BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Lower-tier cities in China are emerging markets for imports with huge growth potential, Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com said in a report.
The growth pace of the share of online orders was faster in lower-tier cities than in first-, second- and third-tier cities from 2016 to the first three quarters of this year, a report from the JD Big Data Research Institute showed, citing data from the company's e-commerce platforms.
Young people in towns also posted faster growth than their bigger-city peers in terms of order transaction volume.
The United States, Japan and Germany were the top three import source countries in terms of transaction volume during the January-September period, while overseas markets like Mexico, Portugal and Ireland registered robust sales growth.
Personal care, cosmetics and skincare, sportswear and gear were among the imports that enjoyed increasing popularity during the past two years, the report said.
The company's e-commerce platform for imports saw the number of new brands surge by over 150 percent since the first China International Import Expo was held last November.
E-commerce has become a key driver of China's retail imports market. The volume of cross-border e-commerce retail imports expanded over 30 percent year on year during the first nine months of 2019, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.
