The purchase of overseas health products through cross-border e-commerce has become the preferred consumption pattern for the young and middle-aged population, as well as a mature retail format of health products. Merger and acquisition of foreign brands has also become the major investment direction of industrial capital. The new policies, which respect consumers’ rights and interests, adapt to market laws, and take into account investment security may make for good governance.

Figures showed cross-border buyer population grew by 82.6% in 2016! As a new motivator, how powerful is cross-border e-commerce?

Cross-border Shopping: Buy, buy, buy!

How Much Driving Forces does Cross-border E-commerce Have?

1. How powerful is cross-border e-commerce?

Transaction volume of cross-border e-commerce in 2012-2016

Cross-border e-commerce  

has maintained continuous progress

these years.

China's cross-border e-commerce transaction reached 3.6 trillion yuan in the first half of 2017, a 30.7% increase from the same period of last year, which means cross-border e-commerce imports and exports will become a new source of growth in China’s foreign trade. Structurally, the export e-commercial enterprises accounted for more than 80% of the total cross-border e-commerce in 2016, while the proportion of import e-commercial enterprises were rising gradually. Cross-border e-commerce import and export transactions reached 1.2 trillion yuan in 2016, making a new record of the transaction volume reaching over 1 trillion yuan.

2. Who makes cross-border online shopping with you?

2013-2016

The number of cross-border online shoppers is expected to reach 59 million in 2017.

Ai Haitao (a fan of cross-border online shopping) is a 28-year-old white-collar worker who lives in a first-tier city of China. Though he’s a man, he loves shopping on foreign websites. “Come on into my bowl!”

1. Which are the leading pilot areas of cross-border e-commerce?

China has become the world’s most active country in terms of cross-border e-commerce.

There have been 13 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones across China (Tianjin, Hefei, Dalain, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Ningbo, Chongqing, Zhengzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu), which explored plenty of experiences.

Performance Report of 13 Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zones

The imports and exports transaction exceeded 100 billion yuan in the first half of this year, more than twice of that from the same period of the last year. Over the past two years, China built more than 400 new third-party platforms and more than 20,000 new cross-border e-commerce import and export enterprises, which helped produce more than two million new jobs.

1. What favorable policies do cross-border e-commerce platforms benefit from?

   Since 2013, the State Council has introduced a series of favorable policies to enhance the clearance efficiency of cross-border e-commerce, promote international cooperation in e-commerce, support the establishment of comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce, and carry out the supervision policy for the transition period.

    

The executive meetings of the State Council made decisions on September 20^th, 2017, to select a number of cities with good basic conditions and great potential for development to build new comprehensive pilot zones and extend the regulatory policy for the transitional period of cross-border e-commerce retail import for one year to the end of 2018.

Data sources: China e-Business Research Centre

Edited by: Zhang Tongtong, Xuan Lingling