Online sales of Dangyang's agricultural products surge by over 50%

By Yan Wanqin. Jie Xingwei, Wang Tao, Wang Ao also contributed to this article.

In the first 10 months of this year, online sales of Dangyang's agricultural products reached a total of 467 million yuan (US$64.6 million), up 51.6 percent year on year, according to the Dangyang E-commerce Industry Development Promotion Center.

"The live broadcast lasted for six hours on November 11, and the shredded potatoes and sweet potato chips sold for a total of over 5,000 yuan," said Tian Yong, a 54-year-old livestreaming host on the Dangyang Selection e-commerce platform. November 11, known as "Double Eleven" or “Singles' Day,” is China's largest online shopping festival, surpassing the combined sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US.

The government-funded Dangyang Selection platform was launched in October 2023. It currently showcases over 100 Dangyang products, including rice, flour, grain, oil, fruits, vegetables, and preserved meat products.

The platform integrates the city's resources and connects with external supply chain companies and livestreaming hosts to promote its agricultural products.

"This year, 150 million yuan worth of contracts have been signed," said You Jiang, director of the Dangyang E-commerce Industry Development Promotion Center.

During this year's  November 11 shopping festival, Feng Chengli, the one in charge of the vegetable sales department on Douyin’s e-commerce platform, launched a Dangyang vegetable gift package containing Dangyang fish mint, Chinese flowering cabbage and other agricultural products.

The platform offers various services along the e-commerce value chain, such as incubating Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and launching e-commerce livestreaming. It has nurtured a new generation of farmers who are experts in livestreaming e-commerce.

Currently, the platform has 26 livestreaming hosts, including farmers, urban unemployed women and college graduates.

"Through promoting the local agricultural products we are able to train livestreaming hosts, give them jobs, and even help them to start their own businesses," You said. The platform provides short video shooting, brand planning and promotion services for small and medium-sized enterprises and individual businesses, he added.

In addition, the platform has built four centralized warehouses. The goods in these warehouses are transferred to Dangyang Rural Delivery Logistics and Distribution Center for sorting and shipping. By negotiating with courier companies, the logistics costs of agricultural products have been significantly reduced.

At present, the platform has signed agreements with more than 20 local agricultural production and processing companies.

What's more, the city is integrating its platform with social media ecosystems, including Xiaohongshu and Kuaishou, to improve its competitiveness and influence.