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Online purchases have become the first choice among shoppers in first-tier cities, according to a survey of taxi passengers.

China Daily conducted a poll of 134,026 people by teaming up with Touchmedia, the national leader in media presentations in taxis, from Dec 1 to 9. Fifty-two percent of the taxis involved in the survey were in Shanghai, with others in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

More than two-fifths of Chinese people who responded to the survey cited e-commerce sites as their top choice for shopping. These included online marketplaces such as Tmall and Taobao, business-to-customer sites such as JDMall and official brand websites.

Foreign residents in China are less inclined to embrace online shopping. About one-third of expats living in Shanghai said they prefer brick-and-mortar stores.

Among 24,218 foreigners surveyed who live overseas but were visiting the city, the top three shopping choices were convenience stores, shopping malls and department stores.

All respondents were allowed to list up to three choices, with the results given equal importance and bundled together.

About 40 percent of the Chinese respondents said they pay for online purchases by using bank cards online or through third-party payment platforms such as Alipay.

The figure was 10 percentage points lower among foreign respondents, with 21 percent citing cash as the primary payment option, followed by in-person credit card use.

China is poised to overtake the United States to become the world's largest e-commerce market this year, according to estimates from consultancy Bain & Co.

With a 32 percent average annual growth forecast, online shopping in China is set to reach 3.3 trillion yuan ($539 billion) by 2015, Bain said in a report.

The poll was conducted two weeks after Alibaba Group achieved a record single-day sales of 35 billion yuan on Nov 11.

On Thursday, 2.1 million small vendors and mom-and-pop shops that operate on Alibaba's Taobao Marketplace will offer discounts to woo customers and boost sales.

Taobao merchants must ensure that the prices are the lowest they've offered in the past 30 days.

More than 60 million products will be 50 percent off, according to Taobao data, while an additional 1.2 billion yuan in discounts will be distributed in the form of digital coupons.

Dozens of local Chinese courts are also taking advantage of the shopping event, pledging to auction seized goods on Taobao. Since last June, 98 local courts have agreed to display confiscated goods online, with 1,175 items being auctioned via the website.

In the Nov 11 shopping event, Amazon China saw its sales soar 300 percent compared with the 24-hour sales event last year.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.