China's consumption market in the first half of 2020 was hit hard by pandemic-related quarantine measures. But there were signs of recovery in May and June, helped by e-commerce. And livestreaming e-commerce has become a new hit.

Livestreaming e-commerce has never been as popular in China as it is now. The unprecedented pandemic limited people's access to brick-and-mortar stores, and at the same time offered new growth opportunities for live streamers. 

There are super stars like Weiya and Li Jiaqi, selling cosmetics and fashion outfits on major platforms such as Taobao. There are also local streamers who broadcast from farms to sell fruits, making sure farmers enjoy the benefit of e-commerce as much as urban dwellers. 

"I used to sell my peaches just at road side. Customers were limited and prices were low. Now with livestreaming on a cell phone, we can sell lots of peaches online. It's very helpful and simply amazing," said Yao Wenying, a peach farmer at Yangshan Town, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. 

On June 18, the mid-year online shopping campaign day, Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of Gree, set a record selling home appliances worth 10 billion yuan. And for the tens of thousands of shop owners in small towns across the country, e-commerce platforms such as Huitongda stepped in to train these owners on how to sell things online. 

"Our sales in the first half of this year were 30 percent higher than last year, thanks to e-commerce and livestreaming. I had my first livestreaming experience during the epidemic and I sold two air-conditioners and a dozen fans in 20 minutes. I was so happy," said Zuoyou Electrics Shop Owner Zhang Xiu, in Guli Town, Jiangning District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province. 

"We are focusing on digitalization of retail shops in towns and villages. We've served 130,000 shops across the country, and 80,000 shops have become able to sell products online. We believe digitalization is the right solution to synchronize resources between urban and rural areas," said Xu Xiuxian, President of Huitongda Network, one of China's leading platforms helping farmers and small town shops in digitalization. "In this way, urban products will reach rural areas, and rural products will reach urban areas with low cost and no delay."

China's overall consumption market shrank in the first half of the year. Ministry of Commerce research shows the city of Beijing's retail sales dropped 17.2 percent in the first half than the same period last year. But e-commerce managed growth of 26.7 percent. 

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that from January to May, China's online sales grew 11.5 percent from the same period last year, and its weight in total retail sales rose 5.4 percent from a year ago to 24.3 percent. E-commerce has never been so important for China's consumer market.