Beibei will be following her online shopping passion with a bi-weekly report on new online shopping trends in the market. This week’s topic explores the online shopping trends of new mothers and the un-sustainability of this habit.

As an expecting mother, 9 months of pregnancy is an both an exciting and exhausting period of time. In 2009, over 16 million Chinese mothers endured this child bearing passage to give birth to their wondrous bundles of joy. This 9 month period of time often represents 9 months of relative isolation and rest time for Chinese mothers, sparking what has become an unbelievable growth in online purchasing power.

This period of time for expecting Chinese mothers is a traditional period known as 坐月子 (Zuo Yuezi), which translates to “sitting the month”. Chinese people recognize “Zuo Yuezi” as a period when the mother’s body, including hormone levels and uterus size, returns to pre-pregnancy conditions. It usually lasts 30 days, but regional variants may last 60, 90 or as many as 6 months. Tradition specifies a restricted diet and puts limitations on activities considered to be harmful. During Zuo Yuezi, the mother is expected to spend all of her time indoors, much of it in bed, and is prohibited from numerous activities such as bathing, hair-washing etc. Online Chinese shopping sites have come to the rescue for antsy moms-to-be. Because of its convenience, new mothers increasingly go online both to look for necessities and entertainment.

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