A shop owner sells clothes through live stream at a wholesale market in Haicheng, northeast China's Liaoning Province (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)
BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- As of June 2023, the number of China's Internet users reached 1.079 billion, an increase of 11.09 million over December 2022, and the Internet penetration rate reached 76.4 percent. Industry experts said that currently, cross-border e-commerce and rural e-commerce have become an important driving force for the development of the online shopping market, online video tended to be universalized, and online literature has shown new characteristics due to the improvement of industrial ecology and the introduction of artificial intelligence technology.
-- Online retail generates huge opportunities
According to the 52nd Statistical Report on China's Internet Development (hereinafter referred to as the report) released by China Internet Network Information Center(CNNIC) Monday, in the first half of 2023, China'sonline retail sales reached 7.16 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.1 percent. Specifically, the online retail sales of physical commodities hit 6.06 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.8 percent, accounting for 26.6 percentof the total retail sales. As of June, the number of online shopping users in China reached 884 million, an increase of 38.8 million from December 2022, accounting for 82 percent of the total number of Internet users.
Wang Kaiqian, Director of China International Electronic Commerce Center, believed that Cross-border e-commerce has maintained rapid growth and become an important new force in foreign trade of China. In the first half of the year, China's cross-border e-commerce trade volume reached 1.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16 percent, the proportion of cross-border e-commerce in foreign trade has increased from less than 1 percent five years ago to about 5 percent. Besides, rural e-commerce has made positive progress. In the first half of the year, the national rural online retail sales reached 1.12 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.5 percent. The continuous improvement of the rural logistics system has provided strong support for smoothing the commercial and trade cycle between urban and rural areas. Meanwhile, various new sales models such as live streaming, direct procurement from production areas, and e-commerce plus tourism plus picking also inject momentum for the development of rural e-commerce.
-- Online video enjoys momentum of growth
According to the report, as of June 2023, the number of online video (including short video) users in China was 1.044 billion, an increase of 13.8 million over December 2022.
Deputy Secretary-General of China Netcasting Service Association, Zhou Jie, said that in the first half of 2023, major online video platforms continued to explore industrialization path, and the competitive relationship between long and short video platforms gradually transformed into win-win cooperation, and the development trend of the industry is improving.
He also pointed out that diversified program types and high-quality program content have always been the core competitiveness of video platforms. In recent years, various platforms have continuously improved the quality of programs, and composed a number of programs with thought, connotation, positive energy, driving the improvement of user stickiness. At the same time, based on artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing technologies, platforms have promoted the film and television industry to achieve the whole process upgrade from decision-making, management to production and distribution. For example, online video platforms established a film and television asset sharing platform to systematically manage physical assets and virtual assets such as scenes to reduce production costs.
-- Online literature embraces innovative development
According to the report, the number of online literature subscribers in China reached 528 million, an increase of 35.92 million over December 2022.
Wang Changqing, a researcher from CNNIC, introduced that in the first half of 2023, China's online literature industry continued to develop steadily. He introduced that on the one hand, the cooperation between online literary platforms and video websites in copyright content has been further deepened, and the adaptation results in comics, games and other fields have become increasingly apparent, thus forming an increasingly healthy industrial ecology.
On the other hand, generative artificial intelligence is expected to bring new ways of creation to online literary works, thereby attracting relevant enterprises to strengthen the layout of this technology. However, it should also be noted that the introduction of generative artificial intelligence technology has also brought new regulatory requirements for the copyright of works to the industry.
(Edited by Bao Nuomin with Xinhua Silk Road, baonuomin@xinhua.org)
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