E-commerce in China
E-commerce has been greatly developed in both United States and European countries when we look at the success of eBay and Amazon. However, according to researchers at IDC (International Data Corporation), it is forecast the annual Asian sales outside Japan, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korean and India, charged ahead at 38% a year through 2007 eBay sales (Miller, 2004). E-commerce not only creates business opportunities, but also helps enterprises save money and operate more efficiently. Therefore, the potential of the market among Asian regions in recent years has been extremely large, especially in Taiwan and Hong Kong. However, many people notice that China seems to be lagging behind this trend and e-commerce is not very suitable for the culture in China as people may prefer face-to-face business. This essay argues that China has the need and potential in developing e-commerce.
E-commerce is becoming more compatible with the Chinese culture of business. Although it may be argued that E-commerce is too technological that violates the traditional Chinese business culture as in the past of Chinese society, social relationship plays an important role in Chinese business and shows appropriate respect to the customers or partners. However, all the things in e-commerce are done by the systems only. Nowadays, more and more people in China have an opportunity to receive education so that they can more easily access to internet world and also different cultures all over the world. Netizens then are more likely to accept western culture. In fact, when E-commerce is implemented in China, it can be reformed to be different from those in western countries according to the relationship oriented business culture. For example more after-purchase service and customer care can be provided. These can make Chinese e-commerce filled with human touch in