Darhan Muminggan Joint Banner – administered by Baotou city, located in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region – is selling its organic agricultural and livestock products across the country through e-commerce platforms, after integrating its digital economy and real economy.

A recent live broadcast, for example, attracted tens of thousands of netizens and purchases were made after product presentations with audience participation. The two-hour live broadcast attracted 53,000 viewers, 168,000 likes, 661 online orders and generated more than 180,000 yuan ($28,282) in sales.

In addition, consumers were able to use their mobile phones to search for local agricultural specialties through the online store on JD. "To display them and generate sales, various products on the platform can be updated in real time," said Cao Zheng, an entrepreneur who returned to his hometown after graduating from college.

In 2016, Cao established a breeding company to create his own brand of mutton and sell the meat. Since 2018 he has successively opened online sales stores on platforms including JD, Taobao and Pinduoduo.

In addition to selling his own products, he has also attracted other local agricultural and animal husbandry businesses to use his online stores, which generated revenue of 4 million yuan last year.

This success has spurred the development of the local e-commerce industry. The banner established an e-commerce association last year, mainly to provide member companies with big data analysis of market information, e-commerce training and to help expand online sales channels. At present, the association has worked with five enterprises, selling 15 kinds of products and generating sales of 1.2 million yuan.

Moving forwards, the banner will leverage its e-commerce platforms, high-quality agricultural products and policy support to expand the sales channels for farmers and herdsmen – increasing their incomes and promoting wider rural revitalization.