Taobao villages (simplified Chinese:淘宝村;traditional Chinese:淘寶村;pinyin:Táobǎo cūn) arerural Chinese villages where the local economy has developed to focus extensively one-commerce via theTaobao online retail platform. Taobao villages have contributed to economic development and rural revitalization in China.
Taobao villages are rural Chinese villages where the local economy has developed to focus extensively on e-commerce via the Taobao platform.[1]: 112 Alibaba's research division defines Taobao villages as those in which (1) businesses are located in an administrative village in a rural area, (2) the village's annual e-commerce revenues exceed RMB 10 million, and (3) the village has either an excess of 100 active online shops or active online shops account for more than 10% of village households.[1]: 112
Taobao villages are concentrated in China's coastal regions, particularly inZhejiang province (which is where Alibaba, which operated the Taobao platform, is located).[1]: 112 Zhijiang City in Hubei province also has a significant cluster of Taobao villages.[2]: 279 As of at least 2023, Taobao villages are increasingly developed in inland parts of China.[1]: 112
Taobao villages first began appearing in 2009.[2]: 278 By 2013, twenty Taobao villages existed in China.[1]: 112 In 2020, 5,425 such villages existed, generating total annual revenue of RMB 1,000 billion via 29,600 active online shops.[1]: 112
The geographical clustering of e-commerce businesses in Taobao villages have mutual benefits for these businesses, as opposed to when they operate in greater isolation.[3]: 180 Geographic clustering of e-commerce businesses facilitates knowledge exchange and allows for increased labor market pooling.[3]: 180–181 Increased economic activities also can attract government-subsidized capital.[3]: 185
Because Taobao villages have increased the incomes or rural people and entrepreneurship in rural China, Taobao villages have become a component of rural revitalization strategies.[2]: 278
The spontaneous development of Taobao Villages inspired the Rural Taobao program, a rural e-commerce project undertaken by the Chinese government and Alibaba.[4]: 129–130 This program aimed to provide rural households with the same level of access to consumer goods that urban residents have and to facilitate the sale of agricultural goods through e-commerce.[4]: 129 As of 2017, the program covered 16,500 villages.[4]: 130