The proportion of Chinese consumers shopping online at least once in the past year using mobile phones stood at 88 percent, above the global average of 54 percent, according to a latest study.

The high proportion reflects how smart devices are playing an increasingly important role in consumers’ shopping behavior, PricewaterhouseCoopers said in its annual “Total Retail” report yesterday.

The report covered more than 22,000 respondents worldwide and 900 on China’s mainland. It didn’t reveal the age group of the respondents.

The proportion of Chinese consumers who said they shopped at least once a month on their mobile phones was 65 percent compared with only 28 percent among respondents on a global level, PwC said in the report.

“Rising demand from the population, the scale and efficacy of national e-commerce and the efficient, low-cost logistics are the three core pillars supporting China’s leading position in online shopping,” said Kevin Wang, PwC China retail and consumer leader.

The percentage of Chinese shopping online daily rose to 19.6 percent last year from 4.3 percent in 2012. The figure also more than doubled the global level of 7.1 percent in 2015.

(Source: ShanghaiDaily  Author: Ding Yining)