Alibaba increases presence in rural China

A rural Taobao store is pictured in Taigedou Village in Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group?Holding Ltd has increased its presence in rural areas.

The number of "Taobao villages," referring to those villages where more than 10 percent of their households run online stores and with annual online revenue of 10 million yuan, has reached 1,311 by the end of August, according to a report by the firm's researching arm.

The figure was 68 percent more than that of last year. Sellers from such villages run more than 300,000 online stores on Taobao, China's largest online commerce site.

Zhejiang, Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, all along China's eastern coast, are the three top regions in terms of the number of Taobao villages. Zhejiang, which has strong manufacturing infrastructure, boasts 506.

The rural online shops have created more than 840,000 jobs, the report said.