China Cross-Border eCommerce – 2024 Trends

2024, the landscape of cross-border e-commerce in China is shaping up with some compelling trends that businesses should watch closely. Here’s a streamlined list that focuses on core developments:

1. Douyin as a Primary Marketing Tool

Douyin will continue to dominate as a primary platform for engaging with consumers. Brands will increasingly leverage Douyin not just for advertising, but for direct sales, tapping into its massive user base and integrated e-commerce capabilities.

2. Government Support for E-Commerce

Expect continued support from the Chinese government, send 150billion USD into the ecommerce economy. Which sees cross-border e-commerce as a vital component of international trade. Enhanced policies to facilitate smoother international transactions

China’s 1 Trillion RMB Stimulus Sends JD, Douyin, and Tmall Skyrocketing

3. Digital Currency Implementation

The adoption of digital yuan in cross-border transactions will become more prevalent, offering simpler and more cost-effective ways to manage transactions across borders.

4. Enhanced Logistics and Fulfillment

Investments in logistics and fulfillment infrastructures will grow, aimed at handling the increased volume of cross-border e-commerce. This will lead to quicker delivery times and enhanced customer satisfaction.

5. Mobile Optimization

While focusing on Douyin, businesses will also ensure that their mobile e-commerce experiences are seamless. As mobile shopping continues to grow, optimizing for mobile will remain a top priority.

6. Sustainability and Eco-Friendliness

There will be a greater push towards sustainability in cross-border e-commerce. Businesses will adopt more eco-friendly practices in product packaging and logistics to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers.

7. Brand Expansion

More international brands will use platforms like Tmall Global and JD Worldwide to establish a direct presence in China, leveraging these platforms’ vast reach to tap into the Chinese consumer market.

8. Localization Strategies

Enhanced efforts to localize products and marketing campaigns will be critical. Tailoring offerings to meet the preferences and cultural nuances of Chinese consumers will help international brands better resonate and succeed in this competitive market.

9. Focus on Consumer Experience

Improving the overall consumer experience will be a major focus, from the browsing phase through to post-purchase. Ensuring high customer satisfaction will be paramount in securing repeat business and positive word-of-mouth.

10. Use of Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) will start to play a more significant role in cross-border e-commerce, providing consumers with immersive shopping experiences that can simulate the feel of products more effectively than traditional online shopping.

These trends highlight how dynamic and multifaceted the Chinese cross-border e-commerce landscape is, offering numerous opportunities for growth and innovation in 2024 and beyond.

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At $5.8 Trillion in 2018, China has the second’largest market in the world according to Alizila group (Alibaba)

Trending in China eCommerce

The e-commerce market in China is currently shifting. Chinese consumers are influenced by foreign and South Korean fashion trends, music, and TV-shows (such as dramas) that portray different lifestyles. As the market becomes more and more competitive the Chinese market tends to be more internet savvier by the day in their demands. Foreign products are reported to witness a gradual increase through 2020. A substantial growth reveals that of 2018 E-Commerce, the total value for import E-commerce sales were over 20%. 

China has many cross border e-commerce platforms, the list led by Tmall and Kaola. The 24-34 years old represent 48% of cross-border consumer and are the largest user segment. This segment of online shoppers is highly educated with a high income.

Industries Rapid growth

The new-rich millennials in China are practically chasing exclusive luxury goods. High-quality usually refers to imported goods, which add the luxury touch to an item. The most chased foreign products are:

• Cosmetics & beauty products
• Baby products
• Food & Beverage
• Fashion & Luxury

Fashion & Jewelry

Since January 2019, The Chinese Ministry of Finance introduced new regulations for cross-border purchases. The most relevant ones are:

• The single-transaction amount increased from 2,000 RMB (291 USD) to 5,000 RMB (727 USD)
• The annual amount of cross-border purchases increased from 20,000 RMB (2,909 USD) to 26,000 RMB (3,782 USD) per individual
• 63 new items categories were added to the positive list for CBEC purchases, including sparkling wine, beer, health care products, and fitness equipment.
• The cities included in the CBEC tax-rebate were expanded from 15 to 37 cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.

Food and Beverage

• Due to safety concerns in local F&B products, consumers in China tend to choose foreign products. repeated scandals damage the trust in domestic food and this gives opportunities to foreign products.
• The increase of disposable income has led Chinese consumers to travel abroad, this leads to a desire to consume have a more diversified taste when choosing.
• According to Deloitte China’s cross-border e-commerce retail import penetration rate* increased rapidly from 1.6% in 2014 to 10.2% in 2017

Cosmetic & Beauty

As competition in the global cosmetics market continues to heat up, China presents a range of promising new opportunities. During the past five years, China has been one of the world’s fastest-growing cosmetics markets. According to Euromonitor data, China’s market for cosmetics grew from RMB 24.3 billion in 2014 to over RMB 42.8 billion in 2018. It’s annual growth has steadily built momentum, rising from 9.7% in 2015 to 21.7% in 2018.

Baby products

The Baby Product Manufacturing industry in China produces a range of products, such as baby food, clothing, toys, and skincare products. The industry has grown strongly over the past five years. Industry revenue is expected to increase at an annualized 7.8% over the five years through 2019, to $174.4 billion.

China Social eCommerce

Combining both social media and online shopping, so-called social commerce, is the secret of success of the most popular border eCommerce platforms in the Chinese market. However, there are some obstacles to overcome and opportunities when importing goods to China – from direct shipping to customs clearance in China and from the 2019 CBEC regulation to tax reductions. Therefore, marketplaces have emerged as fulfillers and marketing boosters.

Trends to follow in 2020

1. Livestreaming will become an even more important sales medium.
2. We will see a shift from KOL marketing to KOC marketing.
3. Short-video apps will continue to embrace e-commerce.
4. Recommerce will become the new hit.
5. Group buying will continue to grow as major e-commerce platforms launch their own group-buying functions.
6. Mini programs will supplement shopping platforms for brands.
7. Parcel delivery will continue to get faster.
8. China’s data-based consumer-to-manufacturer (C2M) model will drive e-commerce forward.
9. Vertical e-commerce sites will gain traction.
10. We will see a changing landscape of cross-border e-commerce.

China Cross-border e-commerce platforms have become highly popular among consumers as major channels to buy authentic foreign goods. It is exciting news for foreign businesses as cross-border e-commerce is an efficient way to get a slice of the China retail market without actually setting up an offline store in the country. more content for E-commerce

• Latest trends for brands on China Ecommerce
• Why cross border E-Commerce market is surging

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