Rural E-commerce benefits locals in Inner Mongolia

By Wang Yifei (chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2016-07-05

"I didn't want to look for jobs far from home since I wanted to look after my baby. Luckily I was able to be a partner of a local rural e-commerce service center, "said Zhang Suping, a partner of a rural Taobao store in Taigedou Village in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and the mom of a two-year old boy.

Zhang started her service center at the end of 2015 with a subsidy from local governments and a passion to serve locals. After over half a year's operation, everything is going smoothly and Zhang has been named a "most beautiful partner" for her dedication in helping locals purchase online. Her service center has even solved the issue of "last miles", which arises when some e-commerce logistic companies do not cover rural areas.

The rural e-commerce service centers were co-initiated by local governments in Inner Mongolia and e-commerce giant Alibaba to make it convenient for rural villagers to purchase things online.

Like many other places in China, Taigedou is mainly composed of seniors and children since young people tend to leave for better salaries.

As seniors may not know how to purchase things online, the service centers act as a purchasing agent with no commission from the buyer. In addition, children who work outside can also buy things for their parents by using a service center's address as the receiver’s address.

Partners like Zhang are entitled to exemption of rent for the service center for three years. Each partner also gets 3000 yuan ($450) as a subsidy when they begin their business.

The policies are extensions of a local project to benefit local residents in Inner Mongolia.

In 2014, the Inner Mongolian government launched a project called "Ten Coverages", to enhance people's livelihood in the region. It focuses on ten aspects closely related to people's daily lives: renovating dilapidated houses, provision of safe drinking water and electricity, accessibility of TV and broadcasting in each village, establishment and renovation of local schools, standardized cultural halls, standardized medical rooms, chain stores and social security such as pension funds and medical insurance.

The project is intended to wrap up by 2017, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. By then, the ten aspects in rural and pastoral areas will have been substantially improved.

"Income is only one thing; I am more satisfied making friends through rural e-commerce," said Zhang with a smile.