NANJING, China, Feb. 26, 2021 — Suning Group ("Suning"), one of the leading commercial enterprises in China, was given the National Group for Poverty Alleviation Award during the National Poverty Alleviation Commendation Conference held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on February 25. The ceremony recognized both notable individuals and enterprises for their poverty alleviation efforts.
"Representing China’s private enterprises, Suning is honored to play a role in the important fight against poverty," said Zhang Jindong, Chairman of Suning. "We look forward to reaping the results of rural revitalization, together as one country."
In recent years, Suning has leveraged its advantages in corporate resources, channels, platforms, and data, fully engaging in targeted poverty alleviation initiatives and facilitating cooperation between China’s eastern and western regions. As the first Chinese private company to sign a poverty alleviation strategy agreement with the State Council’s Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, Chairman Zhang has spearheaded the establishing of the Jiangsu Private Companies for Targeted Poverty Alleviation Fund.
Suning has also established a dedicated poverty alleviation office with more than 1,000 full-time personnel in order to implement its comprehensive poverty alleviation strategy, rooted in the pillars of reducing consumption, employment, education, and donation-related poverty.
Thus far, Suning has donated more than RMB 2.3 billion to targeted poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, with RMB 850 million going towards special initiatives. At the ceremony, the State Council’s Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development awarded Suning with the National Group for Poverty Alleviation Award, while Chairman Zhang was given the National Poverty Alleviation Contribution Award. Meanwhile, Suning won the China Charity Award, the highest recognition in the field, for the sixth time, after previously winning for other poverty alleviation efforts.
Helping bring China one step closer to poverty eradication
Suning has donated funds and equipment to 388 impoverished counties across more than 20 provinces, including Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Xinjiang, and Shaanxi. The company has built 170 Suning bridges, 160 Suning Dream Centers, 73 Suning school buildings, 20 roads, and countless other public welfare projects. Moreover, its charity football program covers over 300 schools, while its Dream Caravan-Suning project to bring learning to students across the country has already reached 60 schools, carrying out dozens of educational courses.
Suning has also set its sights on activating the rural market by bringing it online. It has opened more than 7,000 retail cloud stores and created channels to help farmers sell their goods via digital product pavilions. Cumulative sales have topped RMB 14 billion, benefiting more than 10,000 poverty-stricken villages and coming to the aid of over 500,000 households.
Meanwhile, the company has also launched 116 poverty alleviation training centers across 111 hard-hit counties, resulting in the employment of more than 6,000 people. The average annual income of trainees has increased from RMB 42,000 to RMB 50,000, while the centers have led to an increase of nearly RMB 400 million in agricultural product sales.
Given the close ties between rural revitalization and targeted poverty alleviation, Suning has launched the 521 Plan for Rural Revitalization, a public welfare strategy for the next decade. The plan seeks to establish 5,000 Suning villages, 2,000 Suning pavilions, and 100,000 Suning retail cloud stores across China’s rural areas.
Suning has also strengthened its effort for a national initiative launched to facilitate poverty alleviation through consumption. The company has established a task force to promote a nationwide month-long pro-consumption campaign and leverage its online and offline channels to boost sales of products from poor areas, with Suning.com also establishing a section to facilitate the national poverty relief program. In total, Suning has helped sell products worth nearly RMB 200 million through all its channels in 2020.
About Suning Group
Founded in 1990, Suning is one of the leading commercial enterprises in China with two public companies in China and Japan. In 2020, Suning Group ranked second in the top 500 non-state owned enterprises in China with annual revenues of RMB 665.259 billion (approximately US $97 billion) and continued to top the list of Internet retailing category. Adhering to the enterprise mission of "Leading the Ecosystem across Industries by Creating Elite Quality of Life for All", Suning has strengthened and expanded its core business as retail through a corporate ecosystem comprising of multiple vertical industries, including commercial real estate, financial services and sports. Suning.com, the main subsidiary pioneering in online and offline retailing, has been listed in the Fortune Global 500 for four successive years from 2017 to 2020.