E-commerce development in rural and remote areas of BRICS countries

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

1.Introduction

E-commerce and digital economy development transforms every part of humanity and society. It considerably changes 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,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 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 towardse-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.

Table 1 Retail sales and retail e-commerce sales estimations from 2021–2023

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

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

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

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

Fig.1 Internet users vs. population in BRICS countries in 2020 (million people). Source:IWS (2020).

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 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).

Table 5 Main e-commerce indicators in Brazil

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 subregional,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/aboutus/),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,and others. REC also publishes the relevant guidelines and provides consultations to MSMEs interested in applying e-commerce channels for export.

Table 6 Main e-commerce indicators in Russia

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

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,2Taobao 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.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 crossborder 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 Researchet al.2019).

The Pinduoduo platform applies another business model.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.

Table 8 Main e-commerce indicators in China

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 counties of Yunnan Province,China. In 2019,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)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 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 -orthepossibility 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 -orthe possibility of the country to mobilize the country’sinternal 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).

Table 9 Main e-commerce indicators in South Africa

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 privatesector 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 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-commerceper seand 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 2017,it processed 365 million units (both local and crossborder),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 Andreset 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.

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 postdelivery 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 humanresources (Biet 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).

Table 10 Internet penetration in BRICS countries

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),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 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 socioeconomic 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 planningTo attract more attention to the 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 cooperationCreation 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 platformsCreation 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.

TaxesThe conclusion of the BRICS Tax in E-Commerce Agreement (Rogatnyhet 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 (Rogatnyhet al.2018).

Electronic documents exchangeBRICS develop a mechanism for smoothing electronic documents exchange and the electronic signatures’ mutual recognition(Rogatnyhet 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 developmentSharing 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 in e-commerce.

Speaking one languageThe 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

TelecommunicationsBRICS 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 economyThis 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 cooperationEducational 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.

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.