The development history and transformation of imported cross-border e-commerce

Import cross-border e-commerce has gone through the exploration stage, the initial stage, the development stage and the mature stage. Before 2007, with the rapid increase in the number of international students, personal purchasing represented by international students emerged. This stage was mainly characterized by the overseas personal purchasing model recommended by acquaintances. The so-called purchasing agent refers to purchasing the required goods from the local area through individuals living abroad and delivering them back to the country through international postal parcels, express delivery, etc.

In 2007, Taobao launched “Global Shopping”. Subsequently, some websites focusing on purchasing agents continued to emerge, and the overseas purchasing agency industry developed and expanded. In particular, the dairy product contamination incident that swept the country in 2008 further stimulated the development of overseas purchasing and transshipment services. After 2010, Chinese consumers purchased goods from foreign websites such as Amazon and eBay in the United States, and the categories of overseas shopping expanded from maternal and infant products to health care products, electronic products, clothing, shoes and hats, cosmetics, luxury goods, etc.

Spurred by various factors, the form of imported cross-border e-commerce is no longer limited to overseas shopping and personal purchasing, and has gradually achieved large-scale and enterprise-oriented development. Traditional domestic e-commerce companies and foreign trade companies have successively poured into the imported cross-border e-commerce market, gradually replacing overseas shopping and personal purchasing and becoming the main force in the imported cross-border e-commerce market.

In September 2010, my country adjusted its management policy for inbound and outbound personal postal items and tightened the market for overseas shopping and purchasing agents. The costs and risks of overseas shopping and purchasing agents increased sharply. Subsequently, my country launched pilot cities for cross-border e-commerce services, and the development of cross-border e-commerce entered the fast lane. Since July 2014, various policies including the General Administration of Customs’ “Announcement on the Supervision of Imported and Exited Goods and Articles in Cross-border Trade E-commerce” and the “Announcement on Adding Customs Supervision Method Codes” have been continuously issued, involving Customs, commodity inspection, logistics, payment and other links have stimulated and standardized the development of imported cross-border e-commerce, putting it on the track of normal development.

2013 is an important transformation year for China’s cross-border e-commerce. The entire industry chain of cross-border e-commerce has seen changes in business models. Since then, in the cross-border e-commerce industry, large factories have come online, Class B buyers have grown in size, the proportion of large and medium-sized orders has increased, large service providers have joined, the cross-border e-commerce platform has stronger carrying capacity, and the entire industry chain services have been realized online change.

2016 is a turning year for China’s cross-border e-commerce. China’s cross-border e-commerce industry has begun to enter a period of consolidation. Although my country’s traditional foreign trade has developed slowly, cross-border e-commerce has maintained a rapid and normal trend. Since 2018, the global cross-border e-commerce industry has continued to develop. iiMedia Consulting data shows that the scale of global cross-border e-commerce transactions increased by 27.5% year-on-year in 2018, and cross-border e-commerce accounted for 25% of the Australian e-commerce market share. Australian online shopping consumers are more likely to buy British and American products across the border. The holding of the China International Import Expo in 2018 and the introduction of related policies have promoted the development of China’s cross-border e-commerce. iiMedia Research data shows that China’s cross-border e-commerce transaction scale will reach 10.3 trillion yuan in 2020, with the number of users exceeding 150 million.

In the more than 20 years since its inception in 1998, domestic cross-border e-commerce has gone through three main stages of development. The first stage (1998-2007): Development from B2B to B2C, giving birth to the overseas shopping purchasing model. The main events and representative products are as follows: In 1998, an independent foreign trade B2C website with oriental characteristics emerged. Representative products: Good Orient, which sells cheongsam, Chinese kung fu suits and shoes, jade, etc. From 2002 to 2003, eBay and Amazon expanded the Chinese market to attract overseas students and overseas Chinese doing business, and Chinese sellers began to gradually increase. Around 2004, online small wholesale websites were launched. Representative product: Dunhuang Net. In 2005, purchasing agents emerged. In 2007, overseas shopping websites were launched, and the C2C model emerged. Representative products: overseas shopping and global shopping.