China Big Tech keen to tap rural e-commerce market as Alibaba, JD.com join farmers’ festival
- Pinduoduo, the low-price e-commerce platform that dominates in China’s rural areas, pledged US$701 million in subsidies during the annual harvest festival
- Douyin and Kuaishou, China’s two most popular short video apps, are offering farmers more exposure through live-streaming sessions to help sell produce
China Big Tech is giving the country’s rural economy a lift as firms such as Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com show eagerness to support an event dedicated to promoting the country’s agricultural sector, which has been battered this year by Covid-19 restrictions and natural disasters.
The fifth annual Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival, which kicked off September 23 and continues into October, also features online sales promotions from Pinduoduo and Meituan, with billions of yuan in subsidies and discounts on offer.
Pinduoduo, the low-price e-commerce platform that dominates in China’s rural areas, pledged 5 billion yuan (US$701 million) in subsidies. Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, and JD.com said they would offer discount coupons, source products from signature agricultural belts, and organise online sales for the produce.
Douyin and Kuaishou, China’s two most popular short video apps – operated by ByteDance and Kuaishou Technology, respectively – also promised to give Chinese farmers and their produce more exposure through live-streaming sessions.
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The Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival was launched in 2018, two years before Beijing’s 2020 deadline to eliminate extreme poverty in the country.