China B2C Cross-border E-commerce

In Guangdong, it only takes 10 minutes for a batch of cross-border e-commerce goods to complete the audit process from declaration to release. Business innovations continue one after another. In Shandong, a cross-border e-commerce service center project has been completed to create a new engine for economic growth. In Zhejiang, cross-border e-commerce enterprises have gained robust development while some companies are embarking on their initial public offering. In recent years, new initiatives and new achievements around cross-border e-commerce continue to become a well-deserved focus in foreign trade.

Data show that China has become the world’s largest B2C cross-border e-commerce transaction market. The active exploration of the market, the continued support of the policy, and the epidemic contribute to the promising long-term development of cross-border e-commerce. More blue ocean markets around the world are yet to be explored in the future.

B2C cross-border e-commerce has become an important force to stabilize China’s foreign trade.

The import and export scale of China increased nearly ten times in 5 years. Benefiting from the label “made in China,” the excellent industries are growing rapidly in the cross-border e-commerce export field.

Supplies for epidemic prevention and control, bicycles, small home appliances, electronic products, and toys were selling like hotcakes on cross-border e-commerce platforms since Covid-19 last year.

According to China Customs statistics, in 2020, China’s cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 1.69 trillion yuan. There was an increase of 31.1%, much higher than the national foreign trade growth rate of 1.9% during the same period. Among them, exports reached 1.12 trillion yuan, which has increased 40.1%, while imports reached 0.57 trillion yuan with an increase of 16.5%. As an emerging trade model, cross-border e-commerce during the epidemic soared and has become a significant force in stabilizing foreign trade. Almost all the industries with the label made in China have achieved rapid growth in cross-border exports.

In recent five years, the scale of cross-border e-commerce in China has grown nearly ten times. The rapid growth has allowed China to play a significant role in the world concerning cross-border e-commerce.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, China became the largest economy for B2C cross-border e-commerce exports worldwide in 2018, followed by United States. The two countries generated 45.8% of total global B2C cross-border e-commerce sales in 2018.

Young overseas customers become the main force.

Growing overseas young customers aged 18-35 are the majority. Cell phone screen protectors and smartwatches are selling well in Russia and wig products are popular in the U.S. market

According to data from AliExpress, people aged 18-35 have become the main force among the 150 million overseas buyers of the platform. In 2010, the proportion of overseas buyers in this age group was only 7.22%, and in 2019, the ratio exceeded 50%.

What are the hottest-selling products?

A survey indicated that the best-selling products of global cross-border purchases are clothes, shoes, electronic consumer products, toys, and products for customers’ hobbies. Most of the hot-selling products have high added value and profits like artworks.

Cross-border e-commerce is still an incremental market.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in China have taken advantage of cross-border e-commerce. The market in many countries is still blue oceans, which are yet to explore.

In the traditional mode of foreign trade, multiple parties such as traders, overseas buyers, distributors at all levels, and retailers are involved. Through cross-border retail e-commerce, it is easier for manufacturers to reach foreign customers. The small- and medium-sized enterprises and consumers can get more profits because of the reduction of involved parties. On the other hand, the direct contact between manufacturers and consumers on the e-commerce platform allows inexpensive and quality goods that are made in China to benefit local consumers.

In the future, both cross-border retail for final consumers and B2B (business-to-business) cross-border e-commerce for buyers will show rapid development. With the continuous improvement of global logistics, payment, trade facilitation conditions as well as the acceleration of global digitalization, cross-border e-commerce faces a greater period of development opportunities.