34 BEIJING REVIEW MARCH 12, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com
BUSINESS
F
or the Chinese people still confined to
their homes due to the novel coronavirus
epidemic, working and studying from
home and visiting museums online, which were
not popular till a couple of months ago, have
become common practices. Although the epi-
demic has forced many industries to shut down
temporarily, the rising demand for services
based on the Internet and new technologies is
pushing China toward a smarter society.
Since the demand for online services has
surged, emerging online platforms have rushed
to expand the consumer base. Fresh food deliv-
ery, remote work, online education and medical
services, as well as games and videos have
witnessed unprecedented growth. Facing great
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ing to online platforms and new technologies to
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stores and even car and property sellers have
adopted virtual reality (VR) technologies and
livestreaming to boost sales, which has created
new business modes.
As Zuo Kairui, a senior engineer with
the China Academy of Information and
Communications Technology, suggests, digi-
talization has gained more importance and is
applied in more areas during the epidemic pre-
vention and control.
“Since new technologies such as 5G, cloud
computing and the Internet of Things have
been applied more widely, China’s digital and
real economy can be further integrated to drive
social and economic growth,” he told Beijing
Review.Embracing opportunities
Although the epidemic has had a huge
impact on the service, manufacturing and
trade sectors, especially consumer industries
such as tourism, catering and entertainment,
it has benefited industries such as e-com-merce, online entertainment and games,
as well as medical services, according to a
report published by the Shanghai Institutes
for International Studies.
Since many people have continued
online shopping, e-commerce platforms,
especially those for food delivery have
remained busy. UU Runner, a delivery ser-
vice platform, told Dahe.cn that consumer
demand for cooked food, foodstuff and
medical products such as masks has greatly
increased. According to Pinduoduo, a social
e-commerce giant, sales of home-use prod-
ucts such as pajamas, cookers, cosmetics,
stationery and indoor exercise equipment
have also enjoyed a burst of growth.
Besides shopping online, many people
spend time playing games, watching vid-
eos and livestreaming at home. Data from
China’s tech giant Tencent shows that
Honor of Kings, one of its video games,
witnessed transactions of around 2 billion
yuan ($285 million) by players on January
24, the Chinese New Year’s Eve, up from 1.3
billion yuan ($185 million) on the same day
last year.
Providers of remote services such as
remote work, online education and online
medical consultations have also received a
massive boost due to surging demand. As
health inquiries have skyrocketed during the
epidemic outbreak, Internet-based medical
enterprises such as Ali Health of Internet
giant Alibaba and WeDoctor backed by
Tencent have taken center stage, providing
free online consultations and livestreams by
experts and medicine delivery services to
reduce the need for travel by buyers.
According to Ali Health, it received nearly
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its free consultation service was launched
online on January 24. Data from WeDoctor
shows that its free consultation platform had
over 86.89 million visits from January 23 to
February 5, with 18,776 physicians offering
medical consultation services to 986,100
visitors.
“During the epidemic control, many
hospitals have tried online consultation
platforms which help ease the pressure of
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a healthcare analyst at Beijing-based market
consultancy Analysys, told China.org.cn,
stressing that telemedicine will become
more widely used in the next two or three
years, especially in regions where medical
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The scale of China’s telemedicine market
stood at 13 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) in 2018
and is expected to grow at a compound an-
nual rate of 27.63 percent in the next five
years. The market is expected to reach 34.5
billion yuan ($4.9 billion) in 2022, accordingA Silver Lining
Soaring demand for online services amid epidemic
creates new business opportunities
By Li Xiaoyang
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in an orchard to promote oranges for local farmers on February 23
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