The Cinese e-Business Research Centre released a report announcing that internet sales in China have increased 60% in the first half of 2010. Last year, total e-commerce sales equaled 3.6 trillion Yuan ($350 billion), while the first half of 2010 boasts a total of 2.25 trillion Yuan ($331.3 billion). Growth is set to keep rising as more people gain internet access, and thereby become e-commerce shoppers (about 1/3 of Chinese internet users).

Don’t think this has gone unnoticed.

The release of the report comes hand in hand with MasterCard’s announcement of acquiring DataCash for $520 million. MasterCard’s aim in the acquisition is to drive its e-commerce expansion into the Asia-Pacific area, Europe, and Australia. (not to mention rival Visa’s recent acquisition of CyberSource) DataCash serves as an all-encompassing interface for e-commerce merchants, giving them the ability to process payments across the globe. They develop and outsource electronic payments solutions, alternative payment choices, fraud alerts, and back-office reconciliation for merchants.

Moreover, it seems that MasterCard is making a big statement: while Visa’s acquisition of CyberSource was an attempt to take over US e-commerce (for $2 billion, a pretty penny) MasterCard has replied by saying, “Ha! Visa, we plan to take over the world…for a fraction of the cost.”

MasterCard’s acquisition is bolstered by the numbers from the Chinese e-commerce report, indicating the wide expanse of opportunity available to MasterCard now…and challenging Visa to see what they can come up with next.

Image thanks to http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00137/dragons.htm