After ballots on November 8, 2016, seven more states, including California and Florida, will now permit the use of marijuana for either medical or recreational use. Currently, 29 states and the District of Columbia have passed initiatives or laws legalizing medical marijuana or regulating its adult use like alcohol or tobacco. Yet cannabis remains illegal under federal law, and banks are reluctant to open accounts for marijuana shops and dispensaries, leading to a variety of unfortunate results. It seems obvious that the current disharmony between state and federal law is not maintainable, and a tipping point when financial institutions open their doors to the marijuana industry must come. SinglePoint, Inc. (OTC: SING) expects that will happen soon and is poised to be a ‘first mover’ in providing payment solutions to the cannabis vertical through its SingleSeed payments subsidiary.

California State Treasurer John Chiang highlighted the problems facing marijuana establishments when he wrote President Trump earlier this year.

“This conflict between federal and state rules creates a number of problems for the states that have legalized cannabis use, including difficulties collecting tax revenue, increased risk of serious crime, and the inability of a newly legal industry under state law to effectively engage in banking and commerce.”

Last month, Chiang’s office announced ongoing discussions with the Cannabis Banking Working Group ‘to discuss solutions that provide greater access to banking to California’s future $7 billion legal cannabis industry. The working group was appointed to figure out how to address problems caused by the unwillingness of federally regulated banks to handle money from pot businesses.

The skittishness by banks to engage with the industry is nothing new to SinglePoint. About two years ago, the company started putting point-of-sale terminals in marijuana dispensaries in Washington and Colorado and was “doing very well until the banks shut it down,” explained Greg Lambrecht, CEO and founder of SinglePoint, in a recent podcast interview (http://dtn.fm/OPap5). However, that has not stopped SinglePoint, which continues its ‘no touch’ approach to avoid violating federal law. The company is offering dispensaries other products like text message marketing. The strategy now is to build relationship channels that can be used to capture the payments business when banking restrictions are relaxed.

This distribution strategy has worked well for CEO Greg Lambrecht in the past. He used it at PCI, a leading consumer product distribution company, where he negotiated agreements with the nation’s largest retail outlets such as 7-11 (Southland Corp), Albertson’s, and Costco that resulted in 25,000 retail accounts. Greg then led PCI through a NASDAQ-listed initial public offering (IPO), raising $10 million in the process. SingleSeed will provide point-of-sale terminals that allow patients and patrons of marijuana establishments to use their debit and credit cards to make purchases or the ability to pay by text.

SinglePoint’s ‘no touch’ strategy is evident in its recent acquisition of Convectium, which has developed ‘the world’s first’ oil-filling system for cartridges and disposable vape pens. Currently, these are filled by hand, but using Convectium’s machines, developed in China, would greatly increase productivity. Convectium’s 710Shark and 710Seal system can fill and package 100+ cartridges or disposable vape pens in 30 seconds, making it the fastest filling and sealing system of its kind. With a market that extends to over 52 countries, Convectium expects 2017 revenues to dramatically increase based on sales of the machine and repeat sales of the vials.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Singlepoint.com

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Being a publicly traded holding company gives SinglePoint, Inc. (OTC: SING) a chance to target candidate companies and help them grow. Such has been the case on the mobile technology and mobile marketing fronts. By connecting client companies to their best target markets, mobile technology can be made available at reasonable rates, but an interest in these organizations means profit potential for SinglePoint. However, the company hasn’t limited its investment opportunities. The cannabis industry is thriving as legalization (medical and/or recreational) has occurred in 29 states and counting. Expansion beyond mobile payments has enabled the company to find more opportunities for investors.

SinglePoint recently acquired a stake in Convectium, maker of an important filling and packaging machine for vape cartridges and pens. In 2016, the $6.7 billion legal cannabis market in North America was up 30 percent from 2015, according to Arcview Market Research. Illicit sales have declined, but there’s a growing market. By contrast, mobile payment transactions exceeded $8.7 billion in 2015, according to eMarketer, which forecast 210 percent growth in 2016. The more modest 30 percent growth in the legal cannabis market, however, represents the increase in momentum for legal cannabis and related products.

Convectium has set anticipated increases in sales volume to triple digits over 2016. SinglePoint’s investment not only enables Convectium to work towards its goals, but for the holdings company to diversify revenue streams. The initial stock and cash consideration continues to help grow Convectium. The marketing of the 710Shark and 710Seal system for filling and packaging disposable vape pens is financially supported. Functionality alone is driving demand, as the system can fill/package over 100 vape pens in 30 seconds.

SinglePoint is also finding growth through its SingleSeed.com subsidiary. The cashless payments solution is built on the latest technology, serving shopkeepers and consumers. Text messaging is used to connect with customers in the cannabis business and helps increase loyalty, communication, and sales. SingleSeed is even supporting the sale of non-cannabis items. Its Pay-by-Text™ offering enables mobile phone payments and provides a convenient way to make purchases at a shop or trade show, or on-the-go using a mobile phone app-like checkout page.

With its recent Convectium investment and SingleSeed initiative, the company is growing its hold on the lucrative cannabis industry. Profit and revenue are possible even without touching a single marijuana plant, as the industry continues to expand with marketable cannabis-related products. In fact, the legal market is expected to grow at 27 percent CAGR through 2021, to a level that Arcview estimates can reach $22.6 billion. An already successful holdings company, SinglePoint expects to see even more success as investments in the cannabis market are sure to increase in value.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Singlepoint.com

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Humans are a wasteful bunch, and our habits in the business world are no different. While a minimal amount of waste in the workplace is recycled, Texas-based Quest Resource Holdings (NASDAQ: QRHC) believes the nation’s corporations can do a lot better. As a provider of sustainability, recycling and environmental services, Quest is focused on strengthening its own top line while helping large corporations reduce their operating cost and minimize their eco-footprint.

Through its Quest Resource Management Group and Early911 subsidiaries, Quest designs and manages sustainability, recycling and resource management programs for the automotive, grocery/restaurant, industrial, property management and sustainability industries. With more than 38,000 client locations across the country, Quest has managed more than 1.37 million tons of waste, including used motor oil, trash, organics, used tires and card board.

In January 2017, Quest expanded its reach into the construction and demolition (C&D) industry, which spent $1.18 billion in 2016 alone – marking the industry’s highest level of spending in a decade. According to the Department of Commerce, the increase correlates with rising demand for project services and waste management as construction companies seek to minimize risk and cost, increase insight and control, and address environmental goals of clients.

For Quest, this means opportunity. Quest leverages its national footprint and cloud-based service and reporting platform to provide clients the ability to control cost, access waste disposal alternatives, streamline logistics, and increase efficiencies. Using the C&D industry as an example of this strategy, Quest’s construction-centered offerings include general requirement services such as temporary offices, storage containers, toilets and hand washing stations, holding tanks, water tanks and dumpsters. C&D waste and recycling services include solutions for materials such as wood, concrete, roofing, drywall, metal, plastic and blast media recycling, as well as hazardous and non-hazardous waste.

These solutions are executed through a time-saving, streamlined process in which Quest handles incoming requests, schedules and manages services, and provides LEED® credit tracking and sustainability reporting, enabling busy construction managers to focus on building their projects.

To facilitate its own growth, Quest operates an organic and acquisition-based strategy that creates a base of recurring revenues generated through fees for waste and recycling services, the sale of recyclable material in the commodity market, professional services, and the sale of operational products such as waste collection containers, compacting equipment and fleet maintenance products.

In 2016, backed with a credit facility with up to $20 million in borrowing capacity, the company refined its go-to-market strategy to optimize its market opportunities and reinforce the foundation for growth. The plan enabled the expansion of existing markets, entry into new industry verticals, and wins from new and existing customers.

These initiatives enabled the company to drive fourth-quarter revenues to $45.0 million, a year-over-year increase of 2%. Full-year 2016 revenues of $184 million represent an increase of 8% from total revenues in 2015. In the fourth quarter of 2016 the company also improved its gross margin by 50 basis points to 8.2%, and narrowed its net loss to $1.3 million compared to $2.8 million for the comparable quarter of 2015.

Pivoting off this growth, the company has its sight set on a market opportunity valued at $55 billion, with anticipation for continued momentum.

“We expect improved performance in 2017, reflecting our refocused go-to-market strategy and our efforts to enhance the value add of our services portfolio. Those initiatives, including our focused approach to customer acquisition, are expected to result in 1% to 2% improvement in gross margin and positive Adjusted EBITDA by the end of 2017,” S. Ray Hatch, president and CEO of Quest, stated in the earnings release. “Long term, we expect our strategy will return the company to double-digit top-line growth. In addition, we plan to show continued growth during the next several years and have established a three-to-five-year gross margin target in the low to mid-teens and an Adjusted EBITDA margin target of 4% to 6%.”

For more information visit www.qrhc.com

ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX) is raising funds in a series of offerings, equity sales and a private placement to meet its liquidity needs, even as it reported a 95% gain in its year-over-year operating revenues for the three months ended February 28, 2017. It has begun a private placement of a new series of its preferred stock to its Canadian investors. In 2016, it realized $2.3 million in proceeds from its stock sales of Medicine Man Technologies, Inc.

ChineseInvestors.com is a company which, in real-time in the Chinese language, provides analysis and educational services. It also offers consulting and advertising servies to its members. It is now focusing on the growing cannabis sector, developing online and store sales of hemp-based CBD health products. Warren Wang, chief executive officer of CIIX, said the company is in the final stages of developing websites, retail channels and marketing campaigns for the product line.

In the quarter ended February 28, 2017, it raised $5,000,043 from an offering of its Series C-2016 preferred stock. Additionally, the investors of the final $350,150 in that over-subscribed offering agreed to keep their funds on deposit with the company pending the company’s next securities placement. It was recorded on the balance sheet as an investors’ deposit. CIIX raised some $1,996,939 in cash in the nine months ended February 28, 2017, from its holdings in MDCL stock. The company still retains 41,238 shares of MDCL stock, representing $79,588 in value based on a closing market price of $1.93.

Even as its own sales performance grows, CIIX says that, since its inception, it has relied on proceeds from private placements and sales of shares of its equity securities to fund its operations. In the past two years, CIIX has realized proceeds of $2,605,000 from the issuance of its Series B-2014 stock.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ChineseInvestors.com

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Employment in the U.S. has undergone profound changes over the last several decades. Workers have been forced to adapt to the new realities of the workplace, and additional skills are required to be competitive. Occupations requiring more education and training are on the rise, and many workers have come to realize that retraining and upgrading their skills is necessary to land and retain a good job.

Although manufacturing in the U.S. hasn’t declined as an industry, and has actually grown in output, manufacturing employment has gone down by about a third since 1990. Automation, global outsourcing, and shifting economic priorities have driven significant changes in the American workplace. Employment opportunities increasingly lie in jobs that require higher level training and technical or analytical skills.

ProBility Media Corp. (OTCQB: PBYA) plays a major role in meeting this fast growing demand for job training and continuing education in the new economy. The company is one of the leading online providers of career advancement and training content for tradesman and technical experts. By building the first full-service training and career advancement brand in the technical fields, ProBility is changing the landscape of the skilled trades training and certification industry.

The company is committed to preparing individuals with training, support, and continued education. ProBility provides people with the training and skills needed to land and retain good jobs. Through targeted acquisitions, the company also has become one of the go-to sources for e-learning and training content, exam preparation, testing, certification, continuing education, and career advancement tools for engineers and tradesmen. The broad collection of the company’s comprehensive educational programs is unparalleled, providing individuals and institutions with the skill sets needed to succeed. ProBility intends to organically grow revenues from current operations while also strategically acquiring synergistic companies operating in the multiple fields that they service. Successful execution of its strategy would easily place ProBility in a position of market dominance.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ProBilityMedia.com

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Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) is already working on both its funding needs and the performance of its Mobile Solutions Segment, as cited by SeeThruEquity’s updated report of April 12, 2017 (http://nnw.fm/w1vK5). In the report, the equity research firm maintained its price target on NETE stock of $2.45 per share. The company in FY2016 reported $54.3 million in sales, representing a 35% gain over the $40.2 million revenues in the 12 months of 2015. SeeThruEquity now projects Net Element’s 2017 sales as reaching $62.9 million.

Net Element is a global financial technology group that processes electronic payments in an omni-channel environment, including e-commerce, point-of-sale and mobile devices. It is segmented into three groups: North America Transaction Solutions, Mobile Payment Solutions and Online Payment Solutions. The firm also provides analytical tools, fraud management, and point-of-sale solutions.

In the report, SeeThruEquity made note that North American Transactions, and its processing, drove company sales in 2016, generating $42.1 million, a 54% jump from the 2015 revenues. Its sales accounted for 78% of total Net Element revenues in 2016. The research firm expressed concern about the performance of the Mobile Solutions segment, which experienced a 34% drop in sales in 2016 to $6 million. Also, it noted Net Element’s balance sheet, asserting that it will require more than $5 million to meet its marketing plan over the next 12 months and repay the debt incurred in its PayOnline acquisition.

Yet, SeeThruEquity said it is intrigued by the company’s high risk/high reward profile in the financial technology sector. It added that Net Element is broadly following SeeThruEquity’s expectations following its 3Q16 financial results and reverse stock split. Its 2017 revenue projection for Net Element is based on continued growth in North America transaction processing and online payments. It has already factored in a decline in mobile payments.

On March 1, 2017, Net Element entered into an 18-month promissory note with Star Equities LLC in the amount of $348,083, the company said in its SEC 10K for the year ended December 31, 2016 (http://nnw.fm/TrU23). A balloon payment is due in September 2018. Oleg Firer, CEO and director of Net Element, is also chairman and managing member of Star Equities. Net Element also said that the number of payments processed through its Mobile Payment Solutions segment declined by 19% in 2016 and that was due to a shifted business model. The company now has moved to a subscription/recurring payment model from its one-time transactional business of the past.

For more information, refer to www.NetElement.com

Since its March acquisition of One Exam Prep LLC, ProBility Media Corp. (OTCQB: PBYA) has been positioned to become one of the leading resources for training, testing, certification, and continuing education in the construction industry. The company is expanding into industries beyond the electrical contractors, fabricators, pipe fitters, plumbing contractors, and engineering firms that it currently serves. Thanks to the acquisition of Florida-based One Exam Prep, it can offer online continuing education and certification in over 20 states. The present goal is to expand these offerings to all 50 states.

ProBility also offers virtual reality training. This state-of-the-art training system is currently designed for customers looking to work in the crane business. It is also being expanded, so virtual reality training will soon be available for several different industries. In addition, the company now has access to One Exam Prep’s over 70 contractor licensing and continuing education domains, and hundreds of online and classroom-based courses.

The multi-year consulting agreement, with One Exam’s founder Rob Estell, runs until the end of the year 2020, and includes a salary and annual performance bonus based on the acquisition’s profits and revenues. Also, the agreement includes a non-recourse secured convertible promissory note. This has a cash value of $300,000. For Q1, ended January 31, 2017, ProBility Media itself reported revenue exceeding $1 million, a year-over-year increase of 24 percent.

In 1946, what is now ProBility Media Corp. began as a small bookstore in Houston, Texas. Today, it offers much of its skills training and education via the cloud. The One Exam Prep acquisition comes after the acquisition of Premier Purchasing and Marketing Alliance LLC (operating as National Electric Wholesale Providers (NEWP), which provides study materials to electricians, covering materials such as the National Electric Code in the United States. Serving numerous multi-billion dollar companies, NEWP is one of the largest National Electrical Codes wholesalers in the country. It supplies distributors with e-books, mobile applications, and downloadable digital files as well, further demonstrating ProBility’s commitment to the digital realm.

ProBility also provides crane-rigging training/certification in compliance with OSHA-ANSI requirements as part of a publishing and distribution deal with All Purpose Crane Training. The One Exam Prep acquisition, however, is taking things to a new level, as enterprises of any size can take advantage of traditional and online classes from the high school level to career placement. Presently, the ProBility training resources cover 15 major categories and education, career advancement, and testing opportunities in over 60 skilled, in-demand trades.

The company also expects its technology-driven construction training and education services to eventually be offered internationally. For now, its services are reinforcing continuous workplace learning and allowing workers all over the country to begin and advance their careers. ProBility’s unprecedented growth is showing in other ways, too. Recently, OTC Markets uplisted the company to the QB Tier, which requires annual certification and consistent reporting with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its string of successful acquisitions, including One Exam Prep LLC, proves that the company is quickly becoming a leader in construction industry education, training, and certification in many high-demand fields.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ProBilityMedia.com

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In 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) provided $19 billion to increase the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) by physicians and hospitals. A big chunk of that was to be spent by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), through which about 30 percent of national health expenditure passes. The CMS administers the reimbursement programs not only for Medicare and Medicaid but for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Health Insurance Marketplace. It is also in the forefront of the drive to shift U.S. health care from a fee-for-service model to a fee-for-value one. ORHub, Inc. (OTC: ORHB), the developer of a cloud-based health care software-as-a-service platform designed to decrease costs and improve outcomes in surgical care, is also focused on this monumental shift within the nation’s health care system.

The McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK), the oldest and largest health care company in the nation, has identified what is required to make the change to a fee-for-value system (http://dtn.fm/9M6gO). The present “siloed” system with individual hospitals each maintaining a separate database must morph into a network that shares information. This will increase care coordination and scale effective interventions with the patient population.

A network system will also allow data from its care provider ‘nodes’ to be acquired, aggregated and analyzed across the network. It will also integrate the clinical and financial aspects of providing care and so increase awareness of costs and the ability to measure and control them.

In one critical area of health care – surgery – ORHub’ cloud-based software platform is already addressing those challenges. It has been implemented in two major hospitals in California as part of programs to improve surgical resource management. ORHub empowers care providers at every stage of the surgical process to collaborate, organize, deliver, measure, and reimburse in one intuitive, easy-to-use program. This significantly decreases cost and improves outcomes by eliminating inefficiencies, duplication of effort, errors and omissions that result from siloed processes in outdated software and poor handoffs from one part of the care process to another.

Even with increasing adoption of EHR systems, many care providers still rely on a paper-based methodology to document information related to surgical procedures and to track events in the operating theater, from the details of a procedure to the implants and tools used. This leads to mistakes, wasted time, missing data, delays or lack of payment, and little opportunity for analysis and improvement.

The ORHub platform is designed to mitigate or correct the shortcomings of traditional systems. It eliminates errors caused by poor handwriting. It reduces the risk of mistakes by allowing users to select from pre-loaded sets of detailed implants and tools rather than relying on memory or catalogue numbers alone. It further reduces errors by requiring verification and sign-off from multiple users before completing a case. It creates purchase orders and implant records automatically based on the case record, saving time and improving reliability. It also fits within existing operating room workflow and requirements, streamlining tasks to save time. And it enables rich data analysis across all of a hospital’s cases tracked through ORHub.

ORHub plans to gain a dominant share of the device implant and biologic inventory management market, which the company estimates at about 7,000,000 surgeries annually, a number that is expected to grow with demographic trends. The company will focus its initial marketing efforts on major national hospital operations.

ORHub is transforming the business of surgery. By creating a new category of health care IT vertical specific software known as Surgical Resource Management, the company is offering enhanced capabilities over traditional EHR solutions in the operating room. The ORHub platform is a HITECH SaaS platform, which employs Microsoft’s Azure Cloud.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ORhub.com

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The success of the Walkman back in the 1980s is testament to the power of getting to market first. By some accounts, Sony sold over 200 million units of its innovative portable cassette player (http://dtn.fm/CV8Et). Now, India Globalization Capital, Inc. (NYSE MKT: IGC) is taking a leaf from the Sony playbook. This pioneering company is a ‘first mover’ in the cannabinoid combination therapy space. IGC is developing a portfolio of products that use cannabinoids in conjunction with existing drugs to tackle chronic pain and a variety of other debilitating medical conditions.

Chronic pain from a range of ailments plagues millions around the world, and many of the analgesics employed to treat it, such as morphine, codeine, and hydrocodone, are opioids. However, opioids are notoriously addictive and their use is often subverted from pain relief. Used as recreational drugs, ‘opioid addiction is America’s 50-state epidemic’, the New York Times has reported (http://dtn.fm/YcgB8), with an effect that is fatal in many instances. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 29,000 Americans die every year from opioid-related overdoses. In light of these frightening developments, there is a growing imperative for less addictive anodynes.

The time is right. Results, published on Monday, April 17, of a Yahoo/Marist poll (http://dtn.fm/mKg7o) show that the public is not only becoming more apprehensive about opioids, but is warming to the use of cannabinoids to treat pain. ‘Two-thirds of the respondents in the telephone survey said opioid drugs such as Vicodin or OxyContin are “riskier” to use than pot, even when the pain pills are prescribed by a doctor.’ They will be happy to hear that IGC is coming to the rescue. The company has filed a patent for IGC-501, a cannabis-based formulation that addresses neuropathic and arthritic pain in joints and muscles using a variety of delivery techniques. IGC expects to begin pre-clinical trials for IGC-501 this year. Since approximately 80 percent of the global opioid supply is consumed in the United States, this presents a domestic market opportunity estimated at about $25 billion.

IGC-501, with its potential to replace treacherously addictive opioids, is not all that IGC has up its sleeve. The company has a robust portfolio of five other combination drug candidates with both human and veterinary applications. It has filed two patents, IGC-502 and IGC-505, for the treatment of seizures in dogs and cats. Most animal seizures stem from epilepsy, which is more common in dogs and cats than formerly recognized. About five percent of dogs and about one percent of cats are epileptic.

It also has IGC-503, aimed at refractory epilepsy, a term that’s used to describe cases of epilepsy that are unresponsive to current medications. Refractory epilepsy affects about 50 million in the U.S. alone. In the pipeline as well is IGC-504, intended for those who suffer from cachexia, known as wasting syndrome. About 1.3 million in the U.S. experience cachexia associated with cancer, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s, HIV/AIDS and other devastating maladies. In addition, there is IGC-506, designed to combat eating disorders, which are said to affect about 30 million Americans (http://dtn.fm/d1SEs).

IGC is out to save the world, it seems. Earlier this month, the company announced it had filed patent applications for IGC-501 in Canada, Israel and Europe in support of its ongoing cannabis-based combination therapy development initiatives.

“In 2017, our goal is to accelerate the development of our cannabis-based therapy portfolio to support key indications such as pain, seizures, cachexia, PTSD, and depression. In tandem, we expect to initiate pre-clinical trials on IGC-501-pain, IGC-502-seizures and IGC-504-cachexia,” CEO Ram Mukunda stated in a news release.

That is welcome news to the many millions who suffer daily from these conditions.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.IGCinc.us

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Moxian, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOXC) is committed to growth in China’s online-to-offline (O2O) retail market, which is predicted by the Chinese to reach $48 billion in 1H17. Social media, an important part of Moxian’s marketing strategy, is playing a growing role in generating e-commerce apparel and dining revenues, research shows. A report by McKinsey & Company finds that the online market is changing retail buying patterns within China. Moxian is a high technology company which is transitioning to paid platforms that offer access to the O2O market and social media sites and away from its initial non-paid business and consumer apps.

The company’s business app is Moxian+ Business, targeted to China’s brick-and-mortar small- and medium-sized business enterprises (SMEs) as they seek to develop social media sites and select from Moxian’s suite of online business tools. The Shenzhen-based company also offers the paid Moxian+ app to consumers in China. Its revenue stream is designed to come from paid mobile advertising, a percentage of all transactions, subscription revenue, and OEM and distribution license fees. The company is focusing on its current 31,600 business users and more than 300,000 consumers. In its initial research report on Moxian (http://nnw.fm/2zcAI), in February 2017, SeeThruEquity acknowledged that company management believes sales can reach $11 million in 2017, making the company cash break even by the end of this year if those sales goals are met, the report said.

The April 2016 report by McKinsey & Company, Consumer China 2016 Survey (http://nnw.fm/QHb20), sees greater penetration by O2O in lower tier cities. E-commerce accounts for 13.5% of all retail spending in China, the survey reports. McKinsey also found that multiple screen users — those that own mobile devices, tablets, and computers — are more intense online shoppers than those who have smart mobile phones alone. Multiple device owners spend 17% more than users who have only mobile phones, and they also shop in 29% more categories. A total of 14% more multi-screen owners interact with businesses through social networks, now using such platforms as WeChat.

Social media is playing a larger role in generating e-commerce sales, the study found. Half of the digital consumers surveyed by McKinsey used social media for product research and recommendations. McKinsey found that social media was not just a background research tool, but an active driver of actual online purchases. McKinsey found that social media was important in impulse buys, such as for apparel and personal care. McKinsey said it sees considerable opportunity for brands and retailers to reach customers on social platforms. In particular, dining and travel are two segments for growth in the O2O marketplace, it said.

The study also found that consumer electronics and small appliances have been basic e-commerce retail sellers in China, generating some 30% of their retail sales online. Apparel needs to grow its entire online experience, from style advice and returns/exchanges, to extend its online value share — now stuck in the low 20s. Food spending online remains at only 5% of total food spending for users. Online remains convenient for food buyers, but the average food basket size, at less than $15, suggests that consumers are still not doing most of their grocery shopping via e-commerce.

Lower tier cities also have a lot of e-commerce potential in China, McKinsey found. There are 74 million more online shoppers there than in high tier cities. Yet, 160 million people in these low tier cities have not even started shopping online. To grow, online markets will need to use data analytics to reach consumer market segments, developing up selling and cross-marketing efforts.

For more information, visit www.Moxian.com