A night market in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]

Official statistics from the Huzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce show that the city's online retail sales hit 44.3 billion yuan ($6.82 billion) in the first half of this year, rising by 11.5 percent year-on-year, with the growth rate being third highest in Zhejiang province.

Meanwhile, online spending of local residents amounted to 25.81 billion yuan, a yearly uptick of 6.3 percent, the highest in the province.

Commercial livestreaming has emerged as a new engine driving local e-commerce development.

The city's retail sales on three commercial livestreaming platforms –Taobao, Douyin and Kuaishou – from January to June amounted to 4.61 billion yuan, up 129.8 percent year-on-year. More than 87 million pieces of goods - a 110.3 percent year-on-year increase - were sold via the three platforms.

To date, the livestreaming base established in Huzhou's Nanxun Ancient Town last August has sold 12 million yuan worth of local specialty products via livestreams.

Cross-border e-commerce in Huzhou also saw robust growth during the six-month period. The city's e-commerce transaction value hit 15.04 billion yuan, which is more than 2021's total and 3.9 times that of the same period last year.

The head official of the Huzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce said that new policies will be introduced to boost local e-commerce development, and that the government will sustain efforts to further the digital transformation of the consumer-oriented service sectors.