E-commerce set to be new engine for national economy

Research conducted by the China Association for Employment Promotion showed online retail generates about 9.6 million jobs in China. Chen Yu, executive vice-president of the association, said the number includes those who directly open online shops and those who are hired by those online shops.

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"If you include those who deliver packages and those who provide e-commerce related services, the number is much bigger," said Chen.

Chen has been working on the Internet's influence on employment since 2012. According to his research, the Internet has offered great opportunities for who have been challenged in looking for a job.

"Most of those who find it difficult to land a job in China, are farmers, laid-off workers and disabled people," he said."In the real world, they find it hard to land jobs because of their ages, their educational background and their health. But with the booming of online shopping, they can easily set up a store online and earn a living," he said.

Liang Chunxiao, vice-president of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the leading e-commerce giant in China by revenue and transactions, said the engine of China's economic growth will shift from World Trade Organization-based exports to Internet-based domestic consumption over the next 10 years.

"Online retail only accounted for 20 percent of China's total transactions using e-commerce, which include business-to-customer, business-to-business and service-related e-commerce," Liang said.

"If you think the power of online retail is great in our economy, wait to see the power of the whole e-commerce industry," he said, adding China's e-commerce market is expected to grow to 50 trillion yuan ($8.17 trillion) in 2020 from about 10 trillion yuan in 2013.

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