Implementation Opinions of the Ministry of Commerce on the Integrated Innovation Development of Online and Offline

Implementation Opinions of the Ministry of Commerce on Accelerating the Integrated Innovation Development of Online and Offline Residential Life Services

To the commerce authorities of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities specifically designated in the state plan, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:

To implement the spirit of the "Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting Online and Offline Interaction to Accelerate the Innovation, Development, and Transformation of Commercial Circulation" (Guo Ban Fa [2015] No. 72), promote the extensive application of Internet technology in the field of residential life services, and accelerate the integrated innovation development of online and offline residential life services, the following implementation opinions are hereby proposed:

1. Overall Requirements

(1) Guiding Ideology. Fully implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the second, third, and fourth plenary sessions of the 18th Central Committee. According to the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, accelerate the integrated innovation development of the Internet and residential life services, optimize resource allocation, improve service quality, promote policy innovation, management innovation, and service innovation, create a fair, open, orderly, high-quality, and safe online and offline development environment for residential life services, further stimulate innovation momentum in the residential life service field, and accelerate the transformation and development of the residential life service industry.

(2) Basic Principles. First, adhere to the combination of market leadership and government guidance. Fully leverage the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, and under government guidance and support, better play the main role of enterprises. Second, adhere to the integration of the network economy and the real economy. Taking the promotion of real economic development as the main line, use Internet technology to promote the transformation and upgrading of the residential life service industry, meet the diverse and personalized consumption needs of the public, realize the efficient flow of labor, capital, information, and other resources, and accelerate the transformation of innovation achievements. Third, adhere to the combination of policy implementation and policy innovation. Take multiple measures to optimize public services, improve the local policy system for the online and offline development of residential life services, and increase the integration and innovation of policies. Fourth, adhere to the combination of consumer experience and enterprise transformation. Rebuild enterprise business processes and organizational structures starting from user experience, and build consumer-centered, flexible, and dynamic business models and marketing methods.

(3) Work Objectives. By accelerating the integrated innovation development of online and offline residential life services, form a batch of local life service platforms that effectively meet residential life service demands and have strong professional service capabilities; cultivate a batch of innovative life service enterprises, and from them grow backbone enterprises leading the future development of the residential life service industry, forming new business formats and economic growth points; cultivate a workforce leading the development of the Internet era, capable of providing good user experiences and meeting the diverse and convenient life service needs of the people.

2. Key Tasks

(4) Promote Model Innovation. Encourage residential life service enterprises to innovate business models, adopting group-buying, experiential, home-visit, delivery, and other online-to-offline integrated development models to achieve diversified enterprise development. Integrate various public facilities and social resources, coordinate the construction and renovation of residential life service outlets such as catering, accommodation, housekeeping, laundry, repair, hairdressing, and beauty, and improve one-stop convenient comprehensive service systems. Encourage catering enterprises to achieve online and offline integrated innovative development of services such as takeout, reservation, ordering, semi-finished product delivery, and chef home visits through group-buying, delivery, and home service models. Support accommodation enterprises to rely on outlet advantages, use WeChat, Weibo, client apps, etc., to establish direct sales systems, providing convenient and fast booking services; fully utilize third-party hotel online booking platforms to expand marketing channels; accelerate the construction of homestay short-term rental platforms, develop idle resources, and expand accommodation service supply. Support the deep integration of housekeeping services with the Internet, establish service platforms that gather housekeeping personnel to facilitate consumer service selection; encourage the development of information platforms that gather housekeeping service enterprises, provide technical support to member enterprises, and regulate management; guide various housekeeping and elderly care information platforms to provide online consultation, legal aid, health insurance, medical care, and other services for the elderly. Support laundry, repair, beauty, and hairdressing industries to rely on existing e-commerce platforms or their own service platforms to carry out door-to-door pickup and delivery, home services, and expand marketing channels.

(5) Strengthen Policy Guidance. Local commerce authorities should make good use of the central government's special funds for service industry development to guide innovation in residential life service enterprises. Regions with conditions should establish funds to promote innovation and development in the residential life service industry, supporting the integration of online and offline residential life services. Guide residential life service enterprises to fully leverage multi-level capital markets and obtain financial resources for innovative development through Internet equity crowdfunding and other means. Research and introduce policies and measures around building interactive, cross-industry, and collaborative systems among enterprises and industries. Relying on pilot projects for market-oriented development of elderly care services, actively promote intelligent elderly care consumption. Promote the integration of online and offline catering through pilot projects optimizing the environment to promote catering industry transformation. Local commerce authorities should carry out pilot and demonstration work on the integrated innovation of online and offline residential life services as appropriate.

(6) Remove Institutional Barriers. Local commerce authorities should, according to the principle of statutory authority, review and adjust existing administrative powers, optimize the power operation mechanism, and strengthen supervision during and after the fact. Adhere to problem orientation, prioritize matters closely related to people's lives that are conducive to the transformation and innovation of the residential life service industry, focus on solving prominent social problems such as poor and expensive services, and let the public truly feel the changes brought by the innovative development of the residential life service industry. For institutional barriers beyond the authority of commerce authorities, actively coordinate with relevant departments for resolution.

(7) Regulate Market Order. In accordance with the requirements of the State Council's functional transformation and streamlining administration and delegating power, strengthen supervision of residential life service quality, improve service quality by formulating enterprise standards and association standards. Regulate the online and offline competitive behavior of residential life service enterprises, establish an open, fair, and honest market competition environment, and strengthen personal information protection. Strengthen anti-monopoly monitoring, promptly detect and stop unfair competition behaviors such as monopoly agreements and abuse of market dominance. Improve information sharing and functional coordination mechanisms among departments, mass organizations, and industry organizations to effectively protect consumer interests. Encourage residential life service platforms to improve review and penalty mechanisms, strengthen industry self-discipline through information disclosure.

(8) Improve the Credit System. According to the overall requirements of the "Implementation Opinions of the Ministry of Commerce on Accelerating the Construction of Business Integrity" (Shang Zhi Han [2014] No. 772), accelerate the establishment of an administrative management information sharing mechanism for the residential life service industry, integrate government information resources, and achieve inter-departmental information sharing; establish a market-based comprehensive credit evaluation mechanism for life services to protect consumer rights; establish a third-party credit evaluation mechanism to objectively and fairly reflect credit construction status. Local commerce authorities should guide enterprises to establish credit systems including user information authentication, credit rating evaluation, business process guarantees, and mechanisms to punish the bad and reward the good. Support the construction of third-party consumer review platforms, combat false reviews, hold merchants more accountable, and protect consumer rights.

(9) Carry Out Typical Demonstrations. Local commerce authorities should deeply explore advanced typical cases of innovative development in the residential life service industry, and under the premise of formulating scientific and reasonable evaluation standards and strict selection procedures, recommend a batch of influential, driving, and exemplary typical enterprises to lead the industry in targeted promotion of online and offline integration development. Promote advanced models through on-site experience exchange meetings, news media, and government public information platforms, expand social influence, mobilize social capital to actively participate in the development of the residential life service industry, and form a good social atmosphere supporting the development of residential life services throughout society.

3. Guarantee Measures

(10) Clarify work priorities. Focus on promoting the development of the real economy, advocate networked, digital, and intelligent lifestyles, emphasize the online and offline innovation and transformation of popular catering, accommodation, housekeeping, laundry, repair, and other residential life service formats, and strive to develop home services such as meal ordering, housekeeping, and consultation for the elderly.

(11) Strengthen talent cultivation. Local commerce authorities should enhance talent training and cultivate a group of high-end, urgently needed talents proficient in business management and information technology applications. Promote colleges, training institutions, and industry organizations to offer internet entrepreneurship education courses and cultivate a team of high-quality service personnel that meet industry development requirements.

(14) Leverage the role of associations. Support the construction of industry organizations in the life service sector, especially encourage the development of private industry associations. Encourage industry organizations to build enterprise collaboration platforms based on actual development, formulate association standards, carry out industry self-discipline, strengthen industry research, promote advanced models, and conduct personnel training.

Local commerce authorities should attach great importance to promoting the integrated online and offline innovative development of residential life services, strengthen internet thinking and innovation awareness, enhance coordination with relevant departments, strengthen situation research, improve policy measures, and earnestly implement the work.

Ministry of Commerce

October 19, 2015