Cross-border e-commerce plays an important role in stabilizing the fundamentals of foreign trade and promoting industrial upgrading.
From platform companies accelerating their globalization layout to small and medium-sized sellers actively expanding overseas markets, from traditional manufacturing using e-commerce channels to go overseas to independent brands entering the international stage, my country’s e-commerce overseas has shown a good trend of continuous expansion in scale, continuous optimization of structure, and iterative innovation of models.
The vigorous development of cross-border e-commerce not only provides a convenient path for small and medium-sized enterprises to go global, but also effectively promotes the coordinated development of domestic logistics, payment, supply chain and other related industries.
Relevant data from the General Administration of Customs show that in the first quarter of this year, my country’s cross-border e-commerce imports and exports were 618.46 billion yuan, of which exports were 473.55 billion yuan and imports were 144.91 billion yuan.
Cross-border e-commerce has gone beyond the simple function of promoting exports and has become an important carrier for embedding institutional openness requirements into the entire process of enterprises’ cross-border operations.
Cross-border e-commerce first started with products going overseas, and then brands went overseas. Now it has entered the 3.0 stage – “online and sold globally”.
From “selling Chinese goods” to “using Chinese supply chains to make products that are needed locally”, we embed production, contract fulfillment and services into the target market.
Cross-border e-commerce is accelerating into the global operation stage.
This year’s government work report emphasizes the need to promote the expansion and upgrading of the cross-border e-commerce plus overseas warehouse model, standardize and orderly development, and emphasizes the improvement of the overseas comprehensive service system.
This was also quickly translated into concrete action at the local level.
Guangdong Province proposed to actively search for all possible markets and growth opportunities, make every effort to consolidate traditional markets such as Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea, and increase efforts to explore emerging markets such as ASEAN, the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia; Sichuan Province proposed to actively expand diversified markets, deeply cultivate emerging markets such as ASEAN, West Asia, and Central Asia, promote the expansion and upgrading of cross-border e-commerce plus overseas warehouse models, expand trade in intermediate goods, and develop service trade, digital trade, and green trade; Zhejiang Province proposed to promote the quality development of foreign economic and trade.
We will in-depth implement the “steady expansion and optimization” combination, implement the action of “thousands of companies expand the market and compete for orders”, make every effort to stabilize the traditional market, and actively explore emerging markets such as ASEAN, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America…
Relevant data shows that as of the end of 2025, China’s cross-border e-commerce companies
The number has reached 120,000, with more than 30,000 overseas registered trademarks, 178 national cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, and more than 10,000 cross-border industrial parks, distributed in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), forming a global development pattern of “agglomeration in the east leading the way, and central and western regions accelerating the rise”.
Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shandong and other major foreign trade provinces have taken the lead in realizing full coverage of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones at prefecture-level cities, forming cluster overseas potential in mature manufacturing industry belts, providing local cross-border e-commerce companies with policy support, convenient customs clearance, and comprehensive protection of digital infrastructure.
The overseas 3.0 stage of cross-border e-commerce is quietly coming. Sellers no longer stick to the “jumping grid” method of “from A to B to C” to enter each site, but from the first day, they carry out business with global goals; the in-depth coordination of the global supply chain network is further deepened, making the “global game of chess” a
In order to make it possible to achieve efficient, dynamic and intelligent deployment of goods on a global scale; digital intelligence technology has become a key driving force, and AI capabilities have been integrated into every link from product selection to marketing, allowing decision-making to shift from “experience-driven” to “data-driven”, greatly improving efficiency; deep localized operations are a common choice, and brands have begun to truly integrate into local culture and establish long-term links with users.
From “just sell it” to “deep global operations”, from “products exported overseas” to “born global”, this ongoing change not only requires companies to change their old thinking patterns, but also puts forward new requirements for their supply chain integration capabilities, global operations capabilities, digital intelligence technology applications, and in-depth innovation capabilities.
The Ministry of Commerce and other six departments recently jointly issued the “Guiding Opinions on Better Serving the Real Economy and Promoting the High-Quality Development of E-Commerce”, proposing to strongly support cross-border e-commerce overseas warehouses and improve overseas smart logistics platforms.
Overseas warehouses are not only a rigid need for cross-border e-commerce companies, but also an accelerator to reduce logistics costs and shorten delivery times.
In the past, shipping from China to the United States, even for small direct mail packages, took 3 to 7 working days at the fastest.
Taking the U.S. market as an example, through overseas warehouses, most areas in the United States can currently receive goods within 48 hours after buyers place an order. This speed far exceeds the traditional direct mail model.
Overseas warehouses are also the “anchor” for companies to stabilize their supply chains and improve customer satisfaction.
The high cost of return and exchange has always been a major pain point for cross-border e-commerce companies.
Under the traditional model, returns and exchanges often require cumbersome exit procedures and long waits, which brings great inconvenience to consumers.
With overseas warehouses, returns and exchanges can be carried out at the place of sale.
Returns and exchanges are more convenient and flexible, consumers’ shopping experience will naturally improve, and brands will be more likely to gain favor.
This “customer-centric” service concept is the key for cross-border e-commerce companies to win the market.
Cross-border e-commerce has shifted from a stage of rapid scale expansion to a period of high-quality development transformation. The growth momentum has shifted from “quantitative expansion” to “qualitative improvement”. The survival of the fittest has accelerated. The competitive advantages of enterprises with supply chain capabilities, digital capabilities and compliance capabilities continue to expand.
With the iteration of large model capabilities, understanding and generation technologies are coming to the forefront, so that AI no longer exists as a separate conceptual area, but penetrates into almost all consumer electronics categories, turning it into a physical product that can be seen, touched, and experienced.
In just two years, more and more smart devices have fully integrated and applied AI, and the performance of many domestic manufacturers is particularly outstanding.
Digitalization and artificial intelligence are reshaping the way companies make business decisions.
The key to developing digital trade lies in using digital technology to connect the entire process of trade operations.
In the practice of cross-border e-commerce, data flows such as searches, clicks, reviews, returns, and repurchases have become the core basis for insight into changes in demand and optimization of business decisions.
Artificial intelligence applications are extending from content generation to product selection analysis, dynamic pricing, intelligent customer service, demand forecasting and process collaboration, etc., promoting the transition of cross-border operations from empirical judgment to data-driven, and from single-point optimization to full-process reconstruction.
This means that the source of enterprise competitive advantage no longer depends on the ability to obtain front-end traffic, but on the ability to form systematic collaborative capabilities in data response, inventory scheduling, local fulfillment and other aspects.
Industry insiders pointed out that as the supply chain matures, engineering capabilities improve and AI tools become popular, the upgrade from “realizing demand” to “defining demand” has become an important advantage for Chinese brands in overseas competition.
In the past, buttons were simply moved to Apps (applications). Today, the value of AI is that devices are beginning to have the opportunity to truly understand people and scenarios.
AI is no longer a marketing label, but a basic capability that helps understand the market faster and improve R&D efficiency.
For example, it gives the coffee machine the opportunity to move from “executing instructions” to “understanding preferences.”
While algorithms are being embedded into more smart devices and smart hardware, AI as a tool is also providing more help for more smart products to go overseas.
In recent years, new models such as semi-custodial have accelerated their popularity. The boundaries of division of labor between platforms, merchants and logistics service providers have been redefined, and the relationship between enterprises and platforms has also shifted from simple settlement to in-depth business collaboration.
The focus of competition has subsequently extended from price competition and traffic competition to full-link collaboration capabilities in content generation, order processing, overseas warehouse layout, local fulfillment and after-sales services.
The changes in platform rules and the embedding of digital technology are superimposed on each other, which is promoting the evolution of enterprises from single sales capabilities to full-link organizational capabilities, and upgrading from front-end channel capabilities to systematic operating capabilities.
A few days ago, at the 6th China Cross-border E-commerce Fair held in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, participating companies shared a complete cross-border inquiry dialogue case on site: from overseas buyers inquiring about sample services, confirming sample quantities, calculating related expenses, to collecting delivery addresses and understanding purchasing needs, the entire process was completed independently by AI, demonstrating a new business format for cross-border e-commerce to “make money while lying down.”
AI technology has become the well-deserved “protagonist” of the exhibition.
Various intelligent products such as AI product selection, AI intelligent customer service, AI marketing copywriting generation, AI product image processing, AI short video production, AI cross-border data analysis, etc. were unveiled together. New concepts such as “super employees”, “AI employees” and “digital employees” have also become the focus of heated discussions in the industry.
Experts pointed out that the in-depth application of digital technology is helping companies embed demand data, quality information and contract performance feedback into the entire process of R&D, production, warehousing, logistics and after-sales, turning quality control from post-mortem review to process monitoring and dynamic adjustment.
The formation mechanism of competitive advantage has thus shifted from the channel capability of “selling out” to the system capability of “stable delivery, quick response, and stable settlement”.
