Open Access

Lea Hohl

• In 2018 the EU General Data Protection Regulation came into effect. Personal data has been protected in the European Union than nowhere else in the world. At the same time, China has become the largest e-commerce market in the world, overtaking the US. Moreover, the Chinese e-Commerce market still has growth potential since only 60% of the country´s population has internet access. The purpose of this thesis is to research the question of whether electronic commerce is powerful in China due to low levels of data protection. First of all, this thesis is examining the main principles of Chinese data protection in comparison to Germany as a country with high data protection standards. Secondly, this work investigates the importance of personal data in electronic commerce. Thirdly, it intends to explain the development of Chinese online business. In the end, the key learnings will be presented. This research uses statistical evaluation, literature, and legislative review to get a theoretical understanding of the matter. It uses various forms of market insights to understand the industry, the consumer, and the role of the Chinese regime. The findings indicate that there is a correlation between the degree of data regulation and the quality of promotion. Personal data are not the only one critical success factor for the establishment of e-commerce.