Rural online shopping growth outpaces cities

E-commerce adoption continues to thrive in China’s rural counties and villages

According to research from Alibaba Group, the overall online shopping market grew by 50% year-on-year in 2013, with rural growth rates beating those of China’s cities by 13.6%.

The e-commerce giant also revealed that residents in counties and villages in China received at total of 1.8bn packages through its Tmall and Taobao services. The same group also sold 1.4bn packages during 2013, said the Alibaba, itself headquartered in Hangzhou.

Growth was largely lead by North, South and Central China, with Western China falling behind.

Strong rural sales could be a boon for companies looking at attracting new customers who have not been as bombarded by corporate messages as their urban counterparts.