China promotes business information services in rural areas

January, 2012

China has launched a series of pilot programs to promote the dissemination of business information services in rural areas of the country. The initiative has already shown very positive results and laid the foundation for the development of electronic commerce in rural areas.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has organized a video conference on the national pilot program initiated by the country for the dissemination of business information services in rural areas. The pilot program was conducted in 54 counties in 8 provinces in 2010 and has already achieved very positive results. First, the program contributed to the expansion of distance education system and increased rural economic development. In addition, the program had a positive effect on farmers, who were able to increase production and income. Regarding this aspect, the initiative has also helped to develop a type of production "make-to-order" in agriculture, allowing a production more in line with market demand.Finally, the information service business in rural areas has promoted the computerization of the population and laid the foundation for the development of electronic commerce in rural areas .
“The sales volume of China’s e-commerce will annually grow at least 32 percent year-on-year from 2011 to 2015. We estimate a transaction volume of 18 trillion yuan ($2.8 trillion) in 2015”

Dong Baoqing

Deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

In this regard, it is important to consider that, over the past five years, the market for online transactions in China has more than quadrupled: in 2010 the volume of sales via the web would, in fact, reached 500 billion yuan (more than 52 billion euros ), up 89, 4% over the previous year. The country has different rules and features than the rest of the world regarding how settlement: most transactions are paid with local services, e-commerce sites are also local. In particular, in China there is a so-called "group buying", that is the collective purchase of products and services at reduced prices: there are currently more than 4,000 sites of group buying. Among the products for which this method of purchase is growing faster, especially luxury goods, attracting also the interest of international operators. To accelerate the diffusion of e-commerce in China, government policies regarding e-commerce should be geared toward passing various laws and regulations to create a legal and safe environment for businesses and consumers. The government could also help to build up financial, certificating, security, and even delivery systems to serve e-commerce transactions.