Around 100 million virtual sports players and gamers, part of a growing category known as esports, shop for their gear on consumer-to-consumer digital marketplace Taobao, the platform shared this week.
China’s professional gaming industry includes many young and female players. Around 30 million Chinese consumers active in esports were born after 2000, and 40% of all professional gamers in the country are female, according to Taobao.
They buy computer and phone cooling systems, ambient lighting and projectors to update their immersive gaming experience at home. Popular esports purchases include speakers, headphones, keyboards, and massage chairs.
China’s esports industry is worth roughly RMB140 billion ($20 billion), according to report published this week by Alibaba’s e-commerce site Tmall, and the sport will be an official event at this year’s Asian Games Hangzhou 2022.