 billion dollars) in January-June period, the China Daily, citing a report by the China e-Business Research Center.
That compares with 3.6 trillion yuan for all of 2009, Qian Xiaoqian, deputy director of the Information Office of the State Council was quoted as saying.
The data covers business-to-consumer business-and consumer to consumer transactions.
Electronic commerce has expanded in China as more companies set online stores to reduce costs and improve efficiency, the report said.
There were 20 700 e-commerce websites in China in late June and the figure may reach 23 000 by the end of the year, he said.
A comparative figure was not provided.
Stressing the growing appeal of the Internet market in the country, which now has about 420 million web users, Adidas U.S. sportswear giant said this week it had opened an online store banner on the auction site Taobao China’s largest.
Internet shopping is likely to rise to over 35 percent per year on average over the next few years as people shop online more and more convenient ways to pay for operations, such as the use of mobile phones, made available, said Qian.