More than a million online produce shops help Chinese farmers make more profit

Farmer, Hao Jinde, sold his potatoes, over 500 kilograms of them, for 600 yuan (US$88).

Instead of setting up a stall on the street, this year Hao sold them to a store belonging to an online shopping platform in his village in Jingle County, a potato growing region in north China’s Shanxi Province.

Hao Jinde:

“Compared with selling to the local guys, I got about 50 yuan more.”

Lyu Yaofeng, manager of the platform’s Jingle County branch, said the platform, Lecuntao, could purchase the potatoes at a higher price as they would sell them for a premium to villages, hundreds of kilometers away, who don’t grow their own potatoes.

At the same store, Hao and other villagers now have direct access to pears and other produce that can be delivered to their village at below the market price.

Li Erping, manager of the store in Hao’s village:

“Most of the produce online comes straight from where it is grown, which ensures lower prices.”

Lecuntao is an e-commerce platform, aimed at the rural market, which sets up physical stores in rural villages. Since it was launched in 2014, its physical store network has grown to over 70,000 villages across China.

Rural customers can order online or purchase at the physical stores in their village.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the number of online shops selling agricultural produce had exceeded 1 million by September this year, bringing sales to 170 billion yuan, and they are expected to hit over 220 billion by the end of the year; that is 6.3 percent of total online sales, and a 35 percent increase year on year.

Fan Wusheng, director of the poverty alleviation office in Jingle County:

“The Internet concept has changed rural China.”

“With their produce sold online, farmers are now able to make maximum profits.”