(Yicai Global) Sept. 15 -- In the first half of the year, online retail turnover in China reached CNY3.1 trillion (USD476.9 billion, up 34.8 percent on the year, per data from the China E-Commerce Research Center.

Online retail has maintained rapid growth thanks to the June 18 E-Business Carnival held in the first half of the year. Special sales festivals held by e-tailers in the second half, such as on Black Friday and China's Single's Day, will further contribute to growth and the annual figure could reach CNY7.6 trillion (USD1.17 trillion) said Cao Lei, director of the research center.

The report also shows the number of online consumers in the first half reached 516 million, up 7.5 percent from the same period last year. The report forecasts the figure could reach 540 million by year-end.

In China's online business-to-consumer retail market, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s [NYSE:BABA] Tmall came out on top, occupying a 50.2-percent market share, 3 points down from the first half of 2016.

The middle order came in as follows:

2nd -- JD.com Inc. [NASDAQ:JD] -- 24.5 percent market share -- up 0.3 point

3rd -- Vipshop Holdings Ltd. [NYSE:VIPS] -- 6.5 percent market share -- up 2.7 points

4th -- Suning Commerce Group Co. [SHE:002024] -- 5.4 percent market share -- up 2.1 points

5th -- GOME Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd. [HKG:0493] -- 4.1 percent market share -- up 2.5 points.

Other platforms, including Yihaodian, Amazon.com Inc. [NASDAQ:AMZN], Dangdang Inc. and Jumei International Holding Ltd. [NYSE:JMEI] held a 9.3-percent share.