Nevertheless, the industry's growth will fuel tremendous development in various Internet-related sectors. IDC expects emarketplaces to play a strong role in two to three years, with a serious amount of consolidation occurring over the next four years. Consolidation will be a dominant theme across the industry over the next four years. The Chinese portal market has been the first to feel the brunt of this, and we feel that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Security and payment are still a major issue for consumers shopping online.
China ranks as one of the highest markets in Asia in terms of online shopping concerns.
Portals are looking for every way to make money. Although B2B is the current ecommerce trend, B2C still has a future. Its future lies in the PRC's large cities. The key issues surrounding B2C ecommerce companies in China are that they must deal with delivery and payment issues. Despite these inhibitors, B2C companies are finding ways to survive and, in certain cases, succeed.