China's business-to-business (B2B) trade revenue rose to 2.9 billion yuan ($444 million) in the first quarter. That's 7.7 percent more than the previous quarter's 2.7 billion in revenue and up 40.9 percent from one year earlier.

"The business-as-usual (BAU) domestic and foreign trade in the first quarter brought about the slow pace to B2B e-commerce trade, and it is also the BAU time for online shopping," Cao Junbo, chief analyst at IResearch Consulting Group (IResearch), said Wednesday.

B2B trade by small- and medium-sized enterprises contributed 49.2 percent of the total B2B revenue, and trade by large enterprises accounted for 38.2 percent. And 11.1 percent of the revenue was from online shopping accounts, while 1.4 percent was from airfares and hotels.

The country's e-commerce trade revenue totaled 1.5 trillion yuan in the first quarter. It rose 7.6 percent from one quarter earlier but slowed from the 15.8 percent growth rate in the fourth quarter last year, according to IResearch's estimate.

Founded in 2002, IResearch is an organization focused on research in China's Internet industry, including online media, e-commerce, online games, mobile internet and wireless value-added services.