Beginning with three Taobao villages organized in China for the first time 10 years ago, the number of villages featuring commercial tones has grown to 4,310 in the country this year, the AliResearch Institute at Alibaba Group said in its latest report.
The research institute defines three standards to meet the requirements of a Taobao village: The business operation site is village-based, annual e-commercial sales reach 10 million yuan and the number of active online stores must be more than 100, or at least 10 percent of a village's households doing business online.
Currently, Taobao villages are mainly in China's eastern coastal areas, with 4,113 branded villages in East China's Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Fujian provinces; North China's Hebei province and South China's Guangdong province accounting for 95.4 percent of the total number.
Last year, annual sales of the online stores in the Taobao villages surpassed 700 billion yuan, and the number of active online stores reached 2.44 million, which created more than 6.32 million jobs, AliResearch said.
Clothing, furniture, shoes, bags and toys are the main products that the Taobao villages sold from 2014 to 2019. Moreover, home appliances, lamps and tableware have gradually joined the main products.
The report said the number of Taobao villages will surpass 20,000 to create more than 20 million jobs in next 10 years.
Here are the top 10 regions with the most Taobao villages.
No 10 Tianjin Taobao villages number: 14
A woman tries out Alibaba's 3D virtual dressing mirror at an expo in Tianjin, May 19, 2018. [Photo/IC]
No 9 Jiangxi Taobao villages number: 19
Two villagers put oilpaper umbrellas under the sun to dry at Jialu village in Wuyuan county, East China's Jiangxi province, Jan 1, 2019. These oilpaper umbrellas will sell online. [Photo/IC]
No 8 Hubei Taobao villages number: 22
A woman sells agriculture products through online livestreaming on Taobao in Central China's Hubei province, April 15, 2019. [Photo/IC]
No 7 Henan Taobao villages number: 75
A man makes a helmet to sell online in Huozhuang village, Central China's Henan province, Nov 6 , 2018. [Photo/IC]
No 6 Fujian Taobao villages number: 318
An Italian chef sells agriculture products through online livestreaming on Taobao in Youxi county, East China's Fujian province, Dec 29 , 2016. [Photo/IC]
No 5 Hebei Taobao villages number: 359
An employee helps villagers shop online at a Taobao service center at Dugu village in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei province, May 18, 2016. [Photo/VCG]
No 4 Shandong Taobao villages number: 450
A villager packages his products for delivery in Boxing county, East China's Shandong province, Nov 12, 2018. [Photo/IC]
No 3 Jiangsu Taobao villages number: 615
A woman makes candy boxes to prepare for the double 11 online shopping event in Jidong village, East China's Jiangsu province, Nov 3, 2018. [Photo/IC]
No 2 Guangdong Taobao villages number: 798
A woman sells grapefruit through an online store on Taobao in Jiaoling town, South China's Guangdong province, Aug 29, 2019. [Photo/IC]
