JD cultivating rural customers

"The problem cannot be solved quickly," she said.

It is online retailers' top priority to make sure that consumers, either in lower-tier or large cities, get the same quality services, industry insiders said.

Many e-commerce players already have tried to improve the "weak link".

Alibaba signed an agreement with State-owned China Post Group Corp in June to boost its presence in rural areas. China Post has the most extensive delivery networks in lower-tier cities, especially in villages.

JD is catching up in this sector. At the beginning of the year, it launched a "pioneer station" program to encourage its deliverymen to go to their hometowns and expand delivery networks there.

"A sizable proportion of our 20,000 deliverymen are from lower-tier cities. Encouraging them to go back there to establish delivery stations is a win-win strategy for both them and JD," said Shen of JD, adding that as many as 135 new delivery stations have been built through this program.

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