China’s cross-border e-commerce: model, consumer behavior and market analysis

China’s cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly in recent years, covering a variety of transaction models and a wide range of market demands. From B2B to B2C to the C2C model based on personalized shopping, they have jointly promoted the prosperity of cross-border online shopping.

Classification of trading modes

Based on the transaction model, cross-border e-commerce can be divided into the following types:

1. B2B model: This model is mainly aimed at large transactions between enterprises, follows the traditional trade supervision model, and facilitates customs statistics and supervision.
2. B2C model: used in the retail market, currently accounts for the largest share of cross-border e-commerce business, and has two types: comprehensive and vertical. The comprehensive type is mainly for mass consumption, while the vertical type focuses on specific market segments.
3. C2C model: This model uses personal purchasing agents to connect buyers and sellers through social platforms, including some well-known purchasing agents. Despite offering a unique selection of merchandise, this model faces challenges such as counterfeit goods and high administrative costs.

Cross-border online shopping consumer behavior analysis

Consumer behavior in cross-border online shopping has unique characteristics, including:

• Distribution of shopping time: Similar to daily Internet time, it is concentrated during the day on weekdays, but is active during specific time periods (such as 10:00, 14:00 and 22:00).
• Dependence on platform selection: Consumers often learn about cross-border e-commerce platforms through recommendations from relatives and friends and social media, showing strong social guidance characteristics.
• Diversification of consumer demand: Consumers’ awareness of brand and quality is gradually increasing, especially their demand for cosmetics, maternal and infant products and digital products. This trend reflects young consumers’ preference for personalized and unique merchandise.

Import and export market analysis

China’s cross-border e-commerce is divided into two major markets: import and export, each with unique opportunities:

• Import market: Consumer demand for high-quality overseas goods is increasing, and imported goods cover a wide range of products (such as food, cosmetics and household products, etc.). Government policies such as tariff reductions have also further boosted import growth.
• Export Market: As the world’s largest manufacturing base, China exports a wide variety of goods, and cross-border e-commerce provides local companies with a wider range of overseas market channels, demonstrating strong innovation capabilities. .

Import customs clearance process and policy support

The customs clearance process for imported cross-border e-commerce includes declaration, inspection and tax collection. E-commerce companies need to submit relevant order, payment and logistics information to the customs to ensure that goods can pass customs smoothly. The digitization of customs supervision and policy support have created a good environment for the smooth operation of cross-border e-commerce.

Case analysis and future prospects

• Success Stories focus on brands’ strategies to use social media to enhance user interaction and improve shopping conversion rates. For example, Xiaohongshu achieved a conversion rate of up to 9% through UGC (user-generated content).
• Future trends include the further development of cross-border e-commerce platforms and the rise of service providers, indicating that the industry has the potential for continued growth. In particular, emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and South America are showing good development momentum with policy support.

To sum up, China’s cross-border e-commerce field undoubtedly contains huge market opportunities and development potential, both for consumers and enterprises, and will continue to show diversified and personalized development directions in the future.