SHANGHAI ranked first among domestic cities in terms of online shopping, according to a report released yesterday by Taobao, the country's largest online shopping website.
The cities were ranked based on factors like economic conditions, population, consumer spending and income.
The report divided 2,300 domestic cities into six levels with Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen belonging to first-tier cities, Taobao said.
Shanghai has advanced hardware and software, as well as strong buying power, it said.
Most mid-west cities belong to the fifth- or sixth-tier cities according to Taobao's ranking while coastal areas like Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces have a better online shopping environment.
Higher dispensable incomes as well as better logistics networks created the gap between the coastal areas and less developed markets in the mid-west, the report said.
Nearly 35 percent of Internet users have shopped on Taobao in the past year in first-tier cities while it drops to 23.4 percent in second-tier cities.
