In a major push to revitalize its vast countryside, China recently issued a plan on all-around rural revitalization for the 2024-2027 period, calling for efforts to boost rural consumption across the board through measures like advancing the building of county-level business systems, supporting the purchase of new energy vehicles (NEVs) and green and smart home appliances in rural areas, and improving consumption infrastructure.The transformation in village shopping experiences has been dramatic. In the past, many villagers had to go to urban areas to buy high-quality products. Now, the shopping environment in villages has improved, and buying something nice is no longer a hassle.Home to over 600 residents, Shenchen village in Laiwu district, Jinan, east China's Shandong Province, welcomed a chain supermarket two years ago with support from the district's supply and marketing cooperative."During the Spring Festival, we bought eggs, milk, and gift boxes of pastries here when visiting relatives and friends. All products are from reputable brands with guaranteed quality," said Shen Libo, Party chief of the village.Shen said the supermarket has made daily shopping much more convenient for villagers. "In the past, when going to the market, we would often buy a lot of vegetables at once 欧洲杯正规下单平台to avoid making multiple long trips. But when stored at home for extended periods, some vegetables would inevitably spoil, which was heartbreaking to see. Now we can buy fresh vegetables anytime, right at our doorstep," Shen noted.The supermarket was upgraded last year with more functions and product varieties, attracting villagers from nearby areas to shop here as well, Shen added.According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, China upgraded 5,856 county and township commercial centers and 53,000 village-level convenience service stores in 2024.
Experts note that consumer markets in rural areas have developed at a notably faster pace in recent years, thanks to continuous improvement in rural residents' living standards, the accelerated development of business infrastructure at county and township levels, and upgraded shopping venues.Data shows that from 2013 to 2023, the retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas grew at an average annual rate of 8.1 percent, 0.9 percentage points higher than in urban areas. The figure reached a record high of more than 6.6 trillion yuan ($911.87 billion) in 2024.While in-store shopping is becoming more convenient in rural areas, online shopping is increasingly common.With the rapid development of rural e-commerce, more farmers are fulfilling their daily consumer needs through online shopping. By December 2024, China's rural internet users reached 313 million, with a significant increase in online shoppers. The country's online retail sales in rural areas hit 2.5 trillion yuan in 2023, an increase of nearly 13 times compared to 2014, and maintained a strong growth rate of 6.4 percent in 2024.Behind these impressive numbers is the expansion of logistics network coverage and continuous improvements in delivery models.Focusing on express delivery services in rural areas, regions across China have accelerated the construction of rural delive澳门bet356体育在线官网ry logistics systems and improved delivery networks in recent years.Industry insiders note that China has established over 340,000 village-level comprehensive logistics service stations nationwide, effectively solving the "last mile" challenge in rural logistics. However, in some areas, factors such as geographical location and economic development still hinder full access to delivery services in villages, making it difficult to fully meet residents' needs.The plan proposed improving e-commerce and logistics service systems, developing county-level collection and distribution centers, promoting the integrated development of passenger, freight, and postal services, and accelerating consumption expansion. China's "No. 1 central document" for 2025 urged efforts to expand coverage of delivery services to villages and promote cold-chain logistics and instant retail services in towns and townships."This year, we will further enhance the quality of rural postal and courier services," said Hou Yanbo, director of the office of the State Post Bureau.As rural consumers' demand for new products and services g皇冠新体育app官方入口rows, more supportive policies are being rolled out across the countryside.Liu Ping, an executive overseeing stores of Chinese e-commerce platform Suning's retail arm, said the retail arm carried out over 16,000 trade-in activities in county-level markets in 2024, with trade-in orders skyrocketing by 191 percent.Data shows that in 2024, more than 20 provincial-level regions included water purifiers, dishwashers, and other green and smart appliances in subsidy programs. Last year, over 37 million consumers participated in the trade-in program for home appliances, with rural consumers being an important segment.According to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology last June, more than 7 million NEVs had been sold since the launch of a program promoting NEVs in rural areas in 2020.Experts estimate that with continued growth in farmers' incomes and the acceleration of rural consumption upgrades, China could see an additional 2 trillion yuan in annual consumption.In line with the trend of rural consumption upgrading, the plan called for enhancing product innovation and marketing efforts targeting rural areas, further expanding trade-in programs for consumer goods, encouraging information consumption, and promoting consumption upgrading.
