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Other CategoriesIn recent years, the competitiveness of China's cross-border e-commerce has been continuously strengthening. What role has it played in the development of foreign trade?
Cross-border e-commerce conducts transactions by placing orders on online platforms. Its core feature is online sales. Compared with traditional international trade, cross-border e-commerce has the characteristics and advantages of being multi-party, direct, maritime, and information-based. In recent years, cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly, and more and more consumers have become accustomed to purchasing high-quality goods from all over the world through cross-border e-commerce platforms. The scale of cross-border e-commerce in China has continued to grow, and it has jointly driven the continuous development of digital trade with digital service trade and others.
Currently, China has become one of the most dynamic economies in global digital trade. With the support of various policies, the potential of cross-border e-commerce continues to be unleashed. Since the State Council approved the establishment of the China (Hangzhou) Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone in 2015, cross-border e-commerce pilot zones have been established in major cities and inland ports across the country. The General Office of the State Council has issued the "Opinions on Promoting Innovation in Foreign Trade Development" and the "Opinions on Accelerating the Development of New Forms and New Models of Foreign Trade", continuously improving relevant support policies to promote the development of new forms of foreign trade. With the implementation and effectiveness of various policies, the scale of cross-border e-commerce has continued to grow, and its driving effect has become increasingly evident, becoming an important driving force for the high-quality development of foreign trade. According to preliminary statistics from the customs, the scale of China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports will reach 2.75 trillion yuan in 2025, an increase of 69.7% compared to 2020.
Cross-border e-commerce not only drives the growth of goods trade but also effectively promotes the development of digital service trade. Cross-border e-commerce is not merely the online cross-border transaction of physical products; it is also a new business model for the innovative development of foreign trade in the context of the digital economy. The business ecosystem surrounding cross-border e-commerce incorporates numerous digital online services provided by platforms and service providers. Digital services related to cross-border e-commerce, such as online payment, cross-border financing, insurance business, foreign trade comprehensive services, smart logistics, and platform operation, have developed rapidly. The "China Digital Trade Development Report 2025" released by the Ministry of Commerce shows that in 2024, the scale of China's export of services that can be digitally delivered was 232.71 billion US dollars, an increase of 6.3%. Cross-border e-commerce promotes the continuous output of digital services such as online payment and software as a service (SaaS) to overseas markets, and helps the export of services that can be digitally delivered grow at a faster pace through platform services, enterprise support, data cloud services, etc.
The competitiveness of China's cross-border e-commerce is continuously strengthening. The development models such as "cross-border e-commerce + industrial clusters" are being widely promoted, and the logistics chain that is compatible with the production and consumption patterns is becoming increasingly complete. Looking at the future development, more cross-border e-commerce enterprises are transforming towards refined, brand-oriented, and localized operations, focusing on the development of a certain field or market. With the vigorous expansion of the international market, emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America have become the focus of deepening international cooperation for cross-border e-commerce. At the same time, the intensification of global trade frictions, the cumulative effect of policies, and the risks of supply chain reconfiguration faced by cross-border e-commerce cannot be ignored. In the future, it is necessary to actively participate in the formulation of international economic and trade rules and standards, and continuously improve the level of international economic and trade cooperation.
