AI is driving the globalization of cross-border e-commerce, and the changes it brings are profoundly affecting the development of China’s export cross-border e-commerce.
On June 11, Amazon Global Store Asia-Pacific Innovation Center released the “White Paper on China’s Export Cross-Border E-commerce Development Trends in 2026”. This year’s “White Paper” is themed “AI Reshaping the New Paradigm of Going Global” and provides an in-depth look at hot topics such as one-person companies, multi-agent collaboration, and AI inclusive of small and medium-sized sellers.
Qiu Sheng, Vice President of Amazon China and Head of Market and Business Development of Amazon Global Store Asia-Pacific Region, said: “AI is rewriting the growth logic of cross-border e-commerce, and ‘AI drives the globalization of cross-border e-commerce’ has become a new paradigm for going global. AI not only improves sellers’ product selection, content, consumer insights, marketing, and cooperation.
The efficiency of planning, customer service and other aspects has accelerated the pace of sellers from operating in a single country to a global layout, and has given rise to innovations in data-based decision-making, global business opportunity detection, one-stop risk control and other fields.
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In the past, sellers went overseas by “expanding site by site”. Now, in the era of “next-generation cross-border chain”, AI is empowering the entire overseas link.
The “White Paper” summarizes the five major application trends of AI in the cross-border e-commerce industry by analyzing the practices of a large number of sellers.
First, from single-point tools to intelligent agent collaboration, AI promotes operational automation.
Amazon research shows that more than 98% of Chinese sellers surveyed are already using AI tools when operating Amazon stores, and 16% of them have advanced from single-point AI tools to deploying AI workflows or agents to automatically perform multi-tasking.
This means that sellers can handle various operational matters more efficiently, improving work efficiency and accuracy.
The second is from data insights to implementation recommendations, AI upgrades decision-making intelligence.
Faced with complex decisions in various operations such as pricing, product selection, and replenishment, AI is helping sellers turn judgments that relied heavily on personal experience or hard-to-interpret big data in the past into scientific decisions that are quantifiable and verifiable.
Sellers can make smarter decisions based on the recommendations provided by AI, thus improving the competitiveness of their business.
The third is from product selection competition to category definition, AI drives product innovation.
Merach, a global home fitness technology brand, is the first fitness AI assistant that integrates tens of millions of exercise samples and an intelligent fitness resistance adjustment system, transforming the equipment from a “fitness tool” to a built-in “smart coach”, and the average training time of users has significantly increased.
This fully demonstrates the huge potential of AI in product innovation and can bring better product experience to consumers.
The fourth is to jump from local optimization to full-link, AI releases growth efficiency.
By optimizing the entire cross-border e-commerce link, AI can help sellers achieve more efficient operations and higher growth.
Fifth, from passive compliance to active risk control, AI reconstructs the security boundary.
In cross-border e-commerce business, compliance and security are crucial.
AI can help sellers better identify and respond to various risks and ensure the safe and stable development of their business.
In short, AI has broad application prospects in the field of cross-border e-commerce, and it will bring more opportunities and challenges for Chinese sellers to go overseas.
Sellers need to actively embrace AI technology and continuously improve their competitiveness to adapt to the changing market environment.
