Two towns and 16 villages in Haimen district, Nantong were recently honored as Taobao Towns or Taobao Villages for 2020, according to lists published by the AliResearch Institute at Alibaba Group.

The towns are Changle town and Sijia town, while the villages include four in the Haimen Economic Development Zone and 12 in the Dearshiqiao International Home Textiles Industrial Zone.

The research institute lays out requirements for being named a Taobao Town. It must have at least three Taobao Villages, or its e-commerce sales must exceed 30 million yuan ($4.35 million) per year and the number of active online stores must exceed 300.

To be named a Taobao Village, a village must be home to a village-level Taobao business operation site, its annual e-commerce sales must exceed 10 million yuan, and the number of active online stores must exceed 100, or account for at least 10 percent of a village's households doing business online.

Since the beginning of this year, Haimen has been making efforts to develop its e-commerce sector, aiming to optimize its industrial structure and increase the incomes of local farmers.

An array of e-commerce centers have been built across the district, specializing in home textiles, redwood, books, aquatic products, and sporting goods. 

Crab sales in Touqiao village alone have reached 6 million yuan this year.

The district's commerce bureau has signed a cooperation agreement with Alibaba to lead a rural ecommerce project – Tmall Youpin in Nantong. 

Nine Tmall Youpin service stations are currently operating in the district. From January to June, the stations received 2,396 orders valued at 7.69 million yuan, handled 9,697 express packages, and served 5,457 villagers.