Alibaba owned Taobao Live, the live-streaming service for the world’s largest e-commerce platform (Taobao), has signed an agreement with Wugong County People’s Government in Shaanxi, to build its first live broadcasting base in Northwest China.
The signing ceremony coincided with the launch of the ‘Ten Thousand Million Project’, which will help train Chinese farmers in the use of live streaming to help boost online sales.
According to a report by Xi’an News, Wugong County People’s Government, Taobao Live, and Shaanxi Huinong E-commerce Technology signed a tripartite agreement on 17 August to begin the construction of the Taobao Live Broadcasting Base.
At the same time, the Shaanxi Fruit Industry Centre and Shaanxi Huinong E-commerce Technology signed the ‘Ten Thousand Million Project’ agreement for the cooperative implementation of the training.
The announcement marks Alibaba's first village live-streaming base in Northwest China, with Qiao Qiao, manager of Taobao Live’s broadcasting base, commenting there had been a strong uptake of the platform already.
“As of July, the number of Chinese farmers on the Taobao Live live streaming platform has exceeded 90,000. Live streaming has provided a stage for producers, to create local social media influencers and give them the opportunity to communicate with hundreds of millions of people on the platform through the lens of mobile phones. Consumers are now being introduced to their products,” said Qiao Qiao.
According to Qiao Qiao, Alibaba will work with Shaanxi government and enterprises to carry out in-depth cooperation around growing more talent and developing the supply chain following the launch of the base.
The Shaanxi fruits’ ‘Ten Thousand Million Project’ will see 3,000 village live streamers learn how to live stream in order to grow the e-commerce viability of agricultural products in Shaanxi, empowering the transformation of traditional agriculture.
Wei Yanan, director of the Shaanxi Fruit Industry Centre, said the coronavirus epidemic of last winter and this spring saw nationwide fruit online retail sales grow rapidly.
The Shaanxi local fruit online retail sales reached Rmb4.5bn (US$42.5m), a year-on-year increase of 57 per cent. Live streaming is believed to be driving the growth of fruit online retail sales.
