The lower-tier-city market is catching tech giants’ attention. The success of short video Douyin as well as e-commerce nova Pinduoduo both have tremendous connections with the gained traffic momentum from rural markets, where buyers tend to be more price-sensitive. Rivalling customer-to-manufacturer (C2M) competitors which provide direct sales from factories to buyers, Taobao is stepping up their made-to-order strategy to diversify product supplies across its ecosystem. Not only it bridges between customers and manufacturers, the platform also passes analysed consumer data to the latter and helps digitize the production process with market insights and preferences.
