SHANGHAI -- Online shopping direct from the factory is gaining popularity in an increasingly frugal China, where an Alibaba Group Holding-owned marketplace for wholesalers has logged a 30% year-on-year jump in users this November as ordinary consumers hunt for lower prices.
"I buy everything from clothes to curtains and hangers," said Cai, a 33-year-old female office worker who lives in Jiangsu province and is an avid individual user of 1688.com, the marketplace in question.
