China will become the world's largest online retail market in 2013, following years of fast growth, a Ministry of Commerce (MOC) official forecast on Tuesday.

China recorded 194 million online shoppers and 782.56 billion yuan (123.72 bln U.S. dollars) in online retail trade by the end of last year, said Li Jinqi, director of the information technology department of the MOC, during a conference on E-commerce held in Beijing.

The volume marked a 53.7 percent rise year on year and constituted 4.32 percent of China's total consumer goods retail volume in 2011, according to Li.

"E-commerce has brought a change in the marketing mode, and online retail is becoming a new growth engine," Li noted.

According to a MOC report also released on Tuesday, China's E-business trade was worth 5.88 trillion yuan in 2011, up 29.2 percent from 2010 and constituting about 12.5 percent of China's gross domestic product last year.

The report said over 40 percent of China's small and medium-sized enterprises have used E-commerce to maintain rapid growth amid a worsening external environment.

沪江英语快讯：商务部李晋奇29日在2012中国电子商务大会上称，2013年中国有望成为全球第一大网络零售市场。2011年底，据统计，网上消费者人数达到了1.94亿，网络零售总额超过7800亿人民币，同比增长了53.7%，占社会消费零售总额比重4.32%。电子商务交易额达到5.88万亿元人民币，相当于国内生产总值的12.5%。电子商务改变了传统的营销模式，网络零售正在成为新的经济增长点，逐步成为满足居民消费的有效手段。

延伸阅读：电子商务为生活着实带来了不少便利，但近来的新闻却让网购消费者和网络零售商心惊。不少网友吐槽，“聚美优品”售假货。淘宝上有种“修改中差评”的业务，骚扰给差评的消费者。有人以“差评”为生，敲诈淘宝店主，月收入上万。前段时间淘宝商铺行贿小二事件，最终以“杀鸡儆猴”收场。更详细的阿里巴巴处罚受贿淘宝小二>>>