Electronic Commerce: a New engine of Rural Economic Development

Alibaba announced at the Zhejiang county e-commerce summit held at the headquarters in Hangzhou that the group will launch the plan of thousands of counties and villages and invest 10 billion yuan in three to five years to set up 1000 county-level operation centers and 100000 village-level service stations. This means that Alibaba will sink the supply chain into the rural market and vigorously promote the expansion of its e-commerce in rural areas in the form of offline service entities in the next few years. Coincidentally, as early as the first half of the year, famous e-commerce businesses such as JD.com and Dangdang went to the countryside to paint the walls. for a while, slogans with Chinese characteristics, such as "fellow villagers see fellow villagers and go shopping to Dangdang", "getting rich depends on labor, and thrift depends on JD.com." it has become a scene on the walls of the countryside.

The collective visit of well-known e-commerce to the countryside reflects the great potential of the rural e-commerce market. According to the "Rural E-commerce consumption report" released by Alibaba Research Institute, the proportion of rural consumption on Taobao has been increasing in the past three years. It has increased from 7.11% in the second quarter of 2012 to 9.11% in the first quarter of 2014. It is predicted that the size of the national rural online shopping market will reach 180 billion yuan in 2014. It is likely to exceed 460 billion yuan in 2016. It can be predicted that rural e-commerce is expected to usher in rapid development in the next few years.

The author believes that we should start from the following aspects to promote the better and faster development of rural e-commerce.

First, strengthen guidance and implement policy support. The 12th five-year Plan for the Development of Agricultural and Rural Informatization in China clearly puts forward that we should vigorously develop rural e-commerce, build an agricultural e-commerce platform, formulate laws and regulations related to agricultural e-commerce, and actively develop e-commerce-oriented distribution logistics. Improve the agricultural e-commerce system. Relevant functional departments, especially agriculture-related departments, should, under the requirements of implementing the 12th five-year Plan, give full play to the macro-control role of the "visible hand" and formulate corresponding policies to support rural e-commerce. make full efforts in the integration of resources, technical support, facilities construction, financial support, market supervision and other aspects to effectively promote the sustained, healthy and orderly development of rural e-commerce.

Second, carry out vocational training to train e-commerce talents. First of all, we should select the best and strengthen rural e-commerce managers, and encourage rural party members and cadres, large farmers, technical experts, and university student village officials to serve as rural e-commerce leaders. Secondly, strengthen the communication with colleges and universities and scientific research institutes, actively explore the new mode of "school-village cooperation", and do a good job in the introduction of technology and talents. Finally, establish and improve the e-commerce training mechanism, through inviting experts to the village, distance education and other ways to strengthen farmers'e-commerce knowledge training and consumption concept publicity and guidance.

Third, strengthen infrastructure construction and improve the logistics support system. First of all, we can raise funds for the purchase of equipment through collective advances from the village, winning support from superiors, introducing enterprise capital, and donations from capable people in the village, or through activities such as "computers going to the countryside" carried out by PC manufacturers to be equipped with computers and other network equipment. Secondly, we should implement the "information highway village-to-village access project" led by the government, with the participation of enterprises and enjoyed by the masses, and establish a multi-level, characteristic and fully covered rural information network. Finally, increase the preferential treatment and support for private express delivery enterprises, and arrange certain funds to subsidize "village express" every year to solve the problem of "the last kilometer" of e-commerce logistics distribution.

Fourth, change the mode of agricultural production and cultivate brands with rural characteristics. If we want to increase farmers' income through the development of e-commerce, we must realize the large-scale and brand management of agricultural products. On the one hand, we should give full play to the role of cooperatives in unified procurement, unified technology and unified management, and implement a large-scale, intensive and modern agricultural management model. On the other hand, cultivate brands with regional characteristics, use brands to create interest advantages, cultivate strong brands of agricultural products, so as to enhance the competitive advantage of agricultural products in the village.