The results of a study indicate that the AliExpress arm of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is the website most popular among Portuguese that buy online, SapoTek reports.

The Portuguese technology news website says the Association of Electronic Commerce and Interactive Advertising in Portugal commissioned International Data Corp. to do the study, the results of which were made public during Portugal Digital Week in Lisbon.

The study found that over 3.5 million Portuguese shopped online last year, spending over €4.6 billion (about US$5.25 billion); that 45 percent used foreign shopping websites; and that one-third used Chinese shopping websites.

The results indicate that only 18 per cent of Portuguese businesses that sell online sell their wares abroad.

“It’s a major opportunity that should be taken,” SapoTek quotes the head of the association, Alexandre Fonseca, as saying.