Comment on Rural China: The Next Battlefield for Domestic E-commerce by China’s E-commerce Transaction Up 25% YOY to RMB13T in 2014: MOC - TechNode

['Emma Lee', 'More Emma Lee', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Comments for TechNode 2015-01-14 00:00:00

China’s urban e-commerce market is nearing saturation after years of explosive growth, a trend leading China’s online retailers to address the untapped markets in rural areas. AliResearch, the research arm of Alibaba, has estimated that China’s rural e-commerce market will reach RMB180 billion (around US$29 billion) by 2014 and exceed RMB460 billion by 2016. After its landmark IPO this year, Alibaba has rural e-commerce in its sights, with cross-border online shopping and data analysis the other two of its three strategic focuses. JD has also initiated its first pilot program for rural e-commerce in Renshou, Sichuan province. Rising smartphone penetration in rural regions is hence a boost for rural e-commerce and m-commerce.