Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

REVIEW

E-commerce development in rural and remote areas of BRICS

countries

Karine HAJI

Institute for International Economics and Finance, Russian Foreign Trade Academy, Moscow 119285, Russia

Abstract
E-commerce plays an essential role in modern trade today. It is expected that e-commerce volume amounted to 29
trillion USD in the world in 2017, and would grow with the spread of the Internet and information and communication
technologies (ICTs). Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), together with many others, consider
e-commerce a means to facilitate rapid, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, improving the living standards
and alleviating poverty. This article examines areas for potential cooperation by BRICS countries in e-commerce
development across rural and remote areas to fight poverty. It analyses the current state of e-commerce development
in rural and remote areas in each of the BRICS countries, including cases of public and private initiatives to support it.
The article also defines the opportunities which e-commerce brings to people living in rural and remote areas. Moreover,
it evaluates the existing challenges and risks. The article concludes that despite the rapid e-commerce development in
BRICS countries, and significant opportunities created, there are still issues of disproportionate e-commerce in varied
regions and the lack of BRICS cooperation in this sphere. Based on a comparative and normative in-depth, systematic
analysis, the article develops a set of recommendations for deepening BRICS countries’ cooperation in the following
areas: infrastructure in rural and remote regions; education; consumer protection; online dispute resolution; coordinated
policy in the international scene, including representation of BRICS countries in international indexes, such as the
Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI).

Keywords: e-commerce, BRICS, poverty alleviation, international cooperation, remote and rural areas, ICT infrastructure,
educational cooperation, online dispute resolution, consumer protection online, Digital STRI

every part of humanity and society. It considerably changes

1. Introduction
E-commerce and digital economy development transforms
Received 25 April, 2020 Accepted 14 October, 2020
Correspondence Karine HAJI, E-mail: k.khadzhi@vavt.ru
© 2021 CAAS. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
doi: 10.1016/S2095-3119(20)63451-7
the ways in which people interact in all spheres: public
governance, business and education, economic, political
and cultural development, and personal communication.
Therefore, e-commerce creates both opportunities and
challenges for all, including those living in rural and
remote areas. Moreover, e-commerce is seen as a useful
tool that could solve many social and economic issues if
appropriately applied (for example, in Georgiou 2009).
Statistics reinforce the growing importance of
e-commerce in the global retail sector. E-commerce
volume as the whole amounted to 29 trillion USD in 2017,
980 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
based on the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) estimates (UNCTAD 2019).
This would grow with the spread of the Internet and
information and communications technologies (ICTs),
which have room for further dissemination. In 2018, the
share of e-commerce in global retail sales had reached
12.2%. In 2019, e-commerce comprised 14.1% of global
merchandise trade. This share is forecasted to rise to
22% by 2023 (Lipsmane 2019) (see Table 1).
These figures prove that e-commerce will only
strengthen its influence in the coming years. However,
despite the bright prospects for e-commerce development
in general, they are mostly applicable to the urban areas.
In contrast, the rural areas face various challenges in
participation in e-commerce (Sicat 2016). Simultaneously,
some studies prove that e-commerce can be applied as a
means to improve people’s quality of life, living in remote
and rural areas (Ali Research 2017). This can be of
particular interest for the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia,
India, China, and South Africa), which continue to conduct
structural reforms to alleviate their people from poverty
and raise their living standards (especially those who live
in rural and remote areas).
This study aims to develop a set of recommendations
for BRICS countries for their cooperation within this
platform and outside of it on e-commerce development
in rural and remote areas to improve their lives. The
paper answers the following research questions: 1)
What are the risks and opportunities of e-commerce
to the rural and remote regions of BRICS countries?
2) What can BRICS countries cooperate to maximize
those benefits and minimize the risks?
To accomplish the primary goal, the article sequentially
analyses several issues in six sections below. Section
2 reviews the scope of ongoing work and current
BRICS agenda on poverty alleviation, food security,
and e-commerce drawing on the official statements and
initiatives. Section 3 analyses the achieved progress in
lifting people out of poverty in BRICS countries, based on
data collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO) in its relevant reports.
Section 4 reviews e-commerce development in BRICS
countries, including the public and private initiatives on
e-commerce development in rural and remote areas. The
Table 1 Retail sales and retail e-commerce sales estimations from 2021–2023
Retail sales Retail e-commerce sales Growth rate of retail
Year
(trillion USD) (trillion USD)
2021 27.243 4.927
2022 28.472 5.695
2023 29.763 6.542
Source: Composed based on statistics, provided in Lipsmane (2019).
review was prepared based on Ecommerce Foundation
statistics, official websites of the organizations, involved
in e-commerce activities, and their reports and relevant
news articles. Some case studies were taken from
the materials provided by E-commerce Training and
Workshop, 23–27 July, 2019, Beijing, China (hereafter
the Workshop). Section 5 outlines the opportunities
brought by e-commerce with a precise focus on those for
the population living in remote and rural areas. Section
6 focuses on the challenges and risks for e-commerce
faced by the residents of rural and remote areas. Section
7 draws the conclusions on the analyses conducted
in the main body of the article and provides respective
recommendations.
The paper’s findings can be later applied in the
regional research on e-commerce development and
poverty alleviation. There is no research that would
summarize the results of e-commerce development in the
remote and rural areas in the BRICS countries and outline
the common risks, challenges, and opportunities for the
region in this sphere. The study fills this gap and may
become a starting point, providing a general review for
further research in this area. The research findings can
also be applied in practical BRICS cooperation by public
authorities and private companies.
Given the wide nature of the topic, there are gaps in
this study, which require further research. At the moment,
the majority of case studies on the practical effects of
e-commerce development in rural and remote areas has
been provided by China, whilst in other BRICS countries,
this research area is relatively new. That is why the
article gives a more general overview to attract interest
to the research community in Brazil, India, Russia, and
South Africa. The overview of poverty alleviation progress
is given to provide background information for a better
understanding of the current circumstances in BRICS
countries.
2. BRICS agenda on e-commerce and
food security
BRICS unites five regional powers from Eurasia, Latin
America, and sub-Saharan Africa: Brazil, Russia, India,
China, and South Africa. In terms of their attitude towards
Growth rate of Growth rate of total retail
services e-commerce (%) sales (%)
4.5 17.1 18.1
4.5 15.6 20.0
4.5 14.9 22.0
 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
e-commerce, as many other countries, they consider it
one of the means to facilitate economic growth, improve
living standards of population, and address the need
to reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable
economic growth, especially in the rural and remote
areas.
Understanding the common goals and challenges,
BRICS counties initiated discussions on e-commerce
and e-trade development (these terms were applied
interchangeably) in 2014, which were reflected in the “4th
Meeting of the BRICS Trade Ministers: Joint Communiqué
and Fortaleza Declaration” (BRICS Information Centre
2014). In 2015, the “Framework for BRICS E-commerce
Cooperation” (BRICS Information Centre 2015a) was
adopted to support the “Strategy for BRICS Economic
Partnership” (Section II.1 Trade and investment) (BRICS
Information Centre 2015b).
In 2017, BRICS adopted the “BRICS E-Commerce
Cooperation Initiative” together with the mandate of the
“Working Group on E-commerce” (BRICS Information
Centre 2017). The year 2018 was marked with the
consideration of e-commerce for inclusion in BRICS
countries and adopting the “BRICS Cooperation
Framework on Inclusive E-Commerce Development”
(Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian
Federation 2018). In 2019, BRICS continued to work
on e-commerce and endorsed “Outlines for BRICS
Cooperation on E-Commerce”.
Moreover, e-commerce has been mentioned in all of
the BRICS leaders’ declarations since 2014, which proves
the high relevance of cooperating in this field.
Despite all efforts and initiatives, there is a lack of
practical initiatives, which would strengthen the ties
between e-commerce consumers and businesses in
BRICS countries, since the approved initiatives are
general in their nature and do not propose or set basis for
mechanisms to strengthen real cooperation.
BRICS plays an essential role in the facilitation of the
international food security dialogue, one of the major
factors of rural and remote areas development since
2009. Understanding the high relevance and importance
of food security and poverty reduction in rural and remote
areas and seeing the potential to cooperate in this sphere,
BRICS countries pay particular attention to this topic.
“The 2015 Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership”
acknowledged that BRICS cooperation in food security
would contribute to the strengthening the global food
security through the raised volume of agricultural
production and improving the productivity of the sector,
as well as creation of more favorable investment
environment and transparent markets, in addition to the
981
raised level of the living standards and food availability.
In this Strategy BRICS countries have agreed to: 1)
develop the common strategy for increased access to the
most vulnerable groups of the population for food supply;
2) facilitate trade and investment; 3) create a system
for the exchange of basic information in agriculture; 4)
cooperate with agricultural technologies and innovations;
and 5) decrease the negative impact of climate change on
food security and adopt the agriculture sector to climate
change.
In support of the Strategy, by 2020, BRICS countries
have endorsed the following initiatives: 1) committed to
establishing the BRICS Agriculture Research Platform
(BRICS-ARP) (BRICS Information Centre 2016);
2) reaffirmed the commitment to develop the Basic
Agricultural Information Exchange System (BAIES) in
the Joint Declaration of BRICS Ministers of Agriculture
2017; 3) endorsed BRICS Action Plan 2017–2020 for
Agricultural Cooperation; and 4) committed to creating
an environment conducive to agri-tech startups (BRICS
Information Centre 2019).
The BRICS Information Centre (2019) also noted the
importance of e-commerce, and its diverse social and
economic implications.
Summarizing everything stated above, we can
conclude that BRICS has initiated various joined
activities on ICT application in agriculture (including the
development of agri-tech startups) and set the common
directions for cooperation in e-commerce. However,
there is no specific attention given to the development
of e-commerce in rural and remote areas to increase
the living standards of people living there. Moreover,
there is a clear need for more practical initiatives, both
in food security and e-commerce. Sections 3 and 4
will dwell on the current state of these two tracks to
help finding the meeting points for further cooperation.
This would require cooperation between the authorities
and businesses responsible on rural and remote
areas development and e-commerce progress in their
respective countries.
3. BRICS countries contribution to the
global poverty alleviation
Based on the FAO, nowadays, 820 million people are still
living in severe hunger and food insecurity, having a lack
of access to food supply on a daily basis. Moreover, 2
billion (or 26.4% of the global population) are experiencing
moderate food insecurity, meaning that their food is not
nutritious enough to fulfill their everyday needs at full
scale (FAO 2019b). The same report shows that the
982 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
number of people suffering from severe and moderate
food insecurity has been rising since 2015. The number
of undernourished people globally was 785.4 million in
2015, with the majority living in Asia (518.7 million people)
and Africa (217.9 million people). Notably, the regional
distribution of people suffering from hunger has changed
since then. The number of people in hunger has declined
in Asia (513.9 million in 2018) and risen in Africa (256.1
million in 2018) (FAO 2019b). The situation is to get
worse with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the
measures to contain it in the world, which took place in
2020.
In Global Food Security Index (GFSI) of 2019 BRICS
countries performance is above average with steady
year-by-year improvements in terms of food security
maintenance (Table 2).
At the same time, two out of five BRICS countries
are in moderate (South Africa with a score of 14)
and severe (India with a score of 30.3) categories of
countries in the 2019 Global Hunger Index (https://www.
globalhungerindex.org/results.html). The rural and
remote areas inclusion into the e-commerce ecosystems
would help improving the situation due to wider access
to various and cheaper products and the creation of
additional demand for the farmers’ products.
BRICS countries have made a great contribution to
poverty reduction (see Table 3) and the achievement of
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Goal 2 “End
hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and
promote sustainable agriculture”) (see Table 4). Thus,
26.5 million Brazilians exited poverty between 2004 and
2014 (FAO 2019b). Poverty in India has declined from
48.9% in 1987 to 21.2% in 2011 (FAO 2019b). Poverty in
China has dropped from 88% in 1981 to 0.7% in 2015.
There is still a way for improvement in the case of the
reduction of poverty headcount ratio at national poverty
lines in the percentage of population, compared to the
progress made when it is counted by the World Bank
benchmarks. Simultaneously, the numbers counted
based on the national poverty lines may reflect a more
accurate picture for analysis. There are no data on this
ratio for Brazil. Russia has shown the drop from 29.0%
in 2000 to 12.9% in 2018. India moved from 45.3% in
1993 to 21.9% in 2011. China has shown a decline from
49.8% in 2010 to 0.6% in 2017. And South Africa has
experienced a decline from 66.6% in 2005 to 55.5% in
2014 (World Bank).
Nevertheless, we can see that the huge progress has
1
The data on each BRICS country are provided in the countries profiles below.
been achieved in less than 30 years. The considered
period is also characterized by the active development
of ICTs and e-commerce, which may also be one of the
contributors to the progress, alongside the others, as the
sharpest decline was observed at the 2000s in all BRICS
countries, when the e-commerce and digital economy
started to develop and grow. However, further research is
needed to test such a hypothesis.
The numbers provided above are the latest available
in the official FAO and World Bank databases. The
provision of the most updated and complete information
by the countries’ to the respected organizations would
help better analysis and reflect the real picture.
Considering that the rural and remote areas are those
with the lowest Internet penetration and the highest
poverty and hunger rates, there is much potential in
bringing ICTs and e-commerce into such areas with the
aim to raise the living standards of people living there.
4. Current state of e-commerce develop-
ment in rural and remote areas in each
BRICS country
Based on the UNCTAD and other international organizations
research and evaluation, all BRICS countries are among
the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the world with
the highest potential for future development. According
to various data in 2019 Brazil has shown 16% growth
of e-commerce (Torres 2019), Russia, 18.7%, India,
31.9%, China, 27.3% (Clement 2019) in 2019 and South
Africa, 25–20% growth of e-commerce in 2017 and 2018,
respectively (World Wide Worx 2018).
At the same time, the share of e-commerce on the
market (in the Growth Domestic Products (GDP)1 and
in the whole retail market) and the level of Internet
penetration in BRICS countries is still low (Fig. 1) (IWS
2020). This opens up lots of opportunities for future
growth and creates some challenges, including the digital
divide, which requires complex measures (legal, financial
and organizational) to be tackled. Moreover, the level of
e-commerce development and dissemination in urban,
rural, and remote areas is different in all BRICS countries.
The urban areas have a higher level of e-commerce
development than the rural and remote areas.
This chapter gives a brief outlook on the e-commerce
development in all BRICS countries and provides an
overview of existing programs for rural e-commerce
development (both public and private), where applicable.
 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997 983

The profile of every country follows the following structure: statistics to provide the scope of estimations, based
1) Market estimations by Ecommerce Foundation to on different methodologies as they vary across the
provide comparable data on each country; 2) national countries; 3) a brief review of the largest e-commerce

Table 2 BRICS countries performance in Global Food Security Index of 20191)

Natural resources &
Country Global rank Score Affordability Availability Quality & Safety
Resilience
Brazil 39 69.8 (+0.3) 77.0 (–0.3) 58.8 (+1.1) 84.0 (–0.1) 55.6
Russia 42 69.0 (+0.7) 79.8 (+0.1) 60.1 (+1.5) 70.9 (+0.1) 66.1
India 72 58.9 (0.0) 64.2 (–0.7) 58.4 (+0.5) 47.0 (+0.4) 46.7
China 35 70.6 (+0.4) 71.0 (+0.4) 74.8 (+0.4) 66.9 (+0.6) 54.5
South Africa 48 66.7 (+0.6) 70.8 (–0.1) 64.5 (+1.1) 66.2 (+0.6) 50.4
1)
Data in parentheses mean score changes to 2018.
Source: Composed based on statistics, provided in Global Food Security Index 2019.

Table 3 Share of people living in poverty on 1.90, 3.20 and 5.50 USD per capita per day in BRICS countries in 1993 and in the
latest available year with statistics
% of people living on 1.90 USD % of people living on 3.20 USD % of people living on 5.50 USD
per capita per day PPP1) per capita per day PPP1) per capita per day PPP1)
Country
Latest year Latest year Latest year
1993 1993 1993
available available available
Brazil 19.8 3.2 (2015) 36.3 9.1 (2018) 56.5 19.8 (2018)
Russia 3.7 0.1 (2010) 13.2 0.4 (2018) 30.5 3.7 (2018)
India 47.6 22.5 (2011) 81.9 61.7 (2011) 95.5 87.4 (2011)
China 56.7 0.7 (2015) 83.4 5.4 (2016) 96.3 24.0 (2016)
South Africa 31.5 18.7 (2014) 49.9 37.3 (2014) 66.9 56.9 (2014)
1)
PPP, purchasing power parity.
Source: Composed based on statistics, provided by the World Bank.

Table 4 Selected FAO indicators on food security in 2004–2018 in BRICS countries

Prevalence of undernourishment Prevalence of severe food insecurity Prevalence of moderate or severe food
Country in the total population (%) in the total population (%) insecurity in the total population (%)
2004–2006 2016–2018 2014–2016 2016–2018 2014–2016 2016–2018
Brazil 4.6 <2.5 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
Russia <2.5 <2.5 <0.5 <0.5 8.2 6.2
India 22.2 14.5 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
China 15.2 8.5 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
South Africa 4.4 6.2 22.0 29.2 45.4 51.1
n.a., not available.
Source: composed based on statistics, provided in FAO (2019b).

South Africa
Russia
Brazil
India
China
BRICS
World
0 1 000 2 000 3 000 4 000 5 000 6 000 7 000 8 000 9 000

World BRICS China India Brazil Russia South Africa

Internet users 4 950 1 741 883 560 149 116 33
Population 7 840 3 235 1 440 1 380 211 144 60

Fig. 1 Internet users vs. population in BRICS countries in 2020 (million people). Source: IWS (2020).
984 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
companies with the description of their social programs in
regions other than the capitals of respective countries; 4)
professional and business associations, operating in the
countries; 5) governmental programs on digital economy
and e-commerce development, including those applicable
in the rural and remote areas. The profiles give a general
overview of e-commerce development in BRICS countries
as well as the existing programs for rural e-commerce
development and their status.
4.1. Brazil
Brazil is one of the regional leaders for e-commerce
development in Latin America. The main e-commerce
indicators are presented in Table 5. One of the most
prominent market players is B2W Digital. Total gross
market value (GMV) in 2019 reached 18.8 billion BRL,
and 11.6 billion BRL of it was generated by marketplaces
(americanes.com, Submarino, Shoptime, Sou Barato,
Marketplace). The share of marketplace participation has
grown from 17.5% in 2016 to 61.7% in 2019. The number
of marketplace participants has risen from 4.7 thousand
in 2016 to 46.8 thousand in 2019. The assortment has
expanded from 2.7 million to 29.5 million in the same
period of time. There are 16 million active consumers.
It operates 18 logistical hubs and the largest pick-up
points network (adding 8 000 points in 2019) in Brazil.
It also has increased the number of stores with online
inventory adding 1 700 stores in 2019. B2W Digital also
develops its physical stores’ network, which now includes
300 shops in 110 across 13 states of Brazil (B2W Digital
2020).
Another large player is Mercado Libre, Inc., an
Argentinian e-commerce company, present in 18 Latin
American countries: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile,
Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Costa
Table 5 Main e-commerce indicators in Brazil
Indicator
Market volume in 2018
Market volume in 20231)
Turnover in B2C e-commerce in 20191)
GDP share in 2019
Number of users to purchase online
in 2018
Places of residence
Main associations
Main governmental strategies Brazilian Digital Transformation Strategy (E-Digital) (2018): the development of e-platforms;
National Broadband Plan (PNBL) to improve access to ICTs across the country, including rural
1)
Estimated.
Sources: Clement (2018); SSAS and UNIDO 2018; Ecommerce Foundation (2019a).
Rica, The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, and El
Salvador. In 2019 there were 378.9 million products sold
through its platform, 53.2 million new users registered
(the total amount is 320.6 million), and 12 purchases per
second conducted in the whole region. The company
actively invests in socio-economic development in the
region. It plans to conduct a survey on the impact of its
activities on people’s lives in 2020 in the framework of
the program of Sistema B organization “Measure what
matters: in focus.” By now, the company outlines the
following positive influences: 1) competitive markets;
2) new entrepreneurial/business leadership; 3) innovative
solutions and logistics; 4) technology-based companies;
5) smarter and more responsive commerce (through
initiatives such as #EcoFriday); 6) growth 49% of
purchases (or 110 000 items from 4 500 companies and
entrepreneurs) (Mercado Libre Inc. 2019) from suppliers
with environmental or social impact or both (Mercado
Libre Inc. 2019) within the #EcoFriday initiative; 7) higher
revenue and new jobs (+197 000 full-time merchants in
2019 only); 8) access to credit and new means of payment
(534 million USD in loans granted in 2019); 9) distribution
network being extended to the distant points in remote and
rural areas (Mercado Libre Inc. 2019); 10) involvement of
local suppliers (98%) (Mercado Libre Inc. 2019).
4.2. Russia
Russia is the e-commerce leader in the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) region, with the largest Internet
audience in Europe. The main e-commerce indicators
are presented in Table 6. National estimations are more
optimistic. For example, based on the Data Insight
research, the market size of B2C e-commerce in Russia
has reached 24.9 billion USD (Data Insight 2019).
Volume
14.7 billion USD
17.3 billion USD
21 billion USD
1.1%
49%
Southeast, 63%; South, 16%
Brazilian E-Commerce Association (ABComm);
Brazilian E-Commerce Chamber (Camara-e.net)
and remote areas
 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997 985

The Russian export through e-commerce channels and
total return from it was expected to reach 817 million USD
in 2019. The main countries for export include Belarus
(21.8%), the USA (20.4%), Kazakhstan (12.9%), Ukraine
(4.6%), Germany (4.3%), the UK (3.8%), France (2.3%),
Canada (2.3%), Israel (2.2%) and China (1.9%). It can be
seen that the export opportunities from Russia to BRICS
countries through the e-commerce channels should be
explored further. The majority of export comes from the
Central (40%), Northwestern (26%), and Volga (10%)
regions (Data Insight 2019). There is still great potential
for the involvement of suppliers from rural and remote
areas into e-commerce.
The largest Russian B2C e-commerce platform
Wildberries (https://www.wildberries.ru/services/o-nas)
had a 223.5 billion RUB turnover in 2019. It operates
in nine countries (Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Israel,
Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Poland, Slovakia, and the
Ukraine) and distributes the goods through 34 000 points
for orders and its logistical network. There are 60 000
brands presented on the platform. Eight million visitors
make 940 thousand orders per day. The company
operates its own IT solution for suppliers to help them deal
with Wildberries and simplify the process of cooperation
- partners.wb.ru. The service’s commission was lowered
from 38 to 19% in 2019 to support micro, small and
medium enterprises (MSMEs) and suppliers from the
rural and remote areas. The company pays considerable
attention to the involvement of MSMEs from the sub-
regional, local, and rural communities.
One of the largest players in the cross-border B2B
(business-to-business) e-commerce market in Russia,
Global Rus Trade (https://globalrustrade.com/info/about-
us/), has launched several initiatives to attract suppliers,
including from rural and remote areas, to participate in
cross-border e-commerce. The platform unites more
than 2 500 suppliers from more than 100 companies,
providing an opportunity to communicate in 11 languages.
The company sees its mission in helping companies find
new business partners in Russia and worldwide through
e-commerce. It participates in the BRICS initiative to
create a BRICS network of e-commerce platforms from
the Russian side. It also works with the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to develop a software
to support MSMEs. Part of its social work is dedicated
to educational projects, such as “Girls Solve” to increase
digital literacy level among girls, receiving higher
education to equip them with digital skills needed for
everyday working activities in the digital economy.
One more interesting case of the platform, working with
the MSMEs coming from remote and rural areas (even
though it is not the company’s main focus) is Livemaster
(https://www.livemaster.com/article/about-company).
The platform attracts handicrafts and handmade design
products producers all over Russia and helps them to
sell their products both in Russia and abroad. More
than 2.5 million unique products are posted and sold
to 8 million buyers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, and other countries of the world every
month.
Understanding the importance of e-commerce
development and its significance for MSMEs business
activities (including export) the government proposes
and implements various initiatives to support MSMEs
participation in e-commerce. Thus, the Russian Export
Center (REC) helps interested MSMEs from different
Russian regions to join the largest e-commerce platforms
to promote their products in the framework of special
initiatives. For example, with Alibaba Group, JD.com,
VIP.com, Flipkart, Lazada Group, Rakuten, Amazon, eBay,

Table 6 Main e-commerce indicators in Russia

Indicator Volume
Market volume in 2018 17.2 billion USD
Market volume in 20231) 24.8 billion USD
B2C sales in 2019 26.92 billion USD
Turnover in B2C e-commerce in 20191) 20.71 billion USD
GDP share in 2019 1.32%
Number of users to purchase online in 76 and 74%
2018 and 20191)
Places of residence Central Federal Region, 41%; Volga Region, 15%; and northwestern region, 14%
Main associations Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC);
Association of Internet Commerce Companies (AKIT);
National Association of Distance Commerce (NADT);
Institute for Internet Research (III);
Regional Public Organization Center for Internet Technologies (ROCIT) and others.
Main governmental strategies Digital Economy of the Russian Federation 2017–2024
1)
Estimated.
Sources: Clement (2018); Ecommerce Foundation (2019c); Data Insight (2019); Lipsmane (2019).
986 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997

and others. REC also publishes the relevant guidelines
and provides consultations to MSMEs interested in
applying e-commerce channels for export.
These efforts have brought fruits already. Russian
export returns through e-commerce channels have almost
doubled since 2016 - they have risen from 430 million
USD to 817 million USD in 2019 (Data Insight 2019) and
were forecasted to reach 1 139 million USD in 2020 (Data
Insight 2020). The share of marketplaces channel in
export through e-commerce solutions has risen from 40%
in 2016 (Data Insight 2018) to 69% in 2019 (Data Insight
2019).
4.3. India
There are predictions by the India Brand Equity
Foundation (IBEF) that the Indian e-commerce market
(including all sectors, not only B2C) will reach 84 billion
USD in 2021, 150 billion USD in 2022, and grow to
200 billion USD by 2026. Online retail is to reach
73 billion USD by 2022. It is expected that India will have
the second largest e-commerce market in the world by
2034 (IBEF 2019). India is an e-commerce leader in the
South Asia region. The international estimations of the
fast growing Indian e-commerce market are provided in
Table 7.
The biggest e-commerce platforms in India are:
Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Myntra (merged with Flipkart
in 2014), and Jabong.com.
Flipkart (https://www.flipkart.com/about-us?otracker=
undefined_footer_navlinks) unites more than 100 thousand
sellers, offering over 80 million products through 21
warehouses. One hundred million users are registered
on the platform. To reach the SDGs and contribute to
the social and economic well-being in rural India, Flipkart
works hard to provide the rural population with a wide
range of official jobs (focusing on women participation
in the company’s activities). It also offers options and
programs, such as getting credits and loans or a “pay
later” initiative for the buyers to access the products sold
on the platform. A large amount of activities is dedicated
to raising awareness of MSMEs of more effective
business practices.
Snapdeal (https://www.snapdeal.com/) unites 300 000
sellers, who sell more than 30 million products from over
125 000 brands and retailers. It operates in more than
3 000 cities and towns. The company undertakes many
efforts to bring MSMEs from remote and rural areas to
e-commerce.
The B2B e-commerce platform Udaan (https://udaan.
com/) focuses on building the links between suppliers in
India. It unites 20 000 sellers and 10 million retailers, who
present more than 15 million products on the platform. It
operates in over 80 cities and provides delivery to more
than 500 cities.
In 2016, the Government e-marketplace was launched
for government procurement. By the end of 2019, the
volume of procurement had reached 3.46 billion USD with
the target to grow to 7.15 billion USD by the end of the
2020 financial year. The Memorandum of Understanding,
signed with the Union Bank of India is expected to
contribute to the growth of the platform.

Table 7 Main e-commerce indicators in India

Indicator Volume
Market volume in 2018 22.1 billion USD
Market volume in 20231) 51.2 billion USD
B2C sales in 2019 46 billion USD
Turnover in B2C e-commerce in 20191) 32 billion USD
GDP share in 2019 1.09%
Number of users to purchase online in 2018 42.1 and 47%
and 2019
Places of residence The majority lives in the biggest metropolitan cities (Tier-1, or the cities with over 100
thousand people). However, the larger portion of users comes from Tier-2 (50 to 99.99
thousand people) and Tier-3 (20 to 49.99 thousand people) from the proportion point of
view. For example, 60% of purchases on Snapdeal have been conducted from Tier-2 and
Tier-3 cities in 2019
Main associations E-commerce Association of India;
Retailers Association of India (RAI).
Main governmental strategies Digital India: transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy
and furthering e-commerce development;
National E-commerce Policy, aimed at creating holistic governance of e-commerce.
It covers a wide range of issues, includinge-commerce marketplaces regulation and
development, and for export activities through e-commerce means (under discussion).
1)
Estimated.
Sources: Clement (2018); IBEF (2019); Ecommerce Foundation (2019c); Lipsmane (2019).
 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997 987

The government also allowed for 100% threshold of
foreign direct investments into developing e-commerce
marketplaces in India to boost their development through
better access to investments (IBEF 2019).
There is also a Startup Village Entrepreneurship Program
(SVEP), which aims to attract 182 000 entrepreneurs
in four years, with 53 000 entrepreneurs joining the
program. There are various initiatives to improve
financing in the rural and remote areas, including through
digital means (Johri and Kumar 2019).
4.4. China
China is one of the world leading countries for e-commerce
and the market is still rapidly growing with more and more
regions being involved into the value chains, created with
the help of e-commerce in urban, rural and remote areas
throughout the country. The international e-commerce
market estimations are listed in Table 8.
There are various cases of private initiatives aimed
at e-commerce development in rural and remote areas
in China. We will focus on three of them, conducted by
the most prominent e-commerce players on the market:
Alibaba Group with Taobao villages, Pinduoduo smart
farms, and JD.com initiatives on rural e-commerce
development with its 3F strategy: Factory to Country;
Finance to Country; Farm to Table to name some of them.
Alibaba was one of the first digital platforms in China
that thought of going to the rural and remote areas to
attract local producers and suppliers to its platform
and become an extension of its network. In 2018, it
had 642 million active users (552 million in China and
90 million abroad) and united about 10 million MSMEs
globally.
The most well-known initiative for rural e-commerce
development in China - Taobao villages,2 had only three
villages in the beginning, in 2012. Today the project
involves Taobao towns as well. The total number of
villages and towns grew to 4 310 and 1 118, respectively
in 2019. They formed 95 Taobao Village Clusters, 33
Large Taobao Village Clusters, and 7 Super-large Taobao
Village Clusters across 25 provinces, municipalities, and
autonomous regions. The majority of them are located
in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei,
and Fujian. A total of 400 villages participated in cross-
border e-commerce, making 100 million USD in sales in
one year. The total amount of registered online shops
has reached 2.44 million units, with total sales of more
than 700 billion CNY (almost 50% of rural online retail). It
is expected that the amount of Taobao villages will reach
20 000, and the number of Taobao towns will increase to
5 000 over the next ten years, creating 20 million new jobs
(Ali Research et al. 2019).
The Pinduoduo platform applies another business model.

Table 8 Main e-commerce indicators in China

Indicator Volume
Market volume in 2018 740.4 billion USD
Market volume in 20231) 1 086 billion USD
B2C sales in 2019 1 935 billion USD
Turnover in B2C e-commerce in 20191) 723 billion USD
GDP share in 2019 5.09%
Number of users to purchase online in 2018 56 and 59%
and 20191)
Places of residence Shanghai (almost 50%);
Beijing (about 45%);
Guangdong and Zhejiang (about 35%);
Fujian (20%);
Tianjin (approximately 15%, which was also an average share across the country).
Main associations Internet Society of China;
China Electronic Commerce Association (CECA);
A vast network of regional e-commerce associations, including those focusing on the
development of e-commerce in rural and remote areas.
Main governmental strategies The umbrella initiative, which embraces all ongoing policies and programs, is called
“Digital China”.
1)
Estimated.
Sources: Clement (2018); Ecommerce Foundation (2019b); Lipsmane (2019); Luo (2019).

2
Taobao Village should fit up the criteria: be located in administrative villages in rural areas, have annual sales of 10 million CNY through
e-commerce and have 100 active online stores (or 10% of the local households) in the village.
988 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
They build smart farms in very remote and impoverished
villages in China’s interior territories, providing a complex
of services, starting from consultancy and support in
the implementation of the cutting-edge bio and digital
technologies in agriculture to the marketing and sales of the
harvested and produced products through their platform.
Currently, farms are operating in Yunnan Province. Under
the Memorandum of Understanding between Yunnan
Province government and Pinduoduo, the company
plans to launch 100 Duo Duo Farms in 500 impoverished
villages by 2024. They also plan to introduce 100 unique
agricultural brands to foster sales. It is expected that the
project will enable 5000 local farmers to engage in new
e-commerce business.
To support capacity building, the Duo Duo University
was established to teach farmers the new business
practices, including e-commerce and innovative farming
strategies (the programs are developed in cooperation
with the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
At the moment, the initiative formulates the program,
which is to be implemented across 74 underserved
c o u n t i e s o f Yu n n a n P r o v i n c e , C h i n a . I n 2 0 1 9 ,
Pinduoduo’s agricultural product sales from more than
12 million agricultural producers reached 136.4 billion
CNY. The company helped to foster 86 000 “New
Farmers” in total. The sales of 360 000 farmer-merchants
from the national poverty counties have reached
37.3 billion CNY. The sales of 157 152 farmer-merchants
from the deeply poverty-stricken areas have amounted to
4.8 billion CNY (https://en.pinduoduo.com/responsibility).
JD.com, the largest Chinese retailer (online or offline)
with more than 1 billion consumers in China and more
than 170 000 merchants on its marketplace (2018 data)
provides assistance to rural and remote areas through
various initiatives. JD.com set up a special platform
for selling more than 3 million items by 2018 from rural
areas of China. The platform has reached 20 billion CNY
sales and brought benefits to over 300 000 people from
832 counties, living in the most impoverished conditions.
It also opened 188 local specialty malls to improve lives
in 90% of the poorest counties. It also provided jobs to
25 000 employers from the poorest counties and 60 000
village promoters. It pays particular attention to education.
It launched 103 incubators for young entrepreneurs and
organized more than 630 e-commerce training sessions
for 100 000 people in 28 provinces.
It also pays particular attention to the delivery of
the product’s services. The company reaches 99% of
the population in China through an extensive logistical
network, including the world’s first B2C automated
fulfillment center. To improve the consumer experience
and reach in remote areas, JD.com undertakes other
innovative delivery methods, such as drone delivery (more
than 20 000 hours by 2018).
Through its JD Foundation, the company provides
special support for vulnerable groups of people, including
those living in remote and rural areas. It also cooperates
with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to
make its contribution to the UN SDG achievement (JD.com
2019).
It should be noted that China took a top-down
approach in developing rural e-commerce as a tool to
solve social and economic issues in rural and remote
areas (including the achievement of the goal of poverty
alleviation by 2020) in the framework of the Internet+
initiative (Yu 2019). China has been putting efforts into
e-commerce development through relevant policies at
all levels since 2011: 1) Policy for Supporting the Export
of Cross-Border e-commerce Retails (He and Xu 2018);
2) Working Emphasis on e-commerce; 3) Opinions on
Vigorously Developing the e-commerce and Cultivating
the New Economic Driving Force (State Council 2015b);
4) Action Plan of “Internet+Circulation” (State Council
2016); 5) Guidance on Promoting the Healthy and Rapid
Development of Cross-Border e-commerce (State Council
2015a); 6) Guidance on Actively Promoting the “Internet+”
Action (USITO 2015); 7) Opinions on Promoting the
Interaction between Online and Offline Business, and
on Accelerating the Transformation and Upgrading of
Commercial Circulation (SASS and UNIDO 2018).
4.5. South Africa
South Africa is one of the regional leaders for e-commerce
development in sub-Saharian Africa. The main
e-commerce indicators are presented in Table 9. The
e-commerce market revenue is predicted to reach 4.6
billion USD in 2021 and grow to 6.3 billion USD by 2025
(Statista 2020).
The most popular marketplaces in South Africa
are Gumtree.co.za, Takealot.com, and Amazon.com
(Ecommerce Foundation 2018).
Takealot is the leading e-commerce platform of local
origin. It was established in 2011 and now unites 2 000
employees. Based on the company’s data throughout
these years, the sales had risen from 1 million ZAR in
2012 to 56 million ZAR in 2016. The expectations for
2017 were between 80 million ZAR and 120 million
ZAR. To contribute to social and economic development
(including in remote and rural areas), it has established
the Beautiful Gate South Africa Fund, which manages the
programs dedicated to supporting children and managing
the human immune virus (HIV) clinic.
In 2016, the Ecommerce Forum South Africa (EFSA)
 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
was established to provide a platform for the country’s
key e-commerce market players. Besides that, there is
the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(SACCI), which protects all MSMEs’ interests in general
and helps them establish online-businesses and websites
as part of their programs.
In 1998, one of the first comprehensive initiatives
aimed at inclusive development of all territories in South
Africa - info.com 2025. One of its implementation
directions included establishing TradeNet for international
trade promotion through e-commerce mechanisms
(Detecon International 2013). However, it has not
been implemented in full scale (Audenhove 2003).
Consequently, the Electronic Communications and
Transactions Act (2002) was adopted. It governs the
communications and transactions in South Africa and
pays particular attention to their application by the
MSMEs. There is also a South Africa Connect policy
(2013), aimed at providing support for inclusive growth
in Africa through the universal broadband deployment,
including in rural and remote areas.
4.6. E-commerce development in rural and remote
areas in BRICS countries: Positive trends and the
ways for improvement
Based on the profiles of the BRICS countries provided
above, it is seen that all BRICS countries are now at
a different stage of e-commerce development and its
penetration into each country’s economy. Thus, Brazil
has outstanding experience in e-commerce companies’
expertise in contribution to SDGs and suitable methods
of estimation. China has one of the most advanced and
complex programs for rural e-commerce (both public and
private as they are being implemented in public-private
partnerships). India has the largest potential in the rural
e-commerce development due to the large portion of the
population living there and wide varieties of governmental
Table 9 Main e-commerce indicators in South Africa
Indicator
Market volume in 2015
Market volume in 20211)
B2C sales in 20181)
E-commerce return in 20201)
GDP share in 2019
Number of users to purchase online in 20181)
Main associations
South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI).
Main governmental strategies
1)
Estimated.
Sources: Mikhosi (2017); Ecommerce Foundation (2018); Statista (2020).
989
programs for digitalization. Russia has useful experience
in building digital infrastructure and resilient ecosystems
and successful cases of cross-border cooperation with
the most prominent Chinese companies. South Africa is
one of the regional leaders in e-commerce development
(in sub-Saharan Africa). However, there is room for rural
e-commerce development and research on the topic, as
no relevant research or reports were found in the open
sources.
5. Opportunities brought by e-commerce
in BRICS countries: Food security and
the improvement of life in rural and
remote areas
In its 2019 report (FAO 2019b), FAO has put a strong
emphasis on social and economic policies and
multisectoral policies that could help maintain food
security and nutrition. It recommended that countries
should focus on the following goals: 1) protecting incomes
and purchasing power of the population; 2) reducing
unemployment; 3) health protection and the reduction of
risks related to overspending of the families in case of
diseases; and 4) reduction of food price volatility.
The same research discovered the positive
correlation between countries’ dependence on primary
commodities international supply and food insecurity
(FAO 2019b). Thus, it is in the country’s interest to
build such food supply value chains that would lower its
dependence on international supply and shocks, which
can disturb them.
Based on various research, food security policies
consist of three main aspects: 1) political - or the
possibility of the country to maintain a positive
international image to support the agricultural market
and provide the population with food in accordance
with international quality standards; 2) economic - or
the possibility of the country to mobilize the country’s
Volume
7.5 billion ZAR
18 billion ZAR
3.3 billion USD
3.8 billion USD
0.91%
57%
Ecommerce Forum South Africa (EFSA);
info.com 2025;
South Africa Connect policy (2013).
990 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
internal resources and agricultural potential to produce
agricultural products for supply of the population. This
should guarantee the economic independence of the
country from the external markets; 3) social - or the
population’s involvement in the agricultural sector (Shashlo
and Astrakhantseva 2018).
Prosperity in rural and remote areas is a key factor
of food security. It prevents the overflow of migration
from rural to urban areas and secures enough
human resources for food production; it also prevents
overpopulation of the cities.
E-commerce development in BRICS countries can
positively impact all three aspects of food security and
prosperity of the rural and remote areas. This chapter
outlines the opportunities opening with e-commerce in
rural and remote areas of BRICS countries.
5.1. E-commerce influence on political aspect of
food security
E-commerce may play an important role in improving the
political factors related to food security.
First of all it may strengthen the positive image of
BRICS countries as food (as well as other products)
suppliers in the international arena.
And secondly, it will raise the quality of food sold
through e-commerce channels, as the producers would
need to meet the international standards in order to
promote their products in the regional BRICS and global
supply chains.
5.2. E-commerce influence on social aspect of food
security
E-commerce has huge potential in improving the living
standards of people, living in remote and rural areas,
which is the main social aspect of food security. The main
impacts are presented below.
E-commerce may stimulate job creation and extend
participation of the rural enterprises, including MSMEs in
the global, regional, and national value chains.
For example, based on collected statistics, the number
of people occupied in e-commerce in China has increased
from more than 25 million people in 2014 to more than 45
million people in 2018 (Luo 2019). SLHRRRUC (2019)
counted that 155.8 million direct jobs had been created
by the retail platforms (a total of 40.82 million jobs in 2018
only, including 15.58 million direct jobs (transaction-related
jobs)). The biggest impact was seen in the following
categories of goods production and distribution: clothing,
shoes, hats, textiles; daily commodities; and home
appliances and audio-visual equipment. Retail e-commerce
platforms created 2.84 million and 1.62 million direct jobs,
respectively (totaling 4.09 million) (SLHRRRUC 2019).
Many of those sellers live in Taobao villages, which have
been gaining more popularity over the years.
The research by the World Bank has also discovered
that the average wage of e-commerce technicians in rural
areas (almost 7 000 CNY mon–1) of China was almost twice
as high as the national average wage of an urban private-
sector worker (about 3 500 CNY mon–1). The average
wage for an unskilled worker in e-commerce was also
slightly higher than the latter (almost 4 000 CNY mon–1)
in 2017 (Luo 2019). The same research proved that rural
e-households are richer than traditional ones (based on
the e-households and traditional households income
comparison (e-households earn almost two times more),
and holding of cars statistics in 2017). They are also
more confident about their future compared to traditional
households, based on survey results.
E-commerce also provides wider access to cheaper
goods and services. Through the e-commerce
marketplaces people, living in rural and remote areas may
compare prices for goods and services not only in their
area, but also in other locations. The producers may also
find the supply for cheaper equipment and components,
required for their business activities.
E-commerce encourages educated youth to return
to their hometowns and villages. As a result, it fosters
the development of the rural and remote areas, making
it more sustainable (Luo 2019; Yu 2019) and increases
women economic empowerment in rural and remote
areas (Yu 2019). It is observed that women participate in
e-commerce business equally with men, which is different
for other economic sectors (Luo 2019).
5.3. E-commerce influence on economic aspect of
food security
E-commerce may create more sustainable value chains
for agricultural products within and between the BRICS
countries by using the e-commerce means. Min (2019)
shows in the case of China, the selling price of products
at e-commerce platforms is 43.7% higher then that to
the distributors in the traditional stores. As a result, the
producers may sell their more quality products directly to
consumers and earn more; at the same time the buyers
receive healthier products at lower prices compared to
those in physical stores.
Great potential for MSMEs development in rural and
remote areas is indwelled in B2B e-commerce. Based on
the UNCTAD statistics, the volume of B2B e-commerce
market transactions accounted for 25 516 trillion USD out
of a total of 29 367 trillion USD transactions in e-commerce
 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
in 2017 (UNCTAD 2019), in terms of creating opportunities
for workers it provides even more opportunities for the
households, ready to work with the large supplies or for
the communities of several producers, living in one village
and producing the same product.
Based on some estimations, e-commerce can reduce
the cost of the commodity or service transaction by
90% and lower the direct costs of goods and services
for consumers by 11%. E-commerce also significantly
reduces marketing costs, as the information on goods
and services can be published online, even free of charge
(SASS and UNIDO 2018).
It is also proved that the farmers, producers, and
suppliers benefit from shortened value chains, not
mentioning the possible positive effect of the digital
technologies application in all production and distribution
processes, which goes beyond e-commerce per se and
relates more to digital economy development in general
(Nie 2019).
E-commerce can stimulate the overall improvement of
the postal services and foster public-private cooperation
between national postal services providers and private
e-commerce companies. We see examples of successful
stories in India and Russia.
The Indian Post puts a lot of efforts into improving
its services’ quality and speed to stimulate e-commerce
development in the country’s rural and remote areas and
is committed to playing a significant role in this process.
Four hundred companies, including Amazon and Flipkart,
are already cooperating to deliver products sold through
their platforms. In March 2019, the India Post operated
156 600 post offices with 90.1% (or 141 001 offices)
located in rural and remote areas (The India Post 2020).
At the moment, the India Post implements the Rural ICT
Project (Digital Advancement of Rural Post office for a
New India, DARPAN), aimed and broader application of
ICTs by 130 000 rural offices (by March 2019, 129 080
branches have already gone through the project) (The
India Post 2020). To adapt to the rapid changes driven
by e-commerce, the government also adopted the Parcel
Directorate in 2018 to increase the India Post share in
Courier, Express, and Parcel (CEP) market to 10% by
2024 and expand low-cost services with higher quality
to rural communities. The post’s capacity is planned to
be increased from 2 million parcels per day to 8 million
parcels per day by 2024 (The India Post 2020). To
facilitate and improve delivery services, the India Post has
also introduced its e-commerce portal (IBEF 2019).
In Russia’s case, the Russian Post plays a major role
in delivering e-commerce parcels, especially those coming
from abroad. It operates the absolute majority of orders
both at local and international e-commerce platforms. In
991
2017, it processed 365 million units (both local and cross-
border), while the express-couriers services providers
processed 35 million sent units. The processing time
shortened from 1.5–2 months to 1–2 weeks due to the
opening of new logistical centers in Russia’s multiple
cities (Ruspekh 2018). In 2018, it proceeded 345.3 million
parcels, ordered through cross-border e-commerce (22%
growth to 2017), 16.5 times larger volume compared to
21 million parcels in 2012 (The Russian Post 2019). The
management board confirms that the modernization of
the Russian Post services was spurred by the demands
of the e-commerce market, which has been developing
in double-digits numbers recently. It also manages its
online and offline markets. It provides banking services
for populations to increase access to goods and services
for people, especially those living in remote and rural
areas, and promoting financial inclusion. For them the
Post office often becomes a one-stop shop for several
vital services: communications, including Internet access,
postal, banking and public services. The progress was
also reflected in the PwC rating of the Express Mail
Service (EMS), where the Russian Post used to occupy
114th place in 2012 and raised to 4th place in 2018 after
Singapore, Georgia Bhutan (Ryzhkov 2018). The largest
market players in Russia, for example, Wildberries, Ozon,
Lamoda, KupiVIP, 220 Volt, Citylink, also develop their
own logistical chains. At the same time, KupiVIP also
provides logistics services to other players in the market
and retail services. The same trend is observed in all
BRICS countries.
6. Challenges and risks for e-commerce
The majority of research (Holmberg 2016; San Andres
et al. 2018; SASS and UNIDO 2018, 2019) outlines
the following challenges, relevant to e-commerce and
experienced by all stakeholders living in rural and remote
areas: 1) Limited physical infrastructure (the important
once for e-commerce are electricity, ICT, transportation,
logistics); 2) poor access to goods and services;
3) limited economic opportunities; 4) lack of human
capital; 5) low population densities in the most remote
and rural areas; 6) lack of financial inclusion and
challenges for e-payment; and 7) lack of trust and
e-commerce consumer protection.
These challenges are relevant for BRICS countries as
well. To face these challenges, all BRICS countries have
adopted the applicable policies and regulations as well
as initiated relevant public-private cooperation initiatives.
The list below describes the state of the problem in BRICS
countries and provides the means for BRICS countries to
apply and tackle them.
992 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
6.1. Digital divide
Digital divide is one of the core problems for the rural and
remote areas, where there are cases of no connection
and low-quality connection.
The percentage of people having access to the Internet
in rural and remote areas is even lower than showed in
Table 10. For example, based on FAO (2019a), in China,
the Internet penetration rate in rural areas was less than
30% compared to more than 70% in urban areas. To
bridge the digital divide, BRICS countries implemented
national broadband plans (as was done in Brazil and
South Africa) or the “umbrella” programs (such as Digital
China, Digital India and the Digital Economy of the
Russian Federation 2017–2024) as well as dedicated
initiatives targeting specific groups of population (for
example, the “Internet Saathi” programme by Google
and Tata Trust) such as rural women in India to improve
Internet penetration. The project has benefited over 26
million women and reached 260 000 villages in 20 states
(IBEF 2019).
6.2. Logistics services
While the challenges with logistics vary across BRICS
countries (for example, there is a need to improve post-
delivery in the Indian rural areas; meanwhile the most
challenging issue for China is the last-mile delivery), there
is a general understanding that delivery to the consumers
from the rural and remote areas is more time and money
consuming (ITC and UNIDO 2018). Thus, the BRICS
countries should work on improving logistics, and they are
already doing it. For example, in India and Russia, there
are cases of public-private collaboration in e-commerce
delivery, such as Russian Post collaboration with Alibaba
or Yandex to improve e-commerce services quality in rural
and remote areas. Private companies and e-commerce
platforms are also building their logistical chains; some
examples have been given above.
6.3. Human resources
There is an evidence for the lack of competent human
Table 10 Internet penetration in BRICS countries
Country Percent (%)
Brazil 70.7
Russia 80.9
India 40.9
China 60.1
South Africa 56.2
Source: IWS (2020).
resources (Bi et al. 2019) for e-commerce development in
the rural and remote areas. This is proved by the position
of the BRICS countries in the relevant global rankings
(Table 11).
To fill this gap, all BRICS countries implement policies
and programs to foster talents for the digital economy
and e-commerce and improve the general digital literacy
level of the population. People should be prepared for
the New Age circumstances, which require higher level
of consciousness and new level of skills, which have not
been discovered before.
6.4. Lack of focus
There is a lack of precise attention on digital solutions
popularization for remote and rural areas development
in this sphere’s current programs. The majority of the
programs (both national and international) focus on either
e-commerce or rural developments. However, it would
be useful to build ties between relevant authorities to
combine efforts to raise rural and remote areas’ living
standards and open advanced digital opportunities for
them. Through such cooperation, BRICS countries would
find solutions for the least populated and most remote
areas in the framework of programs aimed at remote and
rural areas development.
6.5. Financial inclusion
Lack of financial inclusion is considered one of the biggest
challenges for inclusion in general and e-commerce
development. Based on the analysis of the financial
inclusion indicators collected by the Global Partnership
for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), which was conducted by
(Bhurat 2019), Russia has the highest level of financial
inclusion among BRICS countries. Meanwhile, India
has the lowest level. To improve financial inclusion and
provide population with e-payment solutions (such as
programs based on Aadhar implementation in India),
Table 11 BRICS countries ranking in the IMD International
Digital Competitiveness Index 2020 (Knowledge component)
and World Talent Ranking 20191)
IMD International Digital IMD World
Country Competitiveness Index Talent Ranking
2020 (Knowledge) 2019
Brazil 57 61
Russia 26 47
India 39 59
China 8 42
South Africa 60 50
1)
IMD, International Institute for Management Development.
Sources: IMD (2019, 2020).
 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
governments in all BRICS countries introduce specific
measures, including rural and remote areas.
6.6. Trust and guarantees
Lack of trust and guarantees for consumer protection
(especially in cross-border e-commerce) does not
let consumers join e-commerce activities (Detercon
International 2013). That is why BRICS countries build
trust and guaranty e-commerce consumer protection (for
example, through the implementation of comprehensive
consumer protection laws in all BRICS countries or the
introduction of e-commerce Internet courts, as it has been
done in China).
6.7. Affordability and accessibility
One of the biggest challenges is the affordability and
accessibility of the digital platform services, such as the
platform holders’ high commissions, which is even more
relevant for enterprises from the rural and remote areas
(SASS and UNIDO 2019). To mitigate this risk, BRICS
countries have developed various programs to lower
down the companies’ cost of participation in e-commerce
(especially for the newly coming organizations).
6.8. Side effects of e-commerce
There are also arising discussions of the side effects of
e-commerce development in rural and remote areas (such
as Tang and Zhu (2020)). The side effects may include
the distortion of the traditional supply chains and the need
to decline suppliers’ prices due to growing competition.
These side effects should be studied more scrupulously
so that BRICS countries could consider them in their
policy development.
7. Conclusion and recommendations for
deeper BRICS cooperation in e-commerce
to reduce poverty and improve the quality
of life in rural and remote areas
Cooperation on e-commerce development in rural and
remote areas in BRICS countries looks a promising
sphere for collaboration of mutual interest. Further
below are the recommendations on the ways to advance
cooperation on this sphere.
7.1. Research, statistics and strategic planning
Research and statistics Currently there is fragmentary
993
data on the rural poverty and e-commerce development
and its impact on poverty in the rural and remote areas.
For example, there are no data available on the rural
poverty gap at national poverty lines for Brazil, China,
and Russia, moreover, for India, data are available only
for the year 2011 (4.6%), and for South Africa, data are
available only for the year of 2005 (52.6%) (World Bank
Open Data; https://data.worldbank.org). Moreover, the
data on the prevalence of severe food insecurity in the
total population in percent and prevalence of moderate
or severe food insecurity in the total population in percent
are not available for Brazil, India, and China.
In this regard, it would be useful to initiate work on the
exchange of statistics.
The first step would be to share the existing public
and private practices in BRICS in statistics collection,
choose the most important indicators and develop a set
of voluntary recommendations for the public and private
stakeholders on how to better collect relevant data for the
analysis.
The common database could be created as a second
step. This would help real-time monitoring of the progress
made for tailoring better policies to respond to the social
and economic challenges in the villages and remote
areas. Based on the consensus, the collected data may
be disseminated among BRICS countries only or shared
with other members of the international community.
Based on the collected statistics, more research
about the impact of e-commerce and digital economy
development on the people well-being could be
conducted, using the common methodology in order to
develop practical BRICS initiatives on raising the living
standards of people living in rural and remote areas in
BRICS countries. Currently, there are only segmentary
research by private companies and associations
available in Brazil, India, and South Africa, with some
wider initiatives in Russia. The only country with more
comprehensive research on e-commerce development
and the raising of the population’s well-being in rural and
remote areas is China.
On the corporate level, BRICS can provide space for
the exchange of best corporate practices. For example,
the research methodology of measuring the socio-
economic impact of e-commerce in Mercado Libre in
Brazil, which considers the companies’ contribution into
the achievement of the SDG (Mercado Libre 2019). The
rich experience of the e-commerce giants from China can
be looked at as well. The private sector could provide
statistics for the database and have an access to it in
return.
Strategic planning To attract more attention to the
994 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
e-commerce development as a mean to reduce poverty
and improve the living standards in rural and remote
areas, the relevant provisions should be included into
the national (such as in Draft National E-Commerce
Strategy of India; https://dipp.gov.in/sites/default/files/
DraftNational_e-commerce_Policy_23February2019.pdf)
and international (in this case BRICS) strategies, aimed
at fighting poverty and maintaining food security, as well
as at the development of the rural and remote areas, and
become a part of the BRICS trade agenda.
Now, some of the strategic documents acknowledge
the positive impact of ICTs and the Internet on sustainable
economic growth and social inclusion facilitation.
However, there is no particular mentioning of the role that
e-commerce can play in raising people’s living standards
and quality of life, who live in rural and remote areas.
To achieve prosperity, raising the living standards of
people living in rural and remote areas, and strengthening
food security, the BRICS countries could consider the
development and implementation of a common strategy
on e-commerce implementation for food security and
the development of the rural and remote areas, aimed
at realizing all opportunities brought by e-commerce and
outlined in Section 3 of this article. The strategic planning
should not only consider the changes circumstances,
but also prepare the population, including those living
in the rural and remote areas, to the circumstances
and the requirements of the societies of a new level of
consciousness.
7.2. The BRICS E-commerce Union
The BRICS E-commerce Union or Association should
be created in order to push forward practical initiatives
on intra-BRICS e-commerce cooperation. A special
focus should be given to the application of e-commerce
mechanisms for increasing the living standards of people,
including those, living in the rural and remote areas.
All proposed initiatives would simplify and facilitate
e-commerce in BRICS countries. It would require
close cooperation of public customs, tax and banking
authorities. Specific attention should be given to the
development of e-commerce in rural and remote areas.
Among possible initiatives of such union:
Customs cooperation Creation of the green corridors
for the fast track movement of B2C and B2B e-commerce
goods through the Customs of all BRICS countries would
smoothen the movements of goods and shorten the
delivery time, one of the main difficulties, especially for
rural e-commerce. It would be also help facilitating the
transfers of perishable cargo.
Postal and delivery services, including national posts,
goods tracking systems and platforms Creation of
the BRICS goods digital tracking system would help
platforms and sellers to fulfil the regulatory requirements
and manage seamless e-commerce with the assistance
of Artificial Intelligence for managing the delivery.
Taxes The conclusion of the BRICS Tax in E-Commerce
Agreement (Rogatnyh et al. 2018) would create a
workable framework for tax circulation within the
BRICS e-commerce ecosystem, based on the BRICS
member consensus. It could set the rules for the VAT
collection, which could be paid on the territory of the
buyer only; income tax, which could be collected upon
the achievement of the agreed thresholds of income by
a company and other conditions. The mechanism for
the automatic counting and the inclusion of the tax into
the product price, as well as the tax transfer to the tax
authorities through the platforms could be developed as
well. It would require national tax authorities information
exchange, which could also work automatically based on
the agreed standards of data exchange.
Payments BRICS countries may create the payment
system or instrument to facilitate payments in national
currencies with the support of the New Development
Bank and complement the ongoing banking initiatives
on the use of national currencies in BRICS trade. The
instrument should be available at the main e-commerce
platforms in BRICS (Rogatnyh et al. 2018).
Electronic documents exchange BRICS develop a
mechanism for smoothing electronic documents exchange
and the electronic signatures’ mutual recognition
(Rogatnyh et al. 2018). In doing this, experience from
the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the European
Union (EU) and the Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)could be taken into account,
among others.
Supply chains development Sharing the MSME’s
best practices of organic agriculture and the value
chain building from rural and remote areas to the urban
areas would be useful for all BRICS countries, as such
practices contribute to economic growth and make it more
sustainable (Yan 2019). The use of digital tools to track
the movements of goods from producers to the consumers
and to automatize all phytosanitary certifications and other
required procedures in this chain would help simplifying
the process and making it seamless.
Online dispute resolution (ODR) Creation of a common
BRICS ODR platform with the participation of the relevant
consumer and business protection authorities and the
interested business members from each BRICS country
would raise the level of trust and corporate responsibility
 Karine HAJI Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(4): 979–997
in e-commerce.
Speaking one language The development of a solution
for the translation of all major e-commerce platforms
content into all BRICS countries would help overcoming
the language barrier.
7.3. Bussiness initiatives for the new product
development and academic cooperation on
education for e-commerce
Telecommunications BRICS main telecom operators
should share experience on bridging the digital divide and
develop the business models for win-win cooperation,
which would include building the full-cycle programme
for ICTs development in rural and remote areas of
BRICS countries with the involvement of equipment,
infrastructure, knowledge and technologies, and services
providers, considering the strengths of each BRICS
country. Special roaming tariffs for connecting all BRICS
countries could be considered as well.
Sharing economy This topic has not been covered
in this article; however, it should be noted that BRICS
countries could also consider cooperation on sharing
economy development for agriculture facilitation (for
example, the solutions for the agricultural equipment
sharing can be developed).
Educational cooperation Educational collaboration
should be strengthened including through international
exchange and short-term school projects) on
e-commerce for the development of rural and remote
areas, such as those being developed for the villagers,
undergraduate students and international students
by Huazhong Agricultural University from Wuhan,
China (Wang and Khan 2019; Zhou 2019) should be
established as well.
Through the implementation of the proposed initiatives,
BRICS countries could bring cross-border e-commerce
cooperation into a new practical level. This way BRICS
countries would also be able to address the common
challenges in e-commerce development and the ICTs
application in rural and remote areas. As a result it would
expand e-commerce and retail markets and create more
opportunities for raising the living standards and ensuring
the prosperity for all in the BRICS region.
E-commerce is not merely the source of business
opportunities and market access, but also a bridge for
digital technologies penetration into the remote and rural
areas. To help bringing people out of poverty, e-commerce
should help creating and strengthening culture of mutual
respect, help, responsibility and honesty, based on the
core human values: truth, righteousness, peace, love and
non-violence.
995
Acknowledgements
The article was written on the basis of the Russian
Foreign Trade Academy assigned research programme.
Declaration of competing interest
The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.
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