China's postal sector is one of the economic segments that has helped improve poverty alleviation initiatives in the country as new jobs were created to bolster growth in some areas.
According to Xinhua, the State Post Bureau (SPB) revealed on Wednesday that over 268,000 jobs were created in impoverished regions to somehow help lift up some families and individuals within the poverty lines.
Aside from creating new jobs in China, the postal sector also helped encourage the sale and trade of local agricultural products. Many people are still using postal services in the country and the sector is one that has assisted in boosting sales for local farmers.
For the first three quarters of 2019, around 284,000 tons of farm products have been sold through the postal sector. Specialties in rural farming regions have also been delivered to the cities to reach a transaction volume of 3.88 billion yuan.
The bureau further revealed that online selling through postal services has allowed for trade between poor countries and urban regions to reach 110.99 billion yuan during the first half of the year.
Farming is one of the key economic drivers and way of life in many rural regions in China. Less fortunate families sell their quality goods to other locals. However, improvements in the postal sector opened doors for getting their products known around the country through online selling.
China has taken pride in one of its major postal service users in the online world, Alibaba. The company is facing a slowdown in growth and activity in urban regions but the poorer regions are recognized as an opportunity for the likes of Alibaba.
Before competition went tough and a global slowdown in consumption hit Chinese cities, Alibaba and postal service firms experienced the benefits of having loyal consumers placing orders and having them shipped.
However, a slowdown in urban users was recorded by Alibaba. Rural China is now taking over and gradually changing the game. According to the South China Morning Post, the rural regions added three million internet users who can become new customers of e-commerce giants and postal services.
The interest in online sales among rural citizens is giving Alibaba and other companies in e-commerce segments to grab the opportunity as sales in the countryside ballooned by 21 percent in 2018.
Industry experts revealed that one of the reasons why rural citizens are getting more and more interested in using online platforms and postal services is because some countryside town centers can be too far from them.
The increasing interest in online shopping is expected to help further boost China's postal sector as well as the seemingly declining e-commerce segment.
