Mobile spending picks up speed

Shopping via mobile phones is fast becoming the main option for spending money in China, with transactions from the not-so-developed western region of the country being the driving force, a report said on Monday.

The report, prepared by Alipay, the payment arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, said more than half of all online payment transactions were made with mobile phones so far this year.

Payments through mobile phones accounted for 54 percent of all transactions conducted over Alipay in the first 10 months of the year while it accounted for 22 percent of the total payment volume last year.