LIKE many Chinese who lived through difficult times, Zhang Xiaoqing has longed for a life of abundance.

    For the 26-year-old office worker in South China’s tropical Hainan Province, this meant pursuing her childhood dream of opening a snack store — a dream she realized through the help of China’s booming e-commerce industry.

    Earlier this year, Zhang registered her store on WeChat, China’s most popular mobile messaging app, and began selling mangos, jackfruits and other tropical fruit to inland customers.

    Zhang is just one of the millions of ordinary people getting a taste of entrepreneurship thanks to access granted by e-commerce platforms. Like Zhang, many joining the rush start their businesses by selling simple goods, ranging from local delicacies and hand-made accessories to more sophisticated procurements and consulting services.

    The Internet has given Chinese in their 20s like Zhang great opportunities to start their own businesses and strike it rich, said Zhang Yichi, a professor at Guanghua School of Management of Peking University and the director of the school’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

    Thanks to the Internet, there are fewer upfront costs for young business owners, Zhang said.

    Unlike traditional industries, Internet companies can build websites, host conference calls and launch online marketing campaigns, all on a shoestring budget.

    Open-source software can also reduce or eliminate the need for consultants and tech support.

    “For people who are under 25, it is a golden age to start their own businesses,” Zhang said.

    “They have the opportunity and character that other generations didn’t have.”

    Business for everyone

    It only took Zhang Xiaoqing five minutes to apply for her storefront on WeChat using a third-party app that enables users to set up their business account at no cost and easily promote it by posting the link on one’s own WeChat account.

    Koudaitong, one of the third-party apps, reported a surge from 3,000 users in March to over 10,000 by the end of August. Weidian, a similar app, has roughly 1 million users now.

    WeChat reported more than 400 million active users by the end of August, and official accounts on it neared 6 million, with the majority of them registering for official WeChat shops.

    “It’s idiot-proof with simple steps. You only have to work hard on promotion and service,” Zhang said.

    Another Internet giant, Baidu, is also strategically stepping up the development of e-commerce services. The country’s largest search engine rolled out its new platform Zhidahao, literally translated as “one-stop service,” helping merchants offer packaged services to customers found through mobile searches.

    China now boasts 3.2 million websites. The number of Chinese netizens has grown to 618 million, and 500 million of them are surfing online with their smartphones, according to a report in December 2013 by the China Internet Network Information Center.

    More orderly ecosystem expected

    Easier store openings do not necessarily mean a quality service and profitable business because the e-commerce ecosystem needs time to deal with emerging players and problems.

    Complaints about unsatisfactory e-commerce experiences reached over 50,000 in the first half of 2014, up more than 21 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the research by the China E-Commerce Research Center (CECRC).

    The growth in complaint cases reveals ongoing problems with fake products, deceptive promotions and account security, among other issues.

    The lack of proper supervision, difficulties in regulating virtual shops and an underdeveloped credit business give rise to customer complaints, said Yao Jianfang, an analyst with CECRC.

    One-person operations like Zhang’s are also finding it difficult to survive with high promotional fees, financing difficulties and policy obstacles, leaving many small e-commerce vendors in the red, according to a report in the Economic Information Daily.

    “I put my stores on all the major e-commerce platforms, but almost all of my profits have been invested in online and mobile promotions, which are crucial to sales. We are caught in a vicious cycle,” one e-commerce vendor surnamed Wang said in the article.

    In another case, a businessperson failed to get the proper permits from the post office to operate his business.

    “Traditional supervision systems, management approaches and industrial order are being challenged by the surge of new business types and players, and all shareholders must set fair game rules and cultivate an inclusive industrial chain,” said Jiang Qiping, secretary-general of the information research center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.(Xinhua)