BEIJING -- Online shopping in China surged in the third quarter of the year with transactions totaling 454.76 billion yuan (about $74.62 billion), data showed on Thursday.

The figure was a 42.4 percent year-on-year increase, according to a report released by iResearch, China's leading Internet industry research company.

Two factors contributed to the surging trend, online shopping in third and fourth tier cities and better marketing by e-business firms, said the report.

Business-to-customer platforms covered about 36.6 percent of the online shopping transaction volume, a growth of 5.6 percentage points compared with the third quarter last year.

B2C gained more popularity because of higher quality and business reputation compared to customer-to-customer online sales, said the report.