Survey says more e-shoppers to buy foreign stuff by 2020

Cross-border e-commerce in China is set to expand to a much wider population base by 2020, a survey has found.

More than 15 percent of the Chinese population purchased goods from abroad worth $85.8 billion in 2016. The amount is expected to reach 25 percent - which translates into 325 million people - by 2020, according to research firm eMarketer.

Buyers in China spent an estimated average of $473 each on cross-border purchases in 2016, representing 4.2 percent of the total retail ecommerce market, the study found.