Two women promote vinegar products via livestreaming at a vinegar factory in Chishui, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 28, 2022. Photo: Xinhua

China's digital economy has been growing in magnitude in the past two years, bringing an increasing industry scale that has fueled the growth of the real economy, an industry report said on Tuesday. 

The number of Weixin mini-programs has surged by 183 percent amid their extensive application in tourist attractions, hotels, air travel and other fields since 2020, and the number of daily active WeCom enterprise users in the manufacturing sector rose 30 percent year-on-year.

In the sector, the number of SMEs with fewer than 500 employees rose 35 percent, said a report released by Weixin on Tuesday. 

WeCom is Weixin's dedicated product for enterprises, and it includes convenient communication and office automation tools. 

Livestreaming e-commerce on channels continued to grow rapidly over the past year, with total gross merchandise value increasing by more than 800 percent from 2021. The average transaction value surpassed 200 yuan ($29.5).

In the fast-moving consumer goods sector, digital connections between products and sales enabled small brick-and-mortar stores to engage in smart, agile operations. For example, drinks and dairy products can be quickly distributed to physical stores, while retailers or suppliers of fresh and frozen foods can easily process the order and delivery through Weixin mini-programs. 

Active Weixin mini-programs in the food and beverage sectors and their transactions registered steady growth. Through their self-operated mini programs, retailers in home furnishings, shoes, apparel, sports and other sectors all reported their revenues expanded more than 47 percent year-on-year.  

The growth was mainly driven by the increase in the number of users and the improvement of platforms efficiency, thanks to the company's three-pronged efforts to improve the shopping experience through live-streaming, enhancing the management toolkit for businesses to optimize their supply chains, and continuously refining the service system to facilitate collaborative growth with merchants and service providers. 

China's digital economy, ranking No 2 worldwide for many years, has become a major growth engine for the country, according to a white paper released by China's State Council Information Office in November. 

In 2021, the value of China's digital economy reached 45.5 trillion yuan, accounting for 39.8 percent of its GDP, said the white paper.
 
Global Times