An Analysis of the Challenges and Countermeasures for the Development of E-commerce-Driven County-Level Specialty Industry Clusters

Abstract

With the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, county-level specialty industrial clusters empowered by e-commerce have become key vehicles for stimulating endogenous economic momentum at the county level, implementing the strategy of “revitalizing agriculture through digital commerce,” and promoting the revitalization of rural industries. Relying on the unique resource endowments and accumulated traditional industrial foundations of each county, these specialty industrial clusters leverage mainstream e-commerce platforms to integrate resources, aggregate production capacity, and connect with markets, gradually forming a new type of industrial belt driven by online traffic and characterized by regional clustering. At present, most county-level e-commerce industrial belts face structural shortcomings, including insufficient digital coordination across the entire industrial chain, lagging development of regional public brands, a shortage of high-end e-commerce professionals, and relatively high urban-rural logistics fulfillment costs. Drawing on a sample of distinctive county-level e-commerce industrial belts across multiple regions and product categories in China, this paper—based on three foundational theories of industrial clusters, digital empowerment, and collaborative governance—examines four key dimensions—industrial foundation, market entities, factor support, and collaborative mechanisms— systematically examines the current state of development of county-level e-commerce industrial belts, conducts an in-depth analysis of their practical challenges and underlying causes, and—drawing on authoritative industry survey data and typical county-level case studies—attempts to construct a set of optimization pathways for high-quality industrial development suitable for comprehensive implementation across all regions. These include improving the standard and brand system; establishing a local talent system; optimizing multidimensional factor support; and building a tripartite collaborative ecosystem to enhance the governance system.