Rural China unleashes huge consumption potential during Golden Week

On 6 October, Alibaba released the 2021 Report of Golden Week Trends in Consumption and Travel, which highlights a massive consumption potential in China’s rural areas and a rapid growth in cross-border online shopping due to the travel restrictions during the pandemic.

As logistics in rural China have been improved greatly over the past decades and 98.99 million people shaking off poverty, those once left behind areas are now unleashing great potential.

In the first four days of Golden Week, online sales in rural areas increased by 120% year-on-year. People in those areas are beginning to pay more attention to their lifestyle as they no longer struggle to make ends meet. For instance, sales of wine and chocolate in villages have gone up by 55 and 10 times respectively, compared with last year. Young people also start to enjoy coffee – in September, the number of coffee-related transactions surged by 300% yearly.

Another outstanding trend is a growth in cross-border e-commerce. During the pandemic, those who used to buy foreign products while travelling abroad, now turn to online shopping. Between 1 and 4 October, Tmall Global saw a surge of 50% in imported product sales; even in less developed regions, this number had reached 40% in 5 days. Amongst all the imported products, the most popular ones are Cuba cologne, Greek yoghurt moisturising masks and Denmark fish oil supplements.

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