Analysis of domestic cross-border online shopping user characteristics and consumption behavior

Age distribution and consumption characteristics

According to the latest research, China’s imported cross-border e-commerce users show obvious age characteristics. The user group aged 26-30 occupies the main position, accounting for 34.2%, followed by the group aged 31-40. Consumers in this age group usually have higher education and a stable source of income, and are the main force in the current cross-border online shopping market. Although users under the age of 19 have low purchasing power, and users over 40 are more inclined to purchase offline, with further economic development in the future, young consumers will become a new force in the cross-border imported goods consumer group.

It is worth noting that the “silver-haired group” (over 60 years old) also constitutes an important purchasing force in cross-border e-commerce. By the end of 2018, the number of people over 65 years old in China had reached 150 million. This group of consumers mainly focuses on their needs in disease management, health and daily necessities, among which health products are particularly popular.

Gender, education and occupation distribution

In terms of gender composition, female users have a slight advantage, accounting for approximately 50.7%, while male users account for 49.3%. Female consumers are more likely to buy clothing, cosmetics and other products, while men prefer digital products, sports equipment, etc.

From an educational perspective, more than 80% of users have a college degree or above, showing that high education has become one of the distinctive features of cross-border online shopping consumers. In terms of occupation, professional groups such as business managers and civil servants constitute the main consumer base for cross-border online shopping.

Geographic distribution

East China, South China, and North China account for the main market share of imported cross-border e-commerce users, accounting for 34.9%, 20.8%, and 15.4% respectively. The number of users in the four first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen is close to 30%. This reflects the larger number of users in wealthy areas, and also shows that the gap between regions is narrowing, and cross-border e-commerce across the country is showing a rapid development trend.

Shopping preference analysis

How to purchase

With the improvement of logistics efficiency and policy support, cross-border e-commerce has gradually replaced the traditional personal purchasing and personal overseas shopping models.

Marketing model

Limited-time discounts have proven to be the most effective marketing strategy to attract consumers, followed by content marketing, daily updates, and influencer/community recommendations.

Product Focus

Guaranteed authenticity, price concessions and product variety diversity are the three aspects that users are most concerned about; while customer service attitude, member discounts, etc. are less concerned.

Different product purchasing motivations

Consumers’ concerns are also different for different types of imported goods: food safety, style design, safety, etc. have become the focus of attention in the fields of food, clothing, shoes and hats, maternal and infant products, etc. respectively.

Evaluation of different models

In the evaluation of the two typical overseas shopping models of Tmall Global and Kaola, the former is recognized for its rich product categories, while the latter is praised for providing reliable guarantee of authenticity. These two platforms represent the platform model and the self-operated model respectively, and both have good performance in their respective fields.