Live e-commerce promotes local economy amid epidemic

E-commerce has proved to be an economic booster in Xiamen in East China's Fujian province during the COVID-19 epidemic. The city's online retail sales of e-commerce enterprises above designated size reached 11.03 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) in the first four months of 2020, an increase of 2.7 percent year-on-year, according to local news reports May 26.

Livestreaming promotion has become an increasingly attractive choice for enterprises to sell their products. A total of 63,000 live broadcasts were held online in Xiamen from January to April, with over 160 million viewers, according to data from the Xiamen bureau of statistics.

Statistics also show that in April, Xiamen witnessed sharp growth in live broadcasts, growing by 25.6 percent year-on-year. By the end of April, the number of online stores in the city had surged to 3,615, the second most in Fujian.

"Affected by the epidemic, the stay-at-home economy rose against the headwind of the virus, which has greatly accelerated the upgrading and transformation of the traditional retail industry," said Luo Guangling, secretary-general of the Xiamen Network Retailing Association.

Luo added that more and more enterprises are turning to e-commerce platforms to promote sales and seek business breakthroughs, and making live broadcasts has become the new normal for enterprises.

So far this year, Xiamen has rolled out 18 measures for promoting the high-quality development of e-commerce, and the city's bureau of commence announced incentives for companies setting up e-commerce livestreaming bases.

Luo added that Xiamen is now home to several of the country's leading e-commerce bases, such as Xiamen Cross-border E-commerce Industrial Park and Zoda E-business Park, all of which will inject new growth engines into the city's e-commerce sector.