According to a report released by the Ministry of Commerce not long ago, the import and export volume of cross-border e-commerce (including B2B) in 2022 was 2.11 trillion yuan, up 9.8% year-on-year. Among them, exports amounted to 1.55 trillion yuan, up 11.7% year-on-year.
In the interview, the reporter found that more and more China manufacturing enterprises rely on cross-border e-commerce to export their products. Especially since 2023, a series of support policies have been intensively introduced, such as improving customs clearance efficiency, cultivating and expanding overseas warehouses, reducing the export return cost of cross-border e-commerce enterprises, improving the logistics infrastructure for cross-border e-commerce development, and promoting the development of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive experimental zone with high quality, which further boosted the confidence of relevant enterprises to sail to sea.
Policies are strong, and export channels are smoother.
"When I first saw these rice noodles, I wanted to try them. It doesn’t take much time to brew, and the ingredients are sufficient. I will buy it again next time! " On the message board of Yami.com, American consumer Kimluu praised the bagged snail powder bought online.
Yao Hanlin, chairman of Guangxi Luobawang Food Technology Co., Ltd. told this reporter that in 2022, the export value of bagged snail powder reached 45.57 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27% from January to February this year. According to data from overseas e-commerce platforms, the proportion of non-Chinese consumers with bagged snail powder has increased from less than 1% at first to about 15%.
"Take the American market as an example. At present, Snail Overlord has completed the construction of overseas warehouses of the Los Angeles brand, and will also complete the construction of overseas warehouses in new york in the first half of this year. We hope to further shorten the transportation time and deliver the products to overseas consumers faster. " Yao Hanlin said that this year’s cross-border e-commerce is the top priority for Snail Overlord to explore overseas markets. The local government departments in Liuzhou are continuing to help enterprises solve various problems encountered in cross-border e-commerce business and promote smoother export channels for enterprises.
Snail powder has crossed the ocean, which is a microcosm of "Made in China" going out to sea through cross-border e-commerce. Since the beginning of this year, policy support measures have continued:
The Ministry of Finance and other three departments issued a tax policy for goods returned by cross-border e-commerce, and proposed to exempt goods that meet the relevant conditions from import duties, import value-added tax and consumption tax, so as to reduce the export return cost of cross-border e-commerce enterprises and actively support the development of new foreign trade formats.
In the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the High-quality Development of cross-border electronic commerce", Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province proposed that enterprises that carry out cross-border e-commerce export business through customs supervision modes such as cross-border trade e-commerce, cross-border e-commerce B2B (business-to-business) direct export, and cross-border e-commerce export overseas warehouses should be given no more than 2 million yuan in financial support every year.
In the "Three-year Action Plan for Promoting the High-quality Development of Cross-border E-commerce in Chengdu (2023-2025)", Chengdu, Sichuan explicitly encourages innovative, green and high value-added products to realize the integration of trade in goods and productive services by cross-border e-commerce, and promotes the upgrading of industrial chain through "cooperative research and development, customized production, product export and after-sales maintenance" and accelerates the transformation from "quality production" to "brand building".
Xie Juanjuan, a professor at the School of Economics of Nankai University, said in an interview with this reporter that at present, the risk of global economic recession is rising, the growth of external demand continues to slow down, and the steady growth of foreign trade is under great pressure. At this time, cross-border e-commerce has become the new engine of foreign trade development, especially manufacturing export, with the characteristics of new model, quick response and low cost.
"There are many kinds of manufacturing products, and the performance characteristics and sales methods of different products are also very different. Cross-border e-commerce can provide a unique way of exhibition and communication for manufacturing enterprises, and broaden the access of’ Made in China’ to the global market. At this time, the relevant departments provide support from financing, law, finance and taxation, which is not only conducive to standardizing and guiding the development of cross-border e-commerce, but also helps’ Made in China’ to reach downstream enterprises and consumers around the world more quickly. " Xie Juanjuan said.
Enterprises exert their strength, "the wine is not deep in the alley"
High-tech, high value-added "Made in China" has become a new growth point for export, which is behind the improvement of the quality of enterprise development.
Product practice "internal strength"-
Laser cutting has the characteristics of high precision, fast cutting and low processing cost, and is widely used in the field of metal processing. Beginning in 2018, with the improvement of the localization level of the core component of the laser, new business opportunities began to emerge.
"After the localization of the laser, a million-dollar laser cutting machine can be reduced to two or three hundred thousand yuan." Ma Tongwei, general manager of Shandong Ruitu Laser Technology Co., Ltd., noticed that the reduction of the cost of domestic laser cutting machines opened the "blue ocean" of the export market. "Main attack laser cutting machine export!" Ma Tongwei made up his mind.
However, it is not easy for small and micro enterprises to gain the trust of overseas customers. "Through Alibaba International Station, we send product parameters and operation videos to overseas customers. After they place an order, the funds will be frozen by the platform. After the customer receives the goods and passes the acceptance, the payment will be sent to us." Ma Tongwei told this reporter that with the early layout of cross-border e-commerce, the export growth rate of Ruitu Laser has remained at about 30% in recent years.
"Now, our products are exported to the United States, France, Russia, Turkey, South Korea and other places, and overseas customers have higher and higher expectations for Ruitu laser. Recently, we are making every effort to increase the cutting thickness of steel plates from 30 mm to 50 mm, and at the same time explore the supporting services of automated production lines. " He said.
Sales repair "external work"-
Excavators, loaders, road rollers, bulldozers … With the improvement of manufacturing level in China, more and more construction machinery products are going abroad at an accelerated pace. "In 2022, our overseas sales revenue reached a record high, with a year-on-year increase of nearly 60%. In January this year, overseas sales revenue increased by over 90% year-on-year. " Wang Chuanming, Chairman of SINOMACH International Equipment Co., Ltd. said.
According to Wang Chuanming, SINOMACH has not only more than 100 overseas agents, but also dispatched engineers to major markets around the world to provide thoughtful after-sales service. Affected by the epidemic, SINOMACH has made many innovative attempts in the field of "offline capability online" in recent years, and cross-border e-commerce is an important force.
"On the one hand, we actively use online training, VR exhibition halls, live inspection and other means to enrich the online negotiation experience; On the other hand, we take the initiative to collect the inquiry data of all trading platforms. The whole link process management covers the progress of negotiation, fund management, production delivery process, etc., which effectively improves the business transformation ability of cross-border e-commerce. " He said that at present, enterprises are actively promoting the construction of e-commerce teams.
Cross-border e-commerce has also enabled manufacturing companies to meet more long-term partners.
Changsha Hangshen Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., as a leading L4 unmanned core technology provider and intelligent logistics product provider, produces unmanned vehicles that can be widely used in goods transportation, commodity sales, environmental disinfection and other fields. In recent years, with the help of the cross-border e-commerce platform provided by JD.COM, the "Chaoying" series unmanned vehicles produced by enterprises have successfully entered the Japanese market, providing food delivery service for outdoor camping customers of Polygonum cuspidatum Holiday City.
"Good wine, alley can’t deep. It is through cross-border e-commerce that this export is realized. Lotte Corporation of Japan has a strong interest in our products and hopes to carry out in-depth cooperation with us. " An Xiangjing, CEO of Hangshen Intelligent, told this reporter.
Market wrestling, matchmaking and confidence
The favor of the manufacturing industry has also promoted the development of the cross-border e-commerce industry itself. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce, by the end of 2022, the State Council has set up 165 cross-border electronic commerce Comprehensive Experimental Zones in seven batches, covering 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. At present, there are about 200,000 cross-border e-commerce related enterprises in each comprehensive test area, of which more than 9,300 are recognized as high-tech enterprises.
Some keep an eye on market dynamics-
"In the past two years, more and more small and medium-sized enterprises have settled in overseas e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Wayfair and Lazada. Keeping up with the needs of these enterprises, our business has also achieved rapid development. " Chen Zhongyu, general manager of Ningbo Ninghuatong International Trading Co., Ltd. said.
For small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, although cross-border e-commerce has brought a broader overseas market, it also means more complicated circulation links and a longer capital turnover period. Aiming at this market demand, Ninghuatong actively provides one-stop comprehensive foreign trade services such as commodity inspection, customs declaration, logistics, tax refund, foreign exchange settlement, credit insurance and financing for small and medium-sized cross-border e-commerce enterprises.
Chen Zhongyu told this reporter that since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and other departments have introduced new policies to reduce the export and return costs of cross-border e-commerce enterprises, and the business department of Haishu District of Ningbo City has also taken the initiative to answer questions from enterprises. These in-place policy supports have made enterprises feel warm. "We have confidence in connecting small and medium-sized enterprises to the sea!"
Some innovative service forms-
According to the data of Alibaba International Station, in cross-border e-commerce, real-time reception by real people can increase the conversion rate of potential customers of foreign trade enterprises by nearly 10 percentage points. According to Dai Xianwen, director of industry operation of Alibaba International Station, cross-border live broadcast and short video can help foreign trade enterprises display factories and production lines more intuitively and vividly. Especially in cross-border e-commerce B2B transactions, the live reception of foreign trade enterprises’ cross-border live broadcasts plays a key role in building buyers’ trust.
Dai Xianwen revealed that in the near future, the platform will help "Made in China" to export through the cross-border e-commerce platform through activities such as "New Trade Festival in March". "In March this year, we will pass on the new technologies, new technologies, new materials and new products of domestic manufacturing enterprises to overseas buyers through online exhibitions, online venues and live multimedia interactions. We will also actively use digital technology to analyze industry supply and demand, study industry strategies, and provide them to domestic manufacturing enterprises to help them better understand potential market opportunities. " Dai Xianwen said.
There are also enhanced technical support-
"Cross-border e-commerce should not only solve the problem of building a station, but also solve the logistics problem, and at the same time solve the problems of capital, transaction, delivery and delivery. In the market wrestling, cloud service providers need to provide sufficient technical support capabilities and ecological construction capabilities. " The relevant person in charge of Huawei Cloud told this reporter that Huawei Cloud is actively focusing on "information flow, capital flow and logistics" to open up the full link ecology for "Made in China".
According to the person in charge, Huawei Cloud has built a new computing architecture that is more suitable for the development of cross-border e-commerce through industry-leading technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, providing one-stop simple, convenient, intelligent, efficient, safe and compliant products and services for cross-border e-commerce enterprises. Related technologies can help users rapidly expand their global business in all aspects, such as site decoration, commodity management, content review, order management, cross-border payment, and logistics inquiry.
The Ministry of Commerce said that this year, it is necessary to promote the sustained, rapid and healthy development of new formats such as cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehouses, make full use of digital means to tap the trade potential, and drive small and medium-sized micro-foreign trade enterprises to export. (Reporter Wang Junling)
