E-commerce going to the countryside needs deep and meticulous cultivation to yield results
On November 9, the General Office of the State Council published the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Accelerated Development of Rural E-commerce", comprehensively deploying and guiding the healthy and rapid development of rural e-commerce. The "Opinions" proposed that by 2020, a unified, open, orderly competitive, green and environmentally friendly rural e-commerce market system should be initially established. Yang Qian, a rural e-commerce expert and president of the Beijing Commercial Management Cadre College, told a reporter from Economic Daily: "The 'Opinions' are of far-reaching significance for expanding domestic demand, promoting consumption, driving agricultural transformation and upgrading, and steadily increasing farmers' incomes."
The "Opinions" clearly define three key tasks, and the first is "cultivating market entities for rural e-commerce. Encourage e-commerce, logistics, commerce, finance, supply and marketing, postal services, express delivery and other social resources of all kinds to strengthen cooperation and participate in the development of rural e-commerce." From the reporter's interviews, the development of rural e-commerce depends on third-party e-commerce platforms carrying out "deep cultivation" at the village level.
Regarding comprehensive rural e-commerce service stations, Tang Zhongqiang, head of the Taobao operation center in Tonglu County, Zhejiang Province, said: "Taking Alibaba's Rural Taobao partners as an example, it currently covers more than 180 administrative villages in Tonglu and achieved nearly 30 million yuan in sales in one year. More importantly, combined with Rural Taobao service stations, logistics can truly reach administrative villages."
JD.com likewise addresses the promotion, payment, distribution and other issues of rural e-commerce sales through county-level JD Help service stores, county-level service centers and rural promoters. In 2015 alone, JD.com added more than 1,000 JD Help service stores, 700 county-level service centers and 100,000 rural promoters.
It is worth noting that in the "Opinions" released this time, "increasing financial support" was also specifically mentioned.
From market trends, along with the advancement of the layout of comprehensive rural e-commerce service stations, internet micro-loan products targeting rural farmers have also emerged. On September 15, MYbank under Ant Financial announced the launch of a pilot for "Wangnong Loan", providing unsecured, pure credit micro-loan services for rural breeders and growers and small and micro operators. On September 18, JD.com released "Jingnong Loan", including two major product lines: agricultural means of production credit and agricultural product credit. Hong Jie, head of JD Rural Finance, told a reporter from Economic Daily: "The rural promoter team not only helps e-commerce better go to the countryside, but is also JD Finance's antenna in the countryside, collecting data on villages and farming households."
Chen Jiayi, head of rural finance business at MYbank, said, "First establish consumption habits, then change the agricultural chain, and advance internetization and dataization together, so as to truly open the door to rural e-commerce." This view also coincides exactly with the "Opinions" released this time. The "Opinions" proposed: "Expand the application of e-commerce in agriculture and rural areas. In links such as agricultural production, processing and circulation, strengthen the application and promotion of internet technology. Broaden markets for agricultural products, folk products, rural tourism and so on, and expand greater space for agricultural products to enter cities."