A newly published report by iResearch, an Internet research company, has estimated that China's online sales will surpass 51 billion yuan (US$6.38 billion) in 2007, up 63 percent on 2006.

The report counted 43.1 million online shoppers in 2006, a figure set to rise to 55 million this year.

Last year's online sales already saw a bullish 60 percent rise over 2005 with 31.2 billion yuan being spent -- 8.2 billion yuan on B2C (business-to-consumer) trading and 23 billion yuan in C2C (consumer-to-consumer) trading.

Commodities sold through B2C trading principally involved audio-visual electronics and computer software.

Through the establishment of a third party payment service and a credit rating system, similar to those modeled in the US by Paypal, online shopping has attracted an increasing number of consumers allaying their concerns about online fraud, said Hou Tao, iResearch market executive.

China has 123 million Internet users, with 26 percent of these having shopped online, reveal statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center.

(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2007)