China's e-commerce platforms quicken pace to expand global footprints

Photo taken on Aug. 19, 2021 shows the cross-border e-commerce exhibition area of the fifth China-Arab States Expo in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Feng Kaihua)

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- With Pinduoduo's cross-border e-commerce business marching into Australia, ByteDance's cross-border e-commerce business entering Southeast Asia, and so on, China's e-commerce giants are accelerating their expansion into the international market.

Industry insiders pointed out that as a new mode of foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce is playing an increasingly important role in helping foreign trade to maintain stability and improve quality.

-- E-commerce's overseas territory expands

With the rapid development of the cross-border e-commerce industry, Chinese e-commerce platforms are accelerating their expansion into overseas markets, continuously extending their global footprints.

In September last year, Pinduoduo launched its cross-border e-commerce platform TEMU in North America. In March this year, TEMU officially entered Australia and New Zealand. TEMU has achieved full coverage of domestic manufacturing categories, and has promoted tens of thousands of manufacturing enterprises in apparel, digital, home appliances, bags, outdoor, accessories, toys, stationery, etc., to successfully go global, according to the person in charge at Pinduoduo.

TikTok Shop, the e-commerce platform of ByteDance, recently announced that it will officially launch its shopping mall function in Thailand, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.

Alibaba's cross-border e-commerce platform AliExpress launched a new service Choice in the Republic of Korea (ROK) this year, and has become one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in the ROK. It is learned that AliExpress has already covered more than 220 countries and regions around the world, with 18 language versions.

While the e-commerce platforms keep expanding their overseas territories, their service capabilities are also constantly improving. 

In order to help cross-border merchants, small and medium-sized enterprises solve the biggest pain point in cross-border retailing - logistics, AliExpress has joined hands with Cainiao to build 28 overseas warehouses in nine countries and regions overseas, with a total area of more than 860,000 square meters, said the relevant person in charge at Alibaba.

TEMU will provide integrated solutions for enterprises that plan to enter overseas markets, regarding language and culture, product standards, intellectual property services, legal assistance and trade arbitration, said the person in charge at Pinduoduo.

Zhong Zeyu, vice president and secretary general of the China Association of Trade in Services (CATIS), pointed out that cross-border e-commerce, with its outstanding features of online marketing, cloud transactions, and contactless delivery, has prominent competitive advantages. Currently, China ranks first in the world in cross-border e-commerce market size, innovation activity, digital application and other measurement indicators, and possesses strong international competitiveness.

-- E-commerce propels China's foreign trade

Many enterprises have indicated that cross-border e-commerce platforms have become an important way for them to acquire orders.

Zhao Yunqi, general manager of Hefei Sunway Solar Energy Tech Co., Ltd., said that during the Chinese New Year period, the company's salespeople received orders online without stopping, with more than 3 million U.S. dollars worth of orders received during that time.

Yu Hongxiao, the sales manager of Rhino Heavy Industries, also noted that the company has received orders for 1,700 mini excavators since January, an increase of 30-40 percent compared to the same period last year. 

The new business mode of cross-border e-commerce has promoted the digital transformation of foreign trade enterprises. 

The production line of Hangzhou Lameda Sports Co., Ltd. is urgently recruiting "customizers", said Jin Feiyan, CEO of the company, adding that the company often receives demand for customized team uniforms from cycling teams on cross-border e-commerce platforms. Although the demand is diverse, the profit is much higher than traditional bulk orders, which is a new profitable growth point.

The cross-border e-commerce industry has also sparked the trend of cross-border live-streaming hosts.

Luo Chang, the general manager of Shenzhen Soten Technology Co., Ltd., pointed out that currently, the foreign trade industry has an urgent demand for overseas new media operators. The company recently established a new media operations team for cross-border e-commerce and are preparing to recruit 20 to 30 people. 

-- Industry shortcomings remain to be addressed

Industry experts point out that China's cross-border e-commerce industry is in a period of rapid development, but there are still shortcomings in talent and digital infrastructure. They suggest taking multiple measures to accelerate the improvement of related construction and make up for the shortcomings.

Zhong pointed out that the shortage of professional talents has become a hindrance to the development of China's cross-border e-commerce industry. According to a survey conducted by the CATIS, team talent issues account for 65.35 percent of the main factors causing business development pressure, which is far higher than the market competition and supply chain factors.

Zhong suggested that more efforts should be made to promote the formulation of professional standards for cross-border e-commerce and explore new mechanisms for integrated industry-education collaboration to jointly cultivate talents.

Jiang Haoran, chairman of Cashway Fintech Co., Ltd., said that China's cross-border e-commerce industry is facing shortcomings such as insufficient international discourse power and insufficient investment in digital infrastructure. It is suggested to promote the construction of a modern logistics network operating system, and build a global logistics and transportation network mainly based on overseas warehouses and trunk transportation in key countries and regions, promoting the deep integration of digital technology and overseas infrastructure and further reducing the logistics cost of cross-border e-commerce.