Accelerating the Development of Cross border E-commerce in China: Digital Trade Becomes a New Engine for Foreign Trade Growth

In recent years, the development of cross-border business on e-commerce platforms in China has accelerated, and related infrastructure has been continuously improved, becoming a new driving force for foreign trade growth.

In November of this year, Alibaba International's foreign trade AI product "Business Assistant" was officially launched. The 'Business Assistant' has functions such as intelligent product distribution and reception, and can quickly and intelligently provide practical suggestions based on foreign trade scenarios. For example, when the 'Business Assistant' generates a product image for an outdoor energy storage battery, it automatically matches it with a practical camping scene. In the past, foreign trade merchants need to take photos of such products in the wild, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and may not necessarily achieve the same effect. "The person in charge of Alibaba International Station said.

Temu, a cross-border e-commerce platform under Pinduoduo, has launched a "full custody" model. Merchants will send selected goods to Temu's domestic warehouse, and the platform is responsible for subsequent operations - logistics - warehouse allocation - customer service - after-sales service. Duoduo Cross border provides one-stop services for merchants, including website drainage, cross-border logistics, intellectual property, etc. Manufacturing factories only need to focus on production and quality control, "said the person in charge of Pinduoduo.

The infrastructure related to cross-border e-commerce is also constantly improving. Recently, JD Logistics and Geopost, an international express delivery company under French Post, officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement to deepen cooperation in the international supply chain field. In the next twenty years, JD's supply chain services will basically achieve global coverage and establish supply chain infrastructure in economies that account for 80% of the global economy, "said Xu Ran, CEO of JD Group.

The diversified development of cross-border business for Chinese e-commerce enterprises has accelerated the development of new forms of cross-border e-commerce. According to Wang Shouwen, the representative and deputy minister of international trade negotiations at the Ministry of Commerce, the proportion of cross-border e-commerce in China's import and export of goods has increased from 1% in 2015 to 5% in 2022. From January to September this year, the import and export volume of cross-border e-commerce reached 1.7 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.4%, accounting for 5.5% of the import and export proportion of goods trade during the same period.

The new format of cross-border e-commerce has become an important channel for some foreign trade enterprises to obtain orders. Luo Chang, the founder of Shenzhen Shuoteng Technology Co., Ltd., pointed out that cross-border e-commerce and cross-border live streaming have become important ways for small and medium-sized enterprises to obtain orders and "go global". Through cross-border live streaming, customers and enterprises can intuitively see the production capacity of the enterprise, thereby generating trust and quickly placing orders

Digital Trade Becomes a New Engine for Foreign Trade Development

Interviewed experts and enterprises pointed out that the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce has provided a new commercial infrastructure for "overseas" enterprises. Digital trade, represented by cross-border e-commerce, is becoming an important force for the high-quality development of China's foreign trade.

China's cross-border e-commerce has enormous growth potential and is increasingly becoming a new driving force for foreign trade growth and economic development, "said Zhu Keli, executive director of the China Information Association and founding director of the National Research Institute of New Economy. With the construction of new digital infrastructure and the iteration of information technology, e-commerce platforms and logistics systems have become quite mature and can provide efficient and convenient cross-border e-commerce services, providing consumers with a better shopping experience.

Under the promotion of new technologies, the procurement habits of overseas enterprises are rapidly shifting to online, and digital foreign trade has become a must-have and irreversible trend in global trade, "said Qin Fen, the industry and merchant business manager of Alibaba International Station.

Cross border e-commerce has become an important new force in foreign trade, "said Huang Xianhai, Vice President of Zhejiang University. Digital trade is a new highlight of global trade growth, a new driving force for China's trade growth, and a new engine for a strong trade country.

Assistant Minister of Commerce Chen Chunjiang pointed out that digital trade is becoming an important force for China to promote high-quality development of foreign trade. The Ministry of Commerce will establish and improve promotion policies, actively participate in the formulation of international rules and standards, promote the open and innovative development of digital trade, and create a new engine for building a strong trading country.

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