Photizo Claims China Computer Malls May Vanish as Online Shopping Booms

November 11 was the largest shopping day in China, when people rushed to online shopping sites with enthusiasm. The sales value on taobao.com reached RMB 35 billion ($5.75 billion) for the day.

As was reported by U.S.-based research group Photizo, large aftermarket printer supplies manufacturers, such as Print-Rite, G&G, Summit, Lai Sheng (LS), etc., took part in the November 11 sales, lowering the sales price by one-half for that day. It was reported that LS, an aftermarket toner cartridge and parts manufacturer in Northern China, sold RMB 5 million ($821,000) worth of printer supplies on Tmall.com, part of taobao.

Pantum reported its online sales increased 20 times this year compared with 2012. The firm said the typical sales model in China is “changing from channels and direct sales to large clients to online and offline sales”. It decided to continue promotion of online sales in the next 3-5 years.

Photizo believes e-commerce is changing how goods are sold in China for both B2C and C2C products. The computer mall, the major channel for 3C or electronic products over the past years in China, is going downhill, and is likely to become extinct in the next few years. “To some extent, the boom in online shopping indicates the end of an era in which hundreds of thousands of sellers serving local markets in various computer malls are forced to compete with other sellers nationwide in cyberspace, and many of them will be forced out of business,” said Photizo. Further, Photizo points out this may be good news to printer OEMs, mainly because computer malls are a place where counterfeit cartridges flourish. If computer malls are to vanish, a main hotbed for infringing cartridges will disappear.