E-commerce becomes a new engine for rural economic development
On October 13, Alibaba announced at the Zhejiang County E-commerce Summit held at its Hangzhou headquarters that the group will launch the Thousand Counties and Ten Thousand Villages plan, investing 10 billion yuan within three to five years to establish 1,000 county-level operation centers and 100,000 village-level service stations. This means that Alibaba will push its supply chain deep down into the rural market, and in the coming years, in the form of offline service entities, vigorously promote the expansion of its e-commerce in rural areas. It is not alone in this: as early as the first half of the year, well-known e-commerce companies such as JD.com and Dangdang went to the countryside to paint walls. For a time, slogans full of Chinese characteristics such as "When folks meet folks, shop at Dangdang" and "Get rich through hard work, run your household frugally with JD.com" became a sight on rural walls.
The collective move into the countryside by well-known e-commerce companies reflects the enormous potential contained in the rural e-commerce market. According to data from the "Rural E-commerce Consumption Report" released by the Alibaba Research Institute, over the past three years, the share of rural consumption on Taobao has continued to rise, from 7.11% in the second quarter of 2012 to 9.11% in the first quarter of 2014. It is predicted that the national rural online shopping market will reach 180 billion yuan in 2014, and may exceed 460 billion yuan in 2016. It can be foreseen that rural e-commerce is expected to usher in rapid development in the coming years.
In my view, efforts should be made in the following aspects to promote better and faster development of rural e-commerce.
First, strengthen guidance and implement policy support. The "Twelfth Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Agricultural and Rural Informatization" clearly proposes vigorously developing rural e-commerce, building agricultural e-commerce platforms, formulating laws and regulations related to agricultural e-commerce, actively developing distribution logistics oriented toward e-commerce, and improving the agricultural e-commerce system. Relevant functional departments, especially those involved in agriculture, should, in implementing the requirements of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan," give full play to the macro-control role of the "visible hand," formulate corresponding support policies for rural e-commerce, and devote great effort to resource integration, technical support, facility construction, financial support, and market supervision, so as to effectively promote the sustained, healthy, and orderly development of rural e-commerce.
Second, carry out vocational training and cultivate e-commerce talent. First, select the best and strengthen rural e-commerce management personnel, and encourage rural Party members and cadres, large-scale farmers and breeders, skilled technicians, and college-graduate village officials to serve as heads of rural e-commerce. Second, strengthen communication and exchange with institutions of higher learning and research institutes, actively explore a new "school-village cooperation" model, and do a good job in introducing technology and talent. Finally, establish and improve an e-commerce training mechanism, and strengthen training for farmers in e-commerce knowledge as well as publicity and guidance of consumption concepts through methods such as inviting experts to villages and distance education.
Third, strengthen infrastructure construction and improve the logistics support system. First, funds for purchasing equipment can be raised through methods such as advancing funds by village collectives, seeking support funds from higher levels, introducing enterprise capital, and donations from capable villagers, or network equipment such as computers can be provided through activities such as "computers to the countryside" carried out by PC manufacturers. Second, implement the "Information Highway to Every Village Project," led by the government, participated in by enterprises, and enjoyed by the masses, to establish a multi-level, distinctive, and fully covered rural information network. Finally, increase preferential treatment and support for private express delivery companies, arrange a certain amount of funds each year to subsidize "village delivery," and solve the "last mile" problem of e-commerce logistics distribution.
Fourth, transform agricultural production methods and cultivate distinctive rural brands. To help farmers increase income through the development of e-commerce, it is necessary to achieve large-scale and branded operation of agricultural products. On the one hand, give full play to the role of cooperatives in unified procurement, unified technology, and unified operation, and implement a large-scale, intensive, and modernized agricultural operation model. On the other hand, cultivate brands with regional characteristics, use brands to create profit advantages, and cultivate strong agricultural product brands, thereby enhancing the competitive advantage of the village's agricultural products.