From June 16 to 18, 2026, the 2026 China (Guangzhou) Cross-border E-commerce Fair (hereinafter referred to as the “Cross-Border Fair”) was grandly held in Guangzhou.
At this cross-trade fair, manufacturers from nearly 40 industrial zones across the country participated in the exhibition in “groups”. The products brought by many exhibitors were mainly high-quality products, aiming to develop the mid-to-high-end market.
Data released by the General Administration of Customs on June 16 show that my country’s cross-border e-commerce import and export scale will reach 2.84 trillion yuan in 2025, an increase of 4.8% over the previous year, accounting for 6.2% of my country’s total import and export value of goods trade during the same period.
In terms of export destinations, the United States ranked first, followed by Russia and Germany; about 97% of exported goods were consumer goods. The proportion of clothing, shoes, bags, jewelry accessories, home office appliances and accessories was basically stable, and the proportion of digital products and accessories such as mobile phones and computers increased by 2.6 percentage points.
Take the Zhongshan Lamp Factory Cross-Border Spot Alliance as an example. It was established in 2023 and integrated more than 40 local source factories. It initially provided “one-piece dropshipping” and “overseas warehouse delivery” services for cross-border e-commerce sellers.
Huang Ling, head of the alliance manufacturer, works for a company that has been engaged in foreign trade since 2007. After the epidemic, traditional customers shrank, and cross-border e-commerce helped companies tide over the difficulties.
The company will establish an e-commerce department in 2022, and now e-commerce and traditional export business account for half each.
Huang Ling believes that the proportion of traditional customers may drop to 20% to 30% in the future, and transformation is imperative.
During the transformation process, the pace of work has changed significantly. E-commerce companies pay attention to quick response and have new requirements for product packaging.
Lamp manufacturers can “go overseas as a team” to reduce costs and respond flexibly to market changes.
However, colleague Chen Hai said that many lamp factories are struggling, with low gross profits or even losses, but everyone agrees not to play low-end and focus on product differentiation.
Relevant people from the Zhongshan Municipal Commerce Bureau said that the local government has organized the industrial chain in a planned manner and has unique advantages.
In terms of “AI-driven”, the “2026 China Export Cross-border E-commerce Development Trend White Paper” released by Amazon proposed that the opportunity of “AI-driven cross-border e-commerce globalization” is coming.
Chinese manufacturers have responded quickly. Over 98% of the Chinese sellers surveyed have already used AI tools when operating Amazon stores, and some leading merchants have achieved high automation of operation execution.
However, most companies are still in the early stages of exploration and are interested in AI product selection and content generation tools.
Huang Ling’s company’s e-commerce team is mostly born after 2000. Although they respond quickly to new things, they lack systematic training and have not yet seen the huge changes brought about by AI.
Sunny, a salesperson at a cross-border e-commerce marketing service company, said that manufacturers are cautious about professional marketing plans.
In contrast, leading companies have a more systematic layout in AI. For example, China Unicom’s AI trendy products in the international exhibition area attracted attention, and its cross-border e-commerce booth also displayed a number of overseas benchmark projects.
At this cross-trade fair, in addition to leading platforms such as Amazon and Alibaba International Station, many “small but beautiful” e-commerce platforms have emerged.
The number of participating e-commerce platforms exceeded 50, a year-on-year increase of 21.4%. Emerging market platforms such as Hainago and Trendyol participated in the exhibition for the first time, covering mainstream markets around the world.
KiKUU is an e-commerce platform that has been rooted in the African market for 10 years. It started from “drop shipping” and has entered a stage of stable development.
The platform has offices and management teams in many African countries. After the seller’s goods are sent to the Guangzhou warehouse, subsequent logistics, settlement, etc. are handled by the platform.
Merchants can also “test payment” first before opening overseas warehouses and stocking up.
In terms of payment and settlement, the platform “locks exchange” with merchants, and merchants settle directly in RMB to domestic bank cards.
Currently, consumer electronics and fast fashion categories are selling well on the platform, and African users are highly receptive to products made in China.
KiKUU investment manager Linda believes that the African market is huge and the entry of more platforms can activate greater market opportunities.
