According to China's Ministry of Commerce, sales of home appliances in the country's rural areas in January 2011 passed 10 million units in a single month for the first time.

China's B2B e-commerce group Alibaba and Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank have reached a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement to jointly provide services to small- and medium-sized enterprises as well as farmers in rural areas in China.

U.S.-based Starbucks Coffee Company signed memorandum of understanding deals in China to assist local farmers to develop better sustainability practices.

Herbalife Ltd. held a ground-breaking ceremony in Changsha, Hunan, for its state-of-the-art extraction facility for botanical extracts, powders and pure compounds to be used in its inner and outer nutrition products.

According to reports in local media, Fujian province plans to build 3,000 rural retail stores in 2010, including 320 in Fuzhou and 666 in Zhangzhou.

According to figures released by China's National Bureau of Statistics, China's retail sales in the first half of 2009 reached about CNY5.871 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 15%.