China's cross-border imported e-commerce into the "upgrading and development period"

Data released by the Ministry of Commerce shows that the scale of China's cross-border e-commerce trade has increased more than 10 times compared with five years ago, and the number of cross-border e-commerce subjects has exceeded 120,000.

From 2018 to 2023, the scale of China's cross-border imported e-commerce has increased from 444.1 billion yuan to 548.3 billion yuan; from 2017 to 2023, the number of people using China's cross-border imported e-commerce has climbed year by year at a growth rate of nearly 20%, and the number of people has increased by three times cumulatively in the past seven years, and reached 188 million people in 2023. Recently, Nielsen IQ and JD International released the "2024 China Cross-border Import Consumption Trend White Paper", which shows that with the accelerated integration and concentration of cross-border e-commerce platforms, as well as the direct participation of more brands in cross-border trade through cross-border e-commerce, the cross-border ecosystem has been formed, and China's cross-border imported e-commerce industry has entered the "upgrading and development period". China's cross-border import e-commerce industry has entered an "upgrading development period".

Supply covers all categories

Consumption Frequency and Amount are Rising

As the scale of China's cross-border imported e-commerce continues to expand, the number of users is rising year by year, and consumers' trust in cross-border e-commerce platforms is gradually increasing, the frequency and amount of consumption is also getting higher, and the shopping categories are more diversified. During the "618" period this year, imported goods are still an important part of many consumers' shopping carts.

Behind the strong demand for purchase is a rich supply of goods. Compared with the early years of Amoy shopping is limited to milk powder, beauty and other individual categories, cross-border e-commerce has been expanded to the full range of supply. The increasingly diversified category pattern also provides overseas brands and merchants with the confidence and opportunity to explore the Chinese market.

"During this year's '618' period, Tmall uploaded 342 new imported brands, which performed well." The person in charge of Tmall Global told reporters that imported cosmetics, health care products and other imported mainstream trend brands have also made sufficient preparations for "618"; Thai merchants Mistine stocked more than 1.9 million pieces of goods this year, of which 1.2 million are imported new products; Belgian health care brand WHC has prepared more than 650,000 pieces of high-purity Fish oil. Data released by JD International shows that during this year's "618", the turnover of more than 400 overseas brands increased by more than three times year-on-year, and orders from the United States, Japan, Australia, France and New Zealand ranked among the top five products.

In the process of cross-border e-commerce "buy global", consumers have long been keen on imported goods in their daily lives. The white paper research shows that in the past year, 36% of consumers' consumption of imported goods rose year-on-year, and 35% of consumers increased the types of imported goods they bought. Although consumer demand for imported products is becoming more and more diversified and refined, in different scenarios, when choosing different commodities will have differentiated focus on consumption, but the quality of the product is still the primary factor for consumers to choose to buy imported goods. 56% of the consumers said that the purchase of imported goods is more important to the quality of the product of the international brand and the origin of the product overseas.

All parties to promote business opportunities

"Landing" in the Chinese market is more efficient

From the 1990s to the personal purchasing model of the germ of the exploration period, to the 2000-2015 purchasing traders B2B model of the rapid expansion period, and then to the 2015-2020 cross-border e-commerce platform B2C model of high-speed development of the model adjustment period, China's cross-border imported e-commerce industry has entered the "upgrading and development period". "upgrading and development period". Under the influence of factors such as continued favorable policies, more and more perfect infrastructure, continuous enrichment of supply, and diversified segmentation of demand, the threshold for Chinese consumers to buy global commodities has been substantially lowered, and various types of platforms have been further integrated and centralized.

This also brings huge opportunities for overseas brand merchants. "How to let Chinese consumers see and recognize the products, let consumers in need know where to buy, and how to put forward more 'pit-avoidance' suggestions for consumers" are the key pains encountered by New Zealand's mid-to-high-end nutritional brand Athletic Greens (AG) when it key pain point encountered when entering the Chinese market. After several explorations, the e-commerce platform became their breakthrough.

Li Wei Zhou, head of AG, said that the company has entered the Shake Ecommerce, an ecological platform that not only has good operation and marketing tools, but also opens up new horizons for the company by enhancing consumers' purchasing desires through content "planting grass". According to the data, in 2023, AG realized a 10-fold increase in monthly GMV.

The white paper proposes that China's cross-border e-commerce platforms can provide diverse and rich service modes for overseas brands, and through the "three-step" strategy of low-cost water testing, brand mind building and brand scale expansion, overseas brand merchants can easily realize efficient landing in the Chinese market. Among them, in the low-cost water-testing stage, through overseas direct mail, authorization of cross-border e-commerce platforms, such as self-supporting channels, overseas brand merchants relying on China's bonded warehouses to carry out low-cost water-testing and the introduction of new products to take the lead in the establishment of brand awareness; in the stage of brand mind building, through the opening of their own stores, and efficient interaction with the user, to achieve the brand sedimentation; into the stage of expanding the scale of the brand, through the development of general trade e-commerce, off-line Distribution and other modes to expand the channel contacts, and then do large-scale.

It is understood that during the "618" period this year, Vipshop will layout in advance. Vipshop Suzhou Amoy operation center customs department manager Liu introduced, the company from the beginning of May began to actively prepare for the goods, from overseas procurement of a number of more popular beauty, skin care, toiletries and other products. "Consumers demand high timeliness for cross-border e-commerce, even if it is a 'pop-up', it depends on who runs ahead. We keep a close eye on fist categories such as beauty and skin care, hoping to seize the lead in the fierce market competition."

JD International relevant person in charge of the introduction, in order to help overseas brands efficiently "landing" in the Chinese market, JD International not only for the overseas brand merchants to provide a self-management and platform for two modes of cooperation, but also relying on a solid supply chain foundation, to help overseas brand merchants to provide quality services for Chinese consumers.

It is reported that at present, JD has and manages more than 120 bonded warehouses, direct mail warehouses, overseas warehouses and other infrastructure projects around the world, and the average fulfillment time for related imported goods in key cities across the country has been raised to less than 48 hours. During the "618" period this year, more than 85% of the JD international self-owned explosive commodities to support 211 next day delivery.

It is foreseeable that, with the continued development of China's cross-border e-commerce market, the industry concentration is further enhanced, the future cross-border import e-commerce platform will help more overseas brand merchants to build an efficient communication "bridge" with Chinese consumers, and bring more consumers a richer variety of overseas "novelties "and more convenient cross-border shopping experience for more consumers.

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