The Seventh September 19 Postal E-commerce Festival has concluded with a great success, registering 8.243 billion yuan (about 1.183 billion US dollars) of commodity flow, up by 89.1 percent year-on-year, hitting a new high, with its seven core indicators all reaching the anticipated goals. Thanks to the efforts of postal enterprises at all levels, the ecommerce festival this year has become the one with the largest ever commodity flow, the highest growth rate in performance, the widest participation and the greatest impact. It enhanced the atmosphere of the Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival, further enriched the contents of the integrated development between farmers and China Post, stimulated the consumption vitality in urban and rural markets, and led the nation-wide shopping spree.

On the day of the e-commerce festival, the commodity flow reached 445 million yuan (about 63.91 million US dollars), setting a single-day record. All staff members of China Post shared and referred ULE stores. About 364,000 postal employees registered their own stores, with the coverage rate being 92.4 percent and promotion and referral rate 51.5 percent, up by 33 percentage points compared with that at the beginning of the event.

During the e-commerce festival, signature farm produce across the country sparkled in the livestreaming studios. Promotional activities like flash sales, lucky bags and lucky draws were applied to drive traffic. Altogether 8,161 live-streaming sessions were launched, yielding a GMV (gross merchandise volume) of 182 million yuan (about 26.14 million US dollars), with a year-on-year growth of 344.9 percent. Centering on farm produce from agricultural bases and famous and signature products across the nation, China Post fully activated its marketing channels linking communities and WeChat groups. Coordinating with its financial business, it kept conducting 10,000-order group buying while facilitating PSBC outlets to attract and acquire customers. In total, nearly 166,000 group buying promotions were launched, a daily average of over 223,000 ULE store owners were active, and 1,507 types of 10,000-order farm produce were brought out.

Anhui Postal Branch focused on both farm produce from national and regional agricultural bases and seasonal specialties, and made its own list of 10,000-order products. Eventually, it developed 3,900 clients and reaped sales of 82 million yuan (about 11.21 million US dollars). In the meantime, it carried on online and offline activities to increase its customer base and sales volume, and launched major online activities such as community group buying, ULE store sharing and livestreaming marketing. It also advanced the “postal outlets plus ULE stations” development model, and involved 21,000 ULE stations within the province in the promotion campaign, so that it generated 53,900 orders in total, coming to the second place among the postal branches nationwide. As a consequence, postal enterprises acquired more customers, while ULE store owners gained more profits.

Jiangsu Postal Branch focused on rural industries with local features as well as national and regional farm produce bases, took postal outlets and ULE stations as the bond, and created scenarios encompassing multiple businesses. It completed 22,700 high-quality ULE stations, and finished building 1,110 digital stations. At the same time, it successively launched 609 live-streaming sessions, covering all counties in the province, and achieved a farm produce turnover of 390 million yuan (about 56.02 million US dollars).

Shandong Postal Branch organized a rotation live-streaming campaign during September 19 Postal E-commerce Festival, launching 344 live-streaming sessions, and promoting more than 30 types of base-yielded produce like Mengyin peaches, Shandong sweet potatoes, Huanghekou rice and Dong’e donkey-hide gelatin, as well as over 200 types of famous and signature products within the province. During the festival, the live-streaming campaign secured a turnover of 9.74 million yuan (about 1.4 million US dollars), and attracted nearly 90,000 viewers.

Shanghai Postal Branch promoted the e-commerce festival and increased its retail turnover by holding a chain of group buying activities to sell local famous and signature products. It promoted local specialties like Songjiang rice and Laogang pickled potherb mustard through its specially organized “Deliver Shanghai Flavor Home” live-streaming. As of September 10, it had sold over 24,000 orders of Songjiang rice.

Dujiangyan Postal Branch in Sichuan province gathered elite marketing teams including excellent live-streamers, ULE store owners and community group buying organizers in the province, and asked them to learn about its preparations for the quality control, live-streaming and mail delivery of local specialties, which eventually won numerous likes, good reviews and hence plenty of intended orders, especially after being further promoted by one after another ULE store live-streaming sessions. As a result, the number of orders for Dujiangyan kiwifruit soared rapidly on major platforms, with its average daily sales surpassing 1,000 orders. During the event, a daily average of three live-streaming sessions were launched on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok), selling over 120,000 items (weighing over 100 tonnes) cumulatively.

Shangrao Postal Branch in Jiangxi province organized a series of promotional activities. With ule.com as its main platform, it activated urban and rural consumer markets through such measures as consumption subsidy and postal live-streaming. By September 7, Shangrao Postal Branch had sold more than 10,000 orders of Guangfeng Majia shaddock peels on ule.com, driving sales of farm produce to over 300,000 yuan (about 43,091 US dollars) and generating 8000 e-commerce parcels as well.

Focusing on national and regional farm produce bases as well as base-yielded farm produce, seasonal specialties and local famous and signature products, Shijiazhuang Postal Branch in Hebei province created marketing scenarios linking ULE stores to WeChat groups and ULE Fresh to postal outlets, and developed a community group buying model featuring the process of “from production bases (the suppliers’ warehouses) to distributed mini warehouses to self-pickup points to customers”, enabling customers to “place order today and fulfil pickup tomorrow”. As of September 10, Shijiazhuang Postal Branch had created 10 types of 10,000-order farm produce, achieving a turnover of more than 8 million yuan (about 1.15 million US dollars).

September 19 Postal E-Commerce Festival has become a resounding brand China Post has developed in contributing to rural revitalization. It is a “green lane” connecting direct sale and direct purchase of farm produce, and becomes a powerful driving force promoting urban and rural consumption.