Beijing, March 21 (Reporter Zhang Yi) - The head of the E-commerce Department of the Ministry of Commerce introduced on March 21 that from January to February this year, China's e-commerce achieved a good start in promoting consumption growth and conducting international cooperation. Online retail has achieved a successful start, new consumer hotspots are constantly emerging, and "Silk Road e-commerce" is expanding international cooperation with high standards.

     From January to February, the national online retail sales reached 2.15 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.3%. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 1.82 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.4%. The Ministry of Commerce, together with five departments, guided the first event of the "Consumer Promotion Year" - the "National Online New Year Goods Festival", which drove a year-on-year increase of 23.9% in daily online retail sales during the Spring Festival period.

     From January to February, digital, green and health goods such as digital music, energy-saving washing machines and ski equipment in new consumption increased by 95.1%, 167.5% and 66.4% respectively; online retail sales of "trendy" goods such as horse dress, national style perfume and new Chinese style jewelry increased by 6.3 times, 4.2 times and 1.7 times respectively; and online tourism sales increased by 114.8% driven by ice and snow tours and temple fair tours.

     From January to February, China's international cooperation in e-commerce with 30 "Silk Road" partner countries continues to advance. Shanghai, Guangxi, Shaanxi and other regions leverage their geographical advantages to hold characteristic activities such as the "ASEAN E-commerce Theme Week," "Guipin Going Global," and "China Europe Railway New Year Goods Festival," promoting the integration of domestic and foreign e-commerce markets. 35 out of the 38 pilot measures in the Shanghai Silk Road E-commerce Cooperation Pilot Zone have been launched and implemented. Multiple exploratory cross-border data products have been listed on the Shanghai Data Exchange, and the "one-time declaration, bilateral customs clearance" model has been established. A number of paperless trade infrastructure such as cross-border electronic invoices and electronic bills of lading have been put into use.