Alibaba continues e-commerce push in rural China

Alibaba Group has continued its development of e-commerce in China’s rural regions, with the number of rural service centres rising more than eightfold since the end of June last year.

Alibaba Group has established rural service centres in some 16,000 villages in 29 provinces, up from 1,803 centres nearly 11 months ago.

Alibaba’s rural service centres, operated by independent local entrepreneurs represent the company’s drive to spread e-commerce and online financial services beyond China’s big, relatively wealthy cities. The centres provide internet access and training to consumers and businesses, helping them buy and sell through Alibaba’s online marketplaces.

Several initiatives of Alibaba that have been gaining traction in the countryside, includes the development of a channel for the online sale of products from provinces including Shandong, Guizhou and Shaanxi.

Alibaba has also announced the launch of a new rural initiative called ‘smart county’ through which Alibaba’s cloud computing arm, Alibaba Cloud, and Ant Financial will provide technical support to local governments as well as access to public services through Ant’s Alipay super app.