The new cross-border e-commerce supervision model that “returns goods without detours” and “you can go home at any port across the country” is very satisfying to those who buy it.
Starting from April 1, the new cross-border e-commerce return policy across customs zones will be fully implemented, which is expected to completely solve the problem of “difficulty, high cost and long cycle of returns” that has plagued the industry for many years.
Cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly in recent years and has become an important engine for the growth of my country’s foreign trade.
However, the issue of returns has always been a pain point and blocking point affecting the development of the industry.
After the implementation of the new return policy, not only has the return cycle been compressed from the original 20 to 30 days to about half, but the average logistics cost per order can also be saved by about 10 yuan. Enterprises have enhanced their competitiveness in an efficient and economical supply chain, and consumers have a better shopping experience. It can be described as a win-win move.
Under the diversified market structure, my country’s cross-border e-commerce has shifted from relying solely on the European and American markets in the past to a multi-point layout in emerging markets such as ASEAN, Latin America, and Russia, and the market’s ability to resist risks has been significantly improved.
Customs data shows that in 2025, my country’s cross-border e-commerce import and export scale will reach 2.75 trillion yuan, an increase of 69.7% compared with 2020, and it has remained the world’s largest online retail market for 13 consecutive years.
Behind the numbers is the process of continuous transformation from traditional “Made in China” to “Made in China Intelligently” and “Chinese Brand”.
From an objective point of view, the reason why my country’s cross-border e-commerce continues to lead the world is because it benefits from my country’s complete industrial system.
At present, our country has all 39 major industrial categories in the United Nations Industrial Classification, and can provide the global market with a full range of products from cost-effective daily consumer goods to high-tech intelligent equipment.
This flexible and agile supply chain capability exactly meets the needs of global consumers for “small batches, personalization, and rapid iteration” and creates the core advantage of China’s cross-border e-commerce in global competition.
The rapid development of cross-border e-commerce cannot be separated from the continuous empowerment of innovative policies.
Since 2015, my country has successively established 178 comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones, achieving full coverage of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country.
The policy optimization and improvement at the customs supervision level has created a more convenient, efficient and safe customs clearance environment for cross-border e-commerce import and export.
In addition, the cross-customs return model has a synergistic effect with the preferential tax policies for export returns, building the most complete industrial ecosystem in the world.
Currently, my country’s cross-border e-commerce has moved from the early “scale expansion” stage to a new stage of development with “qualitative improvement” as the core.
This transformation is not only an inevitable choice in response to the intensifying competition in the international market and stricter compliance requirements, but also a key support for the transformation of my country’s foreign trade from “large imports and large exports” to “optimal imports and excellent exports”. In the future, the development of the cross-border e-commerce industry still needs to be promoted from the following aspects.
Further consolidating the diversified market layout is the foundation.
Cross-border e-commerce is more sensitive to geopolitics, trade frictions, etc. Foreign trade companies should proactively adjust their market strategies. While deeply exploring traditional markets, they should increase research and investment in emerging markets. They should rely on the localized operation capabilities of cross-border e-commerce platforms to adapt to the consumption habits and policy environments of different markets, and reduce the risk of single market fluctuations by doing good increments.
In recent years, the average annual growth rate of 15% in cross-border e-commerce transactions among RCEP member countries is an example.
Continuous supply chain upgrading and localization application are the core.
In recent years, the global supply chain has accelerated its shift from “efficiency first” to “equal emphasis on safety and efficiency”, and the trend of regionalization and nearshoring has become increasingly prominent.
Against this background, the traditional “centralized production + cross-border direct shipment” model is no longer able to meet consumers’ needs for logistics timeliness and service experience. It has accelerated the transformation from “goods storage warehouse” to “supply chain central hub” and has become an inevitable choice for cross-border e-commerce companies.
As pointed out in this year’s “Government Work Report”, we will promote the expansion, upgrading, and standardized and orderly development of the cross-border e-commerce plus overseas warehouse model.
This is also the fundamental path for cross-border e-commerce to move toward high-quality development.
Paying more attention to technological empowerment and policy support is the key.
The application of new technologies such as AI and big data can better help cross-border e-commerce companies accurately understand consumer demand, optimize supply chain management, and give rise to more diversified trade formats such as cross-border live broadcasts, social e-commerce, and independent websites.
It is necessary to continue to strengthen system design, use more facilitation measures to make customs clearance more efficient and convenient, and provide full-chain support for enterprises going overseas.
The majority of cross-border e-commerce companies must not only actively embrace technological changes, but also be good at grasping policy dividends and improve their digital operation capabilities to achieve overall cost reduction and efficiency increase in the industrial and supply chains.
It is foreseeable that as cross-border e-commerce upgrades from “channel trade” to “full-link digital trade”, my country will build a more resilient and competitive cross-border e-commerce ecosystem, forming new advantages for China’s foreign trade to participate in global market competition.
