Gansu promotes electronic commerce development

Tianshui city, in the Northwest China's Gansu province made substantial headway in expanding its electronic commerce in 2014, as e-commerce sales volume reached 2.2 billion yuan ($350 billion), accounting for 10 percent of the total retail sales.

To boost e-commerce, the Tianshui municipal government formulated regulations on speeding up the development of the e-commerce industry and established a leading group to guide industry development. The government also held lectures themed on e-commerce, which trained around 500 people.

Additionally, more than 20 distributing businesses selling unique Tianshui local agricultural products opened stores on Taobao – an online Chinese marketplace - without paying any fees, after government's cooperation with Gansu Alibaba Electronic Commerce Co. Alibaba is a Chinese Internet giant which manages Taobao.

Additionally, Gangu county and Qinan county in Tianshui city became pilot counties of the "Ten Thousands Counties and Villages" project in 2014, which is supported by Alibaba and aimed at encouraging e-commerce in rural areas.

Edited by Jacob Hooson