E-commerce is real economy, also benefits the service sector

IS E-COMMERCE PART OF THE REAL ECONOMY? That has long been a question. On Sunday, People's Daily published an article on its front page, saying that the new, real economy is rising. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

Official data show that more than 470 million domestic residents purchased goods online last year. As a result, the total sales revenue of e-commerce exceeded 5 trillion yuan ($724 billion), 26 percent higher than it was in 2015 and accounting for 12.6 percent of the country's total retail sales.

However, the debate has continued about whether e-commerce is part of the real economy. Many people argue that only bricks-and-mortar supermarkets and shops are the real retail economy and they say everything online is virtual.