Foreign trade data in the first quarter of 2026 shows that China’s cross-border e-commerce import and export scale reached 618.46 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%, of which exports were 473.55 billion yuan, becoming the core engine of foreign trade growth.
Leading A-share cross-border e-commerce supply chain companies have relied on global layout to build channels and cost advantages that are difficult to replicate. Against the backdrop of a rebound in overseas demand, profitability levels have continued to increase and market concentration has further strengthened.
Global warehousing network builds channel barriers.
Leading companies use the “self-construction + mergers and acquisitions + cooperation” model to weave dense warehousing and logistics networks in global core markets.
As of the end of June 2025, Huamao Logistics has more than 90 overseas outlets, covering major ports and logistics node cities on six continents.
Guolian Shares adopts a global and decentralized layout and simultaneously promotes the construction of overseas warehouses in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and other places. The smart overseas warehouse project in the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone in the United Arab Emirates is operating normally, effectively hedging regional risks.
In April 2026, Kaiqi Cloud Warehouse opened a 50,000 square meter overseas warehouse in Los Angeles, USA, to build a global supply chain fast lane for “Rongpin products going overseas”.
This large-scale overseas warehouse layout enables leading companies to achieve “local stocking and local delivery”, improve delivery time by more than 50%, and reduce logistics costs by 20%-30%, significantly better than small and medium-sized sellers.
AI full-link empowers efficiency revolution.
The six departments issued “artificial intelligence + e-commerce” development guidance on April 6, pointing out the direction for the upgrading of cross-border e-commerce supply chains.
Leading A-share companies are the first to deploy AI technology to realize the intelligentization of the entire supply chain process.
Huakai Yibai’s self-developed AI operation system has improved the efficiency of intelligent product selection, dynamic pricing, and inventory management by 40%, and the unsaleable rate has dropped by 25%.
Focus Technology China Manufacturing Network is equipped with large AI models, full-stack empowerment of intelligent marketing, multi-lingual customer service, and foreign trade matching, and leads the industry in AI penetration rate.
The AI-driven inventory management system allows enterprises to achieve “one inventory pool reaching the world”, increasing warehousing turnover efficiency by more than 40%, and avoiding the dual risks of out-of-stock and slow sales.
Amazon Shenzhen GWD warehouse data shows that by adopting the “warehousing at the source” model, warehousing and processing costs can be reduced by up to 45%, and tariff payment delays further optimize cash flow.
Cost advantages translate into profitable growth.
Logistics costs account for 30%-40% of the total costs of cross-border e-commerce. Leading companies have formed an absolute advantage on the cost side through economies of scale and bargaining power.
SF Holding has built a global air cargo network, with overseas warehouses covering Europe and the United States, and provides door-to-door solutions. The single-ticket logistics cost is 12%-18% lower than the industry average.
Small Commodity City is home to the world’s largest small commodity wholesale market. Relying on its source supply advantage, supply chain costs are 15%-20% lower than those of its peers.
On April 15, 2026, a closed-door meeting of AliExpress’s top brands going overseas revealed that the GMV of platform brands increased by 40%, and the GMV of overseas hosted merchants increased 10 times year-on-year. Supply chain efficiency has become the core competitiveness of brands going overseas.
In the European market, Cross-Border Commerce Europe data shows that European cross-border e-commerce GMV is expected to grow by 12%-15% in 2026, with leading A-share companies seizing market share by virtue of their supply chain advantages.
Policy dividends and demand recovery are dual blessings.
The General Administration of Customs will comprehensively promote the return model of cross-border e-commerce retail export goods across customs areas from April 1 to solve the pain points of “difficulty, high cost and long cycle of returns” and further activate market vitality.
At the same time, the deep integration of AI technology and cross-border e-commerce has promoted the industry’s transformation from “scale expansion” to “quality competition”.
An April 7 research report from Kaiyuan Securities pointed out that leading cross-border e-commerce supply chain companies have upgraded from “product output” to “supply chain output” through the dual drive of “capacity overseas + technology overseas”, and their profitability continues to increase.
As overseas market demand continues to pick up, leading companies will further increase their market share and promote steady growth in profitability by relying on channel monopoly and cost advantages.
