Exploring the spatiotemporal evolution mechanism of rural e-commerce: insights from the experience of Taobao towns in China

In the era of the digital economy, rural e-commerce has catalyzed modernization in agriculture and rural areas in China, exemplified by “Taobao villages” and “Taobao towns”. The shift from villages to towns reflects an evolution from scattered nodes to interconnected networks. Existing work largely examines Taobao villages; less attention has been paid to Taobao towns’ spatiotemporal characteristics and evolution mechanisms. This study analyzes the spatial-temporal evolution of Taobao towns using geospatial methods and identifies key drivers with GeoDetector. Findings show: (1) coverage of Taobao towns expands annually across provinces, forming a “T-shaped and three-center” pattern with a gradient decreasing from southeast to northwest; (2) central regions are developing rapidly as emerging centers; (3) development is driven by a combination of factors including economic base, social environment, market atmosphere, transportation, and infrastructure. The study offers Chinese experience for rural development and transformation.

Xufeng Cui, Wei Huang, Jing Zhang, Wei Deng