Online sales of fast-moving consumer goods in China are growing seven times quicker than in the US as some 415m Chinese millennials buy daily items over their phones, a study has found.

Over the five years to 2015, China’s online sales of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) grew at an average of 78.4 per cent, far outstripping a 10.7 per cent growth rate in the US and a 7.9 per cent rise in the UK, according to a report by OC&C, a consultancy. In total, online FMCG sales hit $25.3bn in 2015, more than the US and UK totals put together.

The figures suggest the growing influence of millennials, born in the last two decades of the 20th century, on consumer trends in the world’s second-largest economy. “They live a very busy life, on average working 8.3 more hours per week than [richer] OECD countries,” said the OC&C report. “As such, consumers’ need for convenience has fuelled the surging demand to buy FMCG online anywhere, anytime.”