China is the largest e-commerce market in the world
China attracts more and more attention from other countries through the turmoil of the online shopping market, which changed consumption habits of the whole country. In 2014, online shopping transactions in China have increased by 20% per year to reach 12 trillion yuan! Meanwhile, retail trade online increased by 41%, increasing transaction of 2.6 billion yuan according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MITT).
Hoping to exploit new territories and to offset the overloading of the urban market, the giants of the Chinese e-commerce have intensified the expansion of the online retail business in rural areas and abroad while tailoring offers for different consumers.
Chinese e-commerce leaders implement new strategies
Alibaba announced in October 2014 that he had to invest 10 billion yuan in the next three to five years. Its goal is to build 1,000 estates and about 100,000 service points in the villages to expand its presence in the rural market.
JD.com announced new measures to establish a county-level center in Guangdong province in Southern China. This will facilitate procurement of farmers on the online platform.
Suning Commerce Group, plans to build 10,000 deposit, covering 25% of China’s rural areas over five years. The vice president of the company, Sun Weimin said that “the rural market will become a new engine for stimulating growth of e-commerce and competition between the different leaders just started to conquer new territory.”
The e-commerce market in rural areas is a future market
Experts predict that the rural market of e-commerce sales will reach the top with 460 billion yuan in 2016. It is expected to exceed consumption in urban areas within 10 years.
At the same time, the appetite of Chinese online shoppers for foreign products is also growing. The Ministry of Commerce plans to set up a border trade through Chinese e-commerce companies. This cross-border platform expected to reach 6.5 billion yuan by 2016, with annual growth of 30%.
Amazon facilitates packages to Shanghai
To take advantage of this new market, Amazon China announced in August that it will begin to develop a platform for online shopping across borders, facilitating trade with Shanghai. Chinese buyers can go to the other sites of Amazon, as the US site and shop online, and then receive their parcels in Shanghai within a period of one week to 10 days with delivery charges lower than other cities.
A Chinese photographer shows the change in lifestyle in rural China with the advent of e-commerce
Huang Qingjun, a Chinese photographer was recently commandeered by Taobao to gather information on the impact of online shopping in China. He decided to draw consumer’s portraits as different as possible to show the magnitude of this important market. He said he wanted to find people living in different places in China, both in big cities than in rural areas, both in the East and West.
The reporting of Qingjun
Qingjun asked his subjects to pose with the items they could purchase on Chinese e-commerce platforms. His photos show the impact of online consumption in the Chinese market. During his research, he found that even the most remote Chinese cities have started to use online shopping platforms. This allows people living in rural or isolated areas, to get a foot in the modern world and improve their living conditions. With the growth of technology through mobile applications, it is estimated that 81% of Chinese have internet access, no matter their location.
Taobao conquers Chinese countryside
Taobao, one of leading Chinese e-commerce has grown rapidly since its inception in 2003. It has created over 9.7 million jobs and is currently up as the 10th most visited site on the internet. It is the largest Alibaba Group, founded by Jack Ma.
Here are some stories collected by Qingjun.
Wang Yafeng owner of a travel company
Wang Yafeng is a young Chinese aged 28 and owner of a travel service company and hostel. He remembers his first purchase on an online platform where he spent over $35,000 on Taobao. Most of his purchases for its hostel were ordered online.
Mao Hongwei, easy as pie furniture shopping
Mao Hongwei is 48 years old and is not very familiar with the Internet. His first online purchases was last year when promoting “1212” Taobao with help from a Taobao agent who came to assist him. After this first experience, he began to buy other things gradually, then he quickly became accustomed to regular order on the platforms online shopping. All of its equipment and furniture were purchased via the new procurement system for $3,200. For him, order online changed his life.
Liu Jun, easy shopping from the most remote part of China
Liu Jun and his family are of Mongolian origin and their ancestors had a nomadic life and were engaged in animal husbandry. He settled in a small town named Ulanhot but goes back in its Mongolian yurt each Spring and Autumn. Although Liu Jun lives in his yurt, he used to drive about 90 miles to town for buying what he needs. Since he started buying on platforms of online shopping, he has spent over $4,800 on Taobao. For Liu Jin and his family, Taobao e-commerce platform is a gain of time and energy and is much more convenient for them, living in an isolated area.
The student Liu Chunxiao, quick way to give gift to her relatives
Liu Chunxiao was a student, who has living and working in Europa during 20 years. When she comes back in China, she began to use Taobao. Most of her purchases are toys and clothes for her little son. According to her, online shopping is a way to express love and make her family happy.
There are a lot of stories; you can see the other photos of Huang Qingjun.
We can see through these stories that Taobao development strategy has worked very well. The group won a new major consumer market and allows people living in remote areas to access modernity and respond to their needs more easily. Most of the time, when rurals meet e-commerce it is very quickly a big success, for both show owners and customers since they can reach each other more easily.
e-commerce : gives you a big reach…as long as you stand out from the rest of the e-shop.
Even though e-commerce shops are apparently a wonderful sale channel for rurals and those targetting them, it is not that easy.
With so many shops out there, e-commerce owner must integrate a SEO campaign on Baidu, to improve their ranking and therefore know stand out from the pack of E-shops.
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