Cross-border e-commerce development status and new trends in my country

Overview of the development of cross-border e-commerce in my country

In recent years, the scale of cross-border e-commerce transactions in my country has continued to expand . According to customs statistics, my country's cross-border e-commerce import and export transaction volume has increased from 90.24 billion yuan in 2017 to 1.980 billion yuan in 2021. Judging from the latest data, my country's cross-border e-commerce will still maintain steady and rapid growth in 2022. According to customs statistics, my country's cross-border e-commerce import and export transaction volume increased by 0.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022, and increased by 28.6% year-on-year in the first half of 2022. At present, my country's cross-border e-commerce has transitioned from rapid growth to a mature development stage and has good development resilience.

The regional pattern of cross-border e-commerce is strong in the east and weak in the west. First, the eastern coastal region is in a leading position in terms of scale. In recent years, the top five provinces and cities in my country's cross-border e-commerce retail import and export volume have mostly been in the eastern coastal areas, with Guangdong Province far exceeding other regions. Second, the growth rate of cross-border e-commerce development in the central and western regions leads the country. As can be seen from Table 2, in recent years, most of the top five provinces and cities in my country’s cross-border e-commerce retail import and export growth rates belong to the central and western regions.

The cross-border e-commerce industry ecology continues to be optimized. First, the basic services of cross-border e-commerce logistics are constantly improving. According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, the number of my country's overseas warehouses has increased from more than 1,000 in 2019 to more than 2,000 in 2021, with a total area of ??more than 16 million square meters. Its business scope radiates around the world, 90% of which are distributed in North America, Europe, and Asian markets. Some leading companies have built advanced information management systems that can connect customers, products, warehousing and distribution information in real time. They have also innovatively developed high-quality after-sales, supply chain finance, compliance consulting, marketing and promotion and other value-added services. Second, cross-border e-commerce financial services have shifted from foreign exchange collection and settlement to the entire chain. By cooperating with cross-border e-commerce platforms, Chinese banks provide domestic cross-border e-commerce operators with one-stop full-cycle services such as identity authentication, store authorization, overseas collection, regulatory declaration, registration, domestic foreign exchange collection and settlement, and domestic fund transfer. Financial Resolution Services. my country's third-party cross-border collection services extend to tax refund management, claims services, cross-border receipts, VAT payments, cross-border logistics and other fields. Third, digital RMB has begun to be applied to cross-border e-commerce. Through the joint collaboration between banks and cross-border e-commerce import companies, in May 2021, digital renminbi was applied to the cross-border e-commerce import payment scenario for the first time in Hainan and was successfully implemented, realizing a closed loop of settlement from consumers to platforms , making the cross-border e-commerce payment process more economical and secure. In addition, there are currently more than 2,000 comprehensive foreign trade service companies, further enriching the ecology of my country's cross-border e-commerce industry.

New models and new business formats such as cross-border e-commerce independent stations and live broadcasts are booming. First, since the wave of Amazon account bans, my country’s cross-border e-commerce independent stations have developed rapidly. According to iiMedia estimates, the number of independent stations established by Chinese companies overseas has reached 200,000 in 2021, and the share of independent stations has increased from 9.8% in 2016 to 20.3% in 2020. From a global perspective, McKinsey predicts that in the next five years, the compound annual growth rate of global retail e-commerce sales will exceed 8.1%, of which the market share of independent websites will reach 40%. In the future, independent websites will become an important channel for my country’s cross-border e-commerce brands to go overseas. Second, in the context of the global epidemic, my country's cross-border e-commerce live broadcast format has developed rapidly. 2022 is known as the first year of my country’s cross-border live broadcast e-commerce. According to iiMedia’s calculations, the scale of my country’s cross-border live broadcast e-commerce will reach 36 billion yuan in 2021, and is expected to reach 111.6 billion yuan in 2022. At present, cross-border live broadcast e-commerce has become an important way for major domestic platforms to develop cross-border e-commerce.

New trends in the development of cross-border e-commerce in my country

First, the branding of export commodities. On the one hand, currently, my country's cross-border e-commerce has officially entered the second half, a stage characterized by "new markets, new traffic, new R&D, and new channels" and with domestically powerful brands as the main force. According to estimates by Ebrun Dynamics, the number of Chinese overseas brands with cross-border e-commerce retail sales exceeding US$10 million in 2022 may exceed 2,277, of which more than 230 are leading brands with sales exceeding US$50 million. At the same time, the current global traffic structure has shifted from media to video-based, and from search-based to recommendation-based, which has also provided new impetus for Chinese brands to go overseas. On the other hand, my country's cross-border e-commerce independent stations will develop from the station group model to the DTC brand model. The era of cross-border e-commerce "making quick money" is over. In the future, my country's cross-border e-commerce exports will accelerate the development of branding.

The second is greening the entire link. At the policy level, the state encourages cross-border e-commerce companies to develop green and contribute to carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. The "14th Five-Year Plan for High-Quality Foreign Trade Development" clearly states that we should build a green trade system, explore the establishment of a full-life cycle carbon footprint tracking system for foreign trade products, encourage and guide foreign trade companies to promote the green transformation of products throughout their life cycles, and promote the foreign trade industry. Chain supply chain green development. At the enterprise level, domestic mainstream e-commerce platforms, under the dual guidance of policies and markets, have optimized their logistics supply chains and reduced packaging consumables through digital methods. As domestic e-commerce platforms continue to explore green development, cross-border e-commerce will also copy relevant experience in aspects such as packaging and logistics supply chain management to create green development throughout the chain.

The third is category servitization.

On the one hand, the deepening reform in my country's service trade field has injected new impetus into the development of cross-border e-commerce service products. According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, the pilot program for comprehensively deepening the innovative development of trade in services will be steadily advanced in 2021. 110 of 122 specific measures have been implemented, with an implementation rate of over 90%. International cooperation in trade in services continues to deepen. On the other hand, the rapid development of digital technology has created a large number of demands for digital services. For example, online provision and online consumption of audio-visual, medical, education, sports, etc. have increased significantly. According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, the areas with rapid growth in service trade exports in 2021 are personal culture and entertainment services, intellectual property royalties, telecommunications computers and information services, with increases of 35%, 26.9% and 22.3% respectively. In the future, the number of service products in my country's cross-border e-commerce import and export categories will continue to increase.

Fourth is the intelligentization and facilitation of the entire process. On the one hand, with the deep integration of new generation information technologies such as big data, cloud computing, blockchain, and artificial intelligence into various fields, in the future, cross-border e-commerce will play an important role in product research and development, scientific stocking, warehousing and distribution, marketing and promotion, and customer service and after-sales service. Each link forms the intelligence of the whole process. On the other hand, in recent years, my country and its 23 “Silk Road E-commerce” partner countries have actively promoted the convergence of standards in customs, taxation, transportation, capital settlement and other fields, which will further enhance the facilitation level of cross-border e-commerce. In addition, with the entry into force of RCEP, the convenience of e-commerce in the Asia-Pacific region will also be greatly improved in areas such as electronic documents, electronic certification, electronic signatures, customs, information transmission, and origin.

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