Beijing economy led by e-commerce, service industries

The e-commerce sector has emerged as Beijing's new growth engine, according to findings within the Third National Economic Census released on Thursday.

They show online retail volumes generated in the capital city surging more than 10-fold over the past five years, while traditional retail sectors such as catering, hospitality and postal services expanded at a slower pace.

With China's online retail market becoming gradually more sophisticated, many companies have sought to attract more customers by launching online stores.