- In 2020, Chongqing's online retail sales were 135.05 billion yuan (about USD 21 billion), a year-on-year increase of 13.05%.
- There were 9,300 new e-commerce firms registered in Chongqing Municipality in 2020 and online merchants exceeded 650,000.
- Relevant enterprises purchased over 40 million masks and 3.38 million bottles of disinfectant during the epidemic.
- Chongqing Municipality carried out 184,000 live promotional broadcasts that drove sales in excess of 10 billion yuan.
- Rural online retail sales in Chongqing Municipality totaled 24.33 billion yuan in 2020, increased by 11.5%.
- Cross-border e-commerce imports and exports in Chongqing Municipality totaled 7.81 billion yuan in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 17.7%.
Chongqing-In 2020, Chongqing's online retail sales were 135.05 billion yuan (about USD 21 billion), a year-on-year increase of 13.05% and 1.49% higher than the national average, according to the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce Sunday. Among these, online retail sales of physical goods increased by 25.8% compared with that of last year, rising 11% higher than the average nationwide, while e-commerce express packages totaled 590 million, an increase of 28.3%.
The 2020 Chongqing CBD consumer festival and the fourth Chongqing e-commerce poverty alleviation event played an important role in economic performance for the year. (Photo/ Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce)
Market entities progress
There were 9,300 new e-commerce firms registered in Chongqing Municipality in 2020 as the total number broke through the 30,000 marks, and online merchants exceeded 650,000. The industry drove employment for 1.827 million people, 786,000 of whom were involved directly.
Projects lead by well-known e-commerce firms have successively come to fruition. Yuzhong District introduced projects such as the Ymatou southwest headquarters and Meicai.com logistics settlement center, Nan'an District attracted projects such as the Alibaba regional headquarters and JD Pharmacy southwest headquarters, while Banan District facilitated the settlement of Zhongtong Express in the southwest smart e-commerce headquarters industrial park.
E-Commerce hosts promote citrus fruit as rural produce drives poverty alleviation in the districts and counties of Chongqing. (Photo/ Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce)
Active role in the fight against the epidemic
E-commerce and online merchants played an active role in the fight against the epidemic and contributed to the supply of agricultural products' materials and sales.
Relevant enterprises purchased over 40 million masks and 3.38 million bottles of disinfectant during the epidemic, which made a significant contribution to the stock of anti-epidemic resources in the municipality.
Chongqing General Trading Group and Yonghui Supermarket urgently gathered 366 tons of agricultural products for Wuhan's swift aid. JD Chongqing provided 5 tons of emergency medical supplies for the Wuhan Charity Federation, while Zhubajie.com and Chongqing Beigou Network donated to stricken areas in Wuhan and the frontline.
The value of donations exceeded 6.4 million yuan, while the Chongqing internet business industrial park and Chongqing digital business industrial park lowered rents by over 2 million yuan for settled e-commerce firms.
Supermarkets like Hema Xiansheng and Qin Ma were mobilized with other catering firms to accept online orders and home delivery services to protect citizens against the epidemic effectively.
Online and offline integration
In 2020, Chongqing Municipality carried out 184,000 live promotional broadcasts that drove sales in excess of 10 billion yuan. Online retail sales achieved by merchants of designated scale increased by 44%, 31 percentage points above the same period last year.
Plans for accelerating the development of online business formats and promoting online consumption were formulated and issued in a timely manner. An action plan was put into motion to accelerate the development of live broadcasts, promote the setting up of a live broadcast e-commerce industry alliance, guide the establishment of e-commerce live broadcast southwest branch of Taobao University, and build over ten live broadcast bases.
Integration between online and offline platforms was deepened, as the business volume generated by supermarket applications saw explosive growth.
Extensive training was organized in Chongqing Municipality to cultivate a large number of online promotional hosts to drive strong e-commerce development.
Rural e-commerce development
Rural online retail sales in Chongqing Municipality totaled 24.33 billion yuan in 2020, increased by 11.5% compared with that of last year. Among these figures, 18.53 billion yuan was accounted for by 14 key districts and counties, preceding development and poverty alleviation.
The cultivation of online agricultural product brands was promoted in an orderly manner, with rural e-commerce brands in large, medium, and small categories numbering 81, 358, and 1041 respectively.
Upgrades of demonstration value to e-commerce in Youyang County and other rural areas progressed steadily, as the documentary "Industry Assistance to Xiushan E-Commerce" was selected among 100 inspiring stories in poverty alleviation by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
The third-party live broadcast platforms pledge to serve the interests of online e-commerce in Chongqing live broadcasts.
Cross-border e-commerce
Cross-border e-commerce imports and exports in Chongqing Municipality totaled 7.81 billion yuan in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 17.7%.
The industrial pattern of multiple parks in one area has taken shape. Construction in the comprehensive bonded zones and open port cross-border e-commerce industrial clusters of Lianglu Cuntan, Xiyong, Jiangjin, Fuling has been fundamentally completed, while the Yubei airport international trade demonstration park and other cross-border e-commerce industrial parks have displayed their obvious agglomerative functions.
The steady increase of cross-border e-commerce imports has been ensured, as full play is given to lower foreign trade thresholds in cross-border e-commerce.
Steady growth in cross-border retail imports (B2C) has been promoted for six consecutive years. The local company Yu’ou Stock successfully transformed from a regional to a national cross-border e-commerce company. They came to rank among the top 5 such companies in the municipality.
Efforts were made to promote reform pilot projects and continuously optimize the environment for industrial development. The central government's foreign economic and trade development funds were coordinated along with and other special funds to support 30 cross-border e-commerce companies, which helped drive cross-border imports and exports of more than 4 billion yuan.
Optimized policies and services
Financial support continued to increase, while funds in excess of 120 million yuan were obtained over the year 2020 from the central and municipal government to cultivate e-commerce enterprises, cross-border e-commerce, and rural e-commerce development.
Talent development was continually developed as the municipality carried out a total of 323 training sessions for 34,700 individuals.
The establishment of an online goods production base achieved outstanding results. Pengshui County actively promoted local agricultural produce sales.
E-commerce industry clusters in the municipality exceeded 40, as Xiushan (Wuling) Modern Logistics Park was recognized as a national e-commerce demonstration base, which is the only demonstration base in a county prioritized for development and poverty alleviation nationally.
Finally, the Chongqing Highway Logistics Base and E-commerce Industry Demonstration Park in Banan District, along with others all operated smoothly as express logistics further reduced costs and increased efficiency.