Consumers' rights are essential part of supply-side reform

In its World Consumer Rights Day program, CCTV was keen to point out that online shopping is now the main source of the complaints it received from consumers. The China Consumers Association also said that complaints about online shopping made up nearly 70 percent of all complaints last year.

The prevalence of shoddy or fake goods in the online marketplace has clearly become a problem that both China's e-business giants and the regulatory authorities need to take it more seriously.

It is true that the very convenience of online shopping will encourage Chinese consumers to spend more in coming years. But that does not mean unchecked online fraud or fake goods will not dent their enthusiasm and erode the credibility and thus profits of e-businesses.

As a country eager to get its more than 1.3 billion people to spend more to drive economic growth, these issues need to be tackled as aggressively as possible.

Meanwhile, Chinese shoppers' growing appetite to spend abroad signals their dissatisfaction with the quality of domestic products and services.

Chinese consumers spent 1.2 trillion yuan ($185 billion) overseas last year. If Chinese policymakers and enterprises would like the country's growing middle classes to spend more of their money inside the country, they must attach greater importance to satisfying Chinese consumers with upgraded products and improved services.

It is widely believed that the next five years will be a crucial period for the world's second-largest economy to double its size and per capita income by 2020 from 2010 levels. That kind of achievement will greatly swell the number of middle-income consumers in this country to power consumption-led growth.

To realize that goal, China's ongoing supply-side reforms need to be more consumer-oriented. That requires greater efforts to strengthen the protection of consumer rights and build a more consumer-friendly domestic environment.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily. zhuqiwen@chinadaily.com.cn