Livestreaming e-commerce develops rapidly in China's rural areas

Wang Chuanbao, a young man, advertised fresh lotus roots during a livestreaming session near a lotus pond in a village located in Funan county, east China's Anhui Province.

After holding livestreaming sessions in rural areas for three years, Wang has now become a capable livestreamer.

A villager advertises flowers during a livestreaming session at a livestreaming base in Yanxia village, Shuyang county, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Xinhua/Ji Chunpeng)

"At first, I had few followers and my daily sales volumes during livestreaming sessions were low, so villagers were reluctant to let me sell their products through hosting livestreaming sessions," Wang said.

"It's quite different now. I'm popular among villagers. Quite a few villagers have been inspired by me and also launched livestreaming sessions," he said, adding that since the second half of last year, nearby towns and townships have invited him to hold livestreaming sessions and provide training.

There are many stories like Wang's in China. In recent years, livestreaming e-commerce in the country's rural areas has become increasingly popular.

China's livestreaming e-commerce is developing rapidly, according to a recent report on the development of livestreaming e-commerce jointly issued by the National Institute of Metrology of China, the Science and Technology Research Center of China Customs and other institutions.

In 2022, over 120 million livestreaming sessions introducing more than 95 million products were held on key e-commerce platforms, garnering over 1.1 trillion views, with rural livestreaming sessions constituting an important part, the report said.

Residents of Zhongzhao village, Guangrao county, east China's Shandong Province advertise premium agricultural products at a livestreaming room in a local e-commerce industrial park. (People's Daily/Liu Zhifeng)

Data recently released by Douyin E-commerce, the e-commerce division of Chinese online video-sharing platform Douyin, showed that from September 2022 to September 2023, the total duration of advertisements for farm produce and specialties during the platform's livestreaming sessions reached 37.78 million hours. According to statistics from Taobao Live, since the launch of Taobao Rural Livestreaming, over 110,000 farmer-turned livestreamers have held 3.3 million livestream sessions on Taobao.

This year, Kuaishou, a Chinese video-sharing and livestreaming app, launched a rural livestreaming program, with plans to invest 50 million yuan (about $7.1 million) to support more rural livestreamers.

Shu Jueting, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said through programs for introducing e-commerce into rural areas, regions across China have vigorously developed new business forms including livestreaming e-commerce to help farmers find jobs and increase incomes. Online retail sales in China's rural areas rose 12.2 percent to reach 1.7 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of 2023.

Zhang Guoqing, deputy director of the Information Center of China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said rural livestreaming e-commerce, as a new business form, is becoming a vital driving force in promoting sales of agricultural products and innovation in branding and marketing in agriculture while boosting rural tourism. It is also giving a boost to new business start-ups and job creation in rural areas, Zhang added.

By the end of 2022, 12.2 million people in China had returned or moved to the countryside to start businesses, creating over 34 million rural jobs.

Rural livestreaming e-commerce has also promoted the upgrading of industries and improved infrastructure in rural areas.

"We encourage the active development of new business forms like livestreaming e-commerce and instant retail to promote the high-quality development of rural e-commerce," Shu said.

In 2022, China upgraded 878 agricultural retail markets, built 12 public welfare agricultural wholesale markets, and added 960,000 tonnes of cold storage capacity. The country built or upgraded 506 county-level delivery centers and 650 township delivery outlets, further improving its rural delivery logistics system.

According to a recent document issued by nine government departments including MOFCOM, China will vigorously develop livestreaming e-commerce in rural areas and encourage e-commerce platforms and livestreaming teams to fully tap the resources of specialties in rural areas and provide services such as product design, video shooting, copywriting and brand promotion for agricultural enterprises and farmers' cooperatives.

The country will enhance cooperation with livestreaming platforms and offer training sessions to migrant workers, college graduates, and ex-servicemen who have returned to their hometowns to cultivate livestreaming talents, thus driving entrepreneurship and employment in terms of livestreaming e-commerce in rural areas.

"We will encourage e-commerce talents to hold livestreaming sessions in rural areas to promote online sales of premium agricultural products," said Li Gang, director-general of the Department of Circulation Industry Development under MOFCOM.

Li added that the ministry will also promote various forms of rural livestreaming e-commerce competitions and continue to establish comprehensive demonstrations for introducing e-commerce into rural areas.