news

The "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Rural E-Commerce" jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce and nine other departments pointed out that the development of rural e-commerce is an important measure to innovate business models and build a modern rural circulation system, an effective means to transform the mode of agricultural development and drive farmers' income growth, and a strong support for promoting rural consumption and satisfying people's yearning for a better life. It also put forward 20 measures in eight aspects.

With the continuous implementation of policies and measures, data shows that from January to June this year, the national rural online retail sales increased by 9.4% year-on-year; as of June, the number of rural online merchants in the country reached 18.532 million, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%. Looking further ahead, the achievements of rural e-commerce development are even more impressive - in 2023, the national rural online retail sales will reach 2.5 trillion yuan, nearly 13 times that of 2014.

Experts interviewed said that the vigorous development of rural e-commerce has promoted the marketization of agricultural products to achieve a qualitative leap and reshaped the value chain of agricultural products. Since the beginning of this year, rural e-commerce has developed strongly and demonstrated vigorous vitality. In the future, all regions should seize the opportunities of e-commerce and continue to work hard in establishing and improving rural logistics and distribution systems, promoting the standardization and branding of agricultural products, and improving the professional level of e-commerce talents in rural areas.

Take the “e-commerce express”

Agricultural products are sold nationwide through the cloud

Plump in size, sweet and sour in taste, and rich in nutrition - in Dongqinggou Village, Yilong County, Sichuan Province, the "May Crisp" plums that were recently launched on the market have not only been praised by local people, but have also won the favor of consumers from all over the country through e-commerce platforms, becoming the "fruit of wealth" for local farmers.

Zheng Ping, deputy director of the Private Economic Development and E-commerce Service Center of Yilong County, Sichuan Province, told the International Business Daily that this year the center organized more than a dozen anchors such as "Jiankang Ah" and "Hakka Lao San", as well as six e-commerce companies such as Tonggenji, Shiguang Impression, and Linglong Planting and Breeding Cooperative to carry out the "Plum Production and I Sell" resource matching activity, which promoted the sales of plums in Dongqinggou Village to more than 8 million yuan.

Dongqinggou Village is just one of the pilot projects in Yilong County to promote local economic development through e-commerce. It is understood that there are more than 5,200 online merchants in Yilong County, and e-commerce has created 13,800 jobs. From January to June this year, the county's e-commerce transaction volume was nearly 1.166 billion yuan, an increase of 11.77% year-on-year; online retail sales reached 570 million yuan, an increase of 24.59% year-on-year. Physical online retail sales totaled 86.8 million yuan, mainly selling rice, flour, grain, oil, cured meat, preserved eggs, and fruits and vegetables.

According to Zheng Ping, in order to seize the e-commerce opportunities and recommend Yiling's good products to consumers across the country, the county has currently built one county-level e-commerce new business cluster and five live broadcast bases for application scenarios such as characteristic farms, product processing, and commercial complexes. It connects multiple e-commerce business entities and live broadcast teams, sells more than 200 types of characteristic agricultural products, and provides services covering all towns in the county, forming one center, five fulcrums, and N new consumption momentum, covering the county-level e-commerce consumption development system for workers, farmers, cities and rural areas.

Like Yilong, more and more villages have made a fortune through e-commerce, which has significantly increased farmers' income.

Rice from Hanshan, chili sauce from Hexian, hairy crabs from Dangtu... Since they boarded the "e-commerce express", these agricultural products from Ma'anshan have realized their dream of "going everywhere". The first half of the year rural e-commerce sales report released by the Ma'anshan Municipal Bureau of Commerce showed that the city's rural e-commerce online sales reached 3.285 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.37%. At the same time, Jun County, Henan Province, focused on exploring local specialty agricultural products, strengthening brand cultivation and promotion, and continuously optimizing industrial chain elements. At present, it has created a regional public brand "Junxian Miaohui" and developed well-known online sales brands of 160 items in 12 categories, including Xiaohe cabbage, Shantang peanuts, Haiyan asparagus, and Wangzhuang dance shoes.

Yuan Shuai, chief strategic development consultant of Xingxiang Studio (First Secretary Live Studio), told the International Business Daily that rural e-commerce is one of the most effective means and methods to help farmers get rich. Short videos and live e-commerce connect farmers on one end and consumers on the other. They can quickly convey information about agricultural and sideline products produced by farmers to consumers, and accurately feedback consumers' purchasing needs to farmers.

Yuan Shuai said that since the beginning of this year, rural e-commerce has developed strongly, showing vigorous vitality. The significant growth in rural online retail sales and the increasing number of rural online merchants have fully proved that rural e-commerce has played an important role in promoting the upward movement of agricultural products, broadening farmers' income channels, and promoting rural revitalization. This series of data not only reflects the huge potential of the rural e-commerce market, but also demonstrates the strong driving force for the development of China's rural digital economy.

Focus on development difficulties

Multiple measures to support rural e-commerce

Since the beginning of this year, multiple policies have been favorable to protect the development of rural e-commerce. The Central Document No. 1 of 2024 emphasized the need to implement the rural e-commerce high-quality development project, promote the construction of county-level e-commerce live broadcast bases, and develop online sales of rural local specialties; in March, the Ministry of Commerce, the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and other 9 departments jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Rural E-commerce"; in May, the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "Key Points for the Development of Digital Villages in 2024"...Rural e-commerce is showing a growth momentum, and more agricultural products are reaching people's tables through e-commerce.

However, the current development of rural e-commerce also faces some challenges. Hong Tao, director of the Institute of Business Economics at Beijing Technology and Business University and dean of the China Food (Agricultural Product) Safety E-commerce Research Institute, told the International Business Daily: "At present, China's rural economy is facing a situation of both oversupply and undersupply. Some specialty agricultural products, service agricultural products, and experience agricultural products are still obviously insufficient; rural e-commerce and logistics are facing the shortcomings of lack of systematic construction; the digital transformation of rural e-commerce is of great urgency."

Bai Wenxi, vice chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Alliance, also told the International Business Daily that the current difficulties faced by the development of rural e-commerce include the uneven quality of agricultural products and the lack of unified standards, which affects consumer trust; the lack of professional e-commerce operations and online marketing talents has restricted the further development of rural e-commerce, etc.

In this regard, Hong Tao suggested that, first, we should promote the "chain development" of rural areas, explore "one market for multiple uses" and "one store for multiple uses", and use the supply chain concept to integrate and coordinate resources. Second, we should accelerate the digital transformation of rural e-commerce and transform the first, second and third-level e-commerce service centers in rural areas into "digital control towers" for "agriculture, rural areas and farmers".

Bai Wenxi suggested establishing and improving the rural logistics and distribution system to reduce logistics costs and improve distribution efficiency; promoting the standardization and branding of agricultural products to improve product quality and enhance market competitiveness; improving the professional level of e-commerce talents in rural areas through training and education; optimizing supply chain management to improve the efficiency and response speed of agricultural products from production to sales.

Through e-commerce channels, local industrial development can be better driven and rural revitalization can be served. Many places will also actively exert their own strength to promote more "Internet celebrity" agricultural products to make a grand appearance through rural e-commerce.

Zheng Ping said that first, the center plans to take the lead in organizing the Zhejiang-Sichuan East-West Consumption Cooperation to help rural revitalization and the "Dexiang Yipin·Yilong Good Things" shopping season series of activities at the end of August this year. At that time, exhibitions will be held offline and live broadcast competitions will be held online. Second, in early September, the "Yiqi Go to Zhejiang" study tour will be launched to organize outstanding anchors and e-commerce entrepreneurs in the county to visit Zhejiang for on-site study and inspection. Third, continue to study and introduce consumption promotion reward and subsidy measures to encourage companies to expand sales. Fourth, further connect with outstanding Zhejiang companies, promote further cooperation between Longwan and Yilong, and help Yilong products sell abroad. Fifth, carry out bottom-up assistance work in 39 counties, deepen the cultivation of e-commerce elite talents, develop new e-commerce business entities, and expand the e-commerce team.

■ Our reporter Shao Zhiyuan