How an army of postmen is turning China's rural stores into the world's largest retail network

© Waihs china post

A fascinating article from Wired, looking at how rural China has embraced the digital retail age. Tiny shops effectively have the ability to become a Wal-Mart – by using an e-commerce system, “virtual” SKUs and next-day delivery from China Post. Many shops have been transformed by Ule, an e-commerce platform, which gives transparent trading data, helping shops understand who their customers are and what they want – and so what to stock. It’s a long article, but if you want to understand how technology is changing local retail, rather than just watching the Amazons of this world, it’s very informative.