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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, April 27, 2003

Online sales soaring as fear spreads

By Tian Ying
Bloomberg News Service

BEIJING — Sohu.com Inc., Sina Corp. and other Chinese Internet companies are selling more surgical masks, kung-fu videos and other products as Chinese consumers turn to online shopping to protect themselves from a pneumonia virus that's killed almost 100 people nationwide.

Beijing-based Sohu recorded a 40 percent jump in Internet orders this month from the same period last year as people shun shopping in stores, said Wei Lin, marketing department manager for Sohu's online mall. Sina sales rose, and a fifth more people browsed its shopping site, spokeswoman Liu Binghua said.

"We have sold out more than 3,000 facemasks and 2000 bottles of disinfectants since yesterday when we started to sell them," Wei said last week. "We have another advance order for 1,000 bottles of disinfectant."

Success in online shopping adds to already surging sales from mobile phone instant-messaging services at Nasdaq-listed Sohu, Sina and Netease.com Inc. Sohu's shares have risen 14-fold the past year, making them the third best performer on the Nasdaq Composite Index. Netease ranks first and Sina sixth, according to Bloomberg data.

Sohu's online market hawks daily necessities such as toothbrushes, shampoo and baby diapers. People may prefer home delivery as a precaution against SARS, the company said in a statement. Operators at traditional "bricks-and-mortar" shops agree.

"We have fewer and fewer customers," said Qu Hongxia, a sales manager at Xinhongda, a home furnishings shop in Beijing. "People only go shopping for urgently needed stuff."