A report by Alibaba says that at the end of last year, there were 20 'Taobao Villages' across seven provinces in the country. Their businesses include furniture, clothing and agricultural produce. There are about 15,000 Taobao sellers in these villages, creating 600,000 jobs. Many more are scattered across the country. Newest number shows 1.05 million sellers registered in rural areas, up by nearly half a million from 2012. The number has soared, as sellers try and tap the vast demand. Estimates show that most rural consumers are aged between 20 to 29, younger that their urban peers.
There are also more mobile internet users in rural areas: 84.6 percent, which is five percentage points higher than in urban areas. This year’s rural e-commerce market is estimated to be worth 180 billion yuan, or close to 29 billion US dollars. That number is expected to rise to 460 billion in 2016.