New forms of consumption and businesses that utilize livestreaming and social networking e-commerce boomed in North China's Shanxi province in the first half of the year.

From January to June, the province's online retail sales came in at 10.77 billion yuan ($1.54 billion), a year-on-year increase of 23.7 percent and 14.3 percentage points higher than the national growth rate. From January to May, the revenue of the internet and related service industries surged 83.1 percent year on year. 

With the internet, warehousing and express logistics infrastructure expanding in villages across the province, rural e-commerce has become a new driving force for consumer spending in Shanxi.

During the first six months, the province's rural online retail sales amounted to 6.21 billion yuan, an increase of 5.9 percent year on year. The proportion of rural e-commerce to the province's total online retail sales increased to 31.3 percent from 25.6 percent at the end of 2019.

That helped push online retail sales of agricultural products to 2.33 billion yuan, up 43.5 percent year on year, a growth rate was much higher than the national average. 

As an example, officials from 17 counties in local Linfen city participated in 85 livestreaming events at farmlands, workshops and tourist attractions in early May to promote local agricultural products -- helping to sell goods worth more than 30 million yuan in nine days. 

Tian Xin, director of division of e-commerce and information technology promotion at the Shanxi Department of Commerce, said the province will next focus on promoting the digital transformation of traditional trading companies.

It will also expand the digital economy in industries related to agricultural products and food processing and cultural tourism -- expanding smart manufacturing through policy and technical support.

In addition, the province will strengthen its cooperation with internet platforms -- including Alibaba, JD.com, Kuaishou and Douyin -- to build livestreaming bases and industrial parks, so as to advance e-commerce featuring livestreaming and social networking.