Around two thirds of China's on-line shoppers are male and 83 percent are between 18 and 35 years old.

Customers with average monthly incomes between 1,000 and 3,000 yuan are the major online purchasers, according to a report released by consulting company under China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID Consulting).

Enterprise management staff, civil servants and students are the major online consumer groups.

The characteristics of buyers are closely related to those of Chinese netizens, said Chi Congbing, an analyst with CCID Consulting.

Government statistics show that 58.7 percent of Chinese netizens are male and over 65 percent of them are between 18 and 35 years old.

Books, video discs and digital products are major products customers buy through the internet. Netizens also pay for on-line games, downloads and software.

Cheap prices, convenience and availability of rare products are major reasons why people shop online, said Chi, adding that around 52 percent of on-line buyers tend to pay online.

About 80 percent of sellers use taobao.com and 34.5 percent use eBay. Nearly half of the on-line stores have daily transactions of below 10 yuan.

"It means most of the C2C (customer to customer) sellers do not regard on-line selling as their full-time business," said Chi.

Editor: Wing