Under-platformization: platform literacy and the interplay between multiple actors in developing rural e-commerce in Central and Western China

Abstract

Abstract Rural e-commerce in China’s central and western regions is often framed as a scalable pathway to rural revitalization. Yet, platformization may also stall, even when there is already a profitable rural industry. Drawing on interviews, fieldwork, and local archives, we examine the Bai silver handicraft cluster in Xinhua Village, Yunnan Province, which despite being a nationally recognized Taobao village, still exhibits under-platformization. We develop a multi-actor framework of platform literacy to explain how platform firms, local governments, aspiring rural e-commerce sellers, and incumbent business elites encounter distinct literacy gaps and misaligned incentives. For high-value craft sectors, category rules, quality verification, and dispute resolution raise market thresholds, while shifting platform rules and uneven local coordination weaken the provision and diffusion of platform know-how. The findings show that under-platformization reflects failures to institutionalize and spread platform literacy across the industry ecosystem, rather than simple technology resistance or a training deficit. These findings offer sector- and governance-sensitive implications for rural digital development.