This innovative approach allows overseas shoppers to make purchases on China’s cross-border e-commerce export platforms by simply entering their foreign bank card information to complete payments.

This significant development in the acceptance of foreign payments marks a major stride in facilitating international consumer spending, simultaneously propelling Chinese export businesses to achieve global sales from their domestic bases, thereby fostering a new development pattern that promotes the mutual reinforcement of domestic and international economic cycles.

The chasm in cross-border e-commerce exports has long been a hurdle. With China’s export e-commerce rapidly evolving and becoming a new engine for high-quality foreign trade development, the sector saw a 19.6% increase in total exports, reaching 1.83 trillion yuan in 2023, according to estimates from customs data.

The Central Economic Work Conference in December 2023 emphasized expanding high-level opening up, accelerating the cultivation of new foreign trade momentum, and expanding trade in intermediate goods, service trade, digital trade, and cross-border e-commerce exports.

The payment aspect of cross-border e-commerce exports, a critical link connecting supply and demand, faces inherent “chasms” due to regulatory requirements for cross-border information and fund transfers, as well as differences in currency types, payment tools, and habits.

This has led to numerous Chinese export enterprises facing penalties on foreign platforms, frozen funds, and extended payment cycles due to a lack of understanding of cross-border payments.

JD Pay has introduced this new model under the guidance of the People’s Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Leveraging JD’s comprehensive e-commerce ecosystem, the model was developed in collaboration with clearing organizations and financial institutions, focusing on cross-border payment pain points.

It addresses compliance issues, ensuring smooth funds transfer for merchants on China’s cross-border e-commerce export platforms. Furthermore, it lowers the shopping barriers for overseas consumers, who can now pay with their international bank cards without needing currency conversion or a Chinese bank account.

Currently operational on JD Global, this new model serves Chinese mainland merchants and overseas consumers.

Going forward, JD Pay aims to further refine its cross-border payment services in close collaboration with clearing organizations and financial institutions, enhancing the payment experience and services for more cross-border e-commerce platforms and independent sites, benefiting both international consumers and Chinese export enterprises.

JD’s B2B platform Joybuy will mainly serve overseas buyers including e-commerce marketplace sellers, DTC sellers, and small and medium-sized retailers.

In the past year, JD Logistics has opened new warehouses in countries including Malaysia, the US, Australia, and the Netherlands, bringing the total number of bonded and overseas warehouses to about 80, and its global supply chain network to nearly 230 countries and regions.

Joybuy is now open to more than 110 countries and regions with a focus on Southeast Asian (SEA) and North American markets.

In SEA, JOYBUY has reached cooperation with Flash Express, a one-stop e-commerce service provider to develop the local market. It has also built up a partnership with Ginee, a SEA one-stop solution service provider for online businesses to better serve local buyers.

Joybuy currently supports multiple payment methods across the global, including:

• Credit card/ debit card
• Paypal
• Payoneer
• T/T
• Giropay
• Sofort
• EPS
• iDeal
• Yandex
• Banrisul
• Bradesco
• Banco do Brasil
• Itaú
• SPEI
• Boleto
• OXXO
• Afterpay

And, it currently supports 12 payment currencies: USD, EUR, RUB, GBP, CAD, CHF, AUD, PLN, MXN, BRL, KRW, JPY.

Joybuy promotes Quality Sellers who are recognized by the platform. There are two types of Quality Sellers: the Black J Seller and the Platinum J Seller.

• Black J Seller is a seller who is recognized by the Joybuy platform and is able to provide high-quality services and high-quality products
• Platinum J Seller is a seller who is recognized by the Joybuy platform and is able to provide good services and high-quality products

China cross-border B2B e-commerce markets insights 2021-2025

In 2015, a2 Milk chose JD Worldwide as the first online platform to launch its first-party store in China and introduce its world-famous milk powder products to the Chinese market. China is the top priority market for a2 Milk, and many Chinese parents have become customers of the company’s milk formula, which is designed to be easier for children to digest.

Over the past 4 years, JD has leveraged its unique insights into the Chinese market and consumer preferences to provide a2 Milk with customized marketing solutions, increasing the brand’s recognition among Chinese consumers.

On June 18 this year, the peak day of JD.com’s annual 18-day “6.18” anniversary sales festival, a2 Milk was the top-selling brand on JD Worldwide, and the brand’s platinum baby milk powder was the best-selling product. Sales of a2 products on the day increased 210% compared to the previous year.

Earlier this year, a2 Milk was a participant in JD.com’s “Brand Competitiveness Plan“, a one-month program which is an extension of JD’s previous Super Brand Day program and provides brands with comprehensive marketing solutions to increase sales performance and build up brand recognition.

Marketing solutions offered through this initiative include guidance on marketing campaign timing, choice of promotional channels, and help in identifying the target audience for a campaign. On every day of the one-month long campaign for a2 Milk, JD helped the company identify a group of customers who had indicated interest in a2 products within a specific period of time but had not yet made an order.

Coupons were then sent to these high potential customers. The ROI of coupons during the month of the campaign was 3.6 times higher than the typical average, and fans of the a2 Milk online store on JD Worldwide surpassed 1 million users.

“China is the top growth market for The a2 Milk Company, and JD.com’s expertise in innovative marketing has consistently allowed us to make the most of this exciting opportunity,” said Xiao Li, CEO of a2 Greater China. “Last year, we launched a blockchain partnership with JD, using a QR code on a2 Milk products to show logistics information at every stage of delivery. This is just one of the ways we are working together to give customers more peace of mind and confidence in their purchases.”

“The a2 Milk Company’s premium dairy products are an increasingly popular choice for Chinese parents across the country,” said Chris Cui, Head of JD Worldwide. “As China’s largest retailer, JD has unique capabilities to offer a2 Milk assistance in terms of marketing solutions, logistics and technology, helping a2 continue to grow their market share.”

With a reputation for safety and quality, products from Australia and New Zealand have consistently sold well on JD.com, with health supplements, maternal and baby products, wine, milk and cosmetics among the best-selling categories.

In addition to a2 Milk, popular brands including Swisse, Blackmores, Devondale, Penfolds, and Jacob’s Creek have also seen impressive growth in sales on the JD platform, with sales of Penfolds products increasing by more than 200% YoY during the first 30 minutes on June 18th.

China’s cross-border e-commerce users overview 2019

E-commerce enterprises in China have taken an increasing role spearheading cross-border commerce in goods and services between China and other nations. As consumers within the country have become more affluent, some enterprises have begun importing increasing amounts of high-quality consumer goods from abroad while others provide platforms for importers to sell goods B2C and C2C.

The following is an overview of the state of the cross-border e-commerce sector in the first half of 2017.

Cross-border e-commerce market overview

From 2013 to the present the value of cross-border transactions conducted using e-commerce platforms has more than doubled, from 2.9 trillion yuan (US$ 434.7 billion) to 6.3 trillion yuan (US$944.5 billion) in 2016, and is expected to surpass the US$1 trillion mark in 2017. In 2016, year-on-year growth was 23.5%, a figure expected to fall slightly to 19.0% in 2017.

Following improvements in logistics and international supply chains, consumers are becoming “sea scourers” (haitao, researching and purchasing imported goods online) as a way to meet their needs, leading to rapid growth in the number of Chinese consumers purchasing imported goods online.

In 2016, 41 million Chinese consumers purchased imported goods online, an increase of 78.3% from the year prior, and it is expected that this figure will grow by a further 41.5% in 2017, to 58 million.

For comparison, there is a total of 765 million discrete accounts on all e-commerce platforms in China, meaning that 7.6% of consumers will make an international purchase in 2017. This also implies that while growth rates will taper off over time, the market is far from saturated relative to the size of the overall e-commerce market.

The e-commerce market for imported goods is dominated by four companies, NetEase Kaola, Tmall Global, VIPShop Global, and JD Worldwide, of which Tmall Global and JD Worldwide are offshoots of larger e-commerce platforms, Taobao and JD.com.

These four collectively account for 72.7% of the market. JD Worldwide and other companies which are able to rely on a larger e-commerce platform and strong supply chain will be able to leverage these advantages to occupy a strong market position.

Understanding China’s “sea scourers”

Survey data shows that nearly 70% cross-border online shoppers have bought imported goods in the first half of 2017, of whom just 1.6% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied, while 80% were satisfied or very satisfied.

Economic development within China has allowed cross-border e-commerce platforms to continually develop their product selection, while technological improvements have contributed towards a better shopping experience, such that consumers are generally satisfied with their options and the quality of the goods and customer service they receive.

“Sea scourers” are motivated to buy imported goods by several factors, the most important of which are a search for quality and authenticity, a belief that imported goods are a better value for the money, and the variety of brands available online from international sources.

In a market such as China, where e-commerce is not always reliable and counterfeit goods are commonplace, it’s only natural that the most common concern driving consumers to buy imports is product quality.

In addition, clear patterns emerged from the survey data regarding spending; 66.2% of transactions were in the range of 300-1000 yuan (US$45-150), indicating that average spending among “sea scourers” is higher than among ordinary e-commerce users, but that the majority of them are not buying high-priced luxury goods. This reinforces the data above; most “sea scourers” are motivated by a search for quality and authentic goods which is harder to find in domestic products.

A large majority of consumers (65.2%) say they buy imported goods online at least once a month, with a significant fraction saying they purchase goods weekly, suggesting that buying imported goods has become routine and an important part of the consumption habits of many households.

Analysts believe that increasing consumer affluence coupled with the quality of the goods available from overseas markets will continue to drive e-commerce users abroad to fulfill their daily needs.

Preferred nations of origin

In cross-border e-commerce, developed economies dominate as exporters. Japan, South Korea, the United States, France, and Germany were the biggest suppliers of goods to cross-border shoppers. 43.9% of China cross-border online shoppers reported having purchased Japanese-sourced goods, predominantly in the cosmetic, skincare, and nutrition industries.

South Korea and the United States were in second and third place; consumers primarily purchased skincare products, foodstuffs, and fashion from South Korea and nutrition, fashion, and infant-related products from the US. France and Germany were both sources of infant-related and nutrition products, while France also provided cosmetics and Germany, skincare products.

Survey responses showed that quality is not just a consideration for consumers in choosing to buy from abroad, but also in choosing from where to buy. 36.6% of “sea scourers” reported choosing products from a given country of origin based on product quality, a significant margin over those who chose based on style (27.8%) or reputation (18.9%).

… and e-commerce platforms

Meanwhile, among new “sea scourers”, NetEase Kaola, Tmall Global, JD Worldwide, and Little Red Book dominate as preferred cross-border e-commerce platforms.

Cross-border online shoppers chose among competing e-commerce platforms based primarily on three factors: guarantees of product authenticity, platform popularity, and variety and completeness of choices offered.

The majority choose e-commerce sites which control the import and sale of all products on the site, with 57.4% preferring such sites, while just 26.2% prefer sites which offer a platform to independent sellers. Those who responded in favor of centralized sites cite quality assurance, professional operations, and stringent selection of products as their primary reasons for preferring them.

In keeping with the above, consumers found NetEase Kaola, Amazon Global, and Little Red Book to be the most credible platforms when looking to buy authentic, name-brand products from abroad.

Additionally, these three sites had the highest satisfaction rating among surveyed consumers, with average ratings of 8.2/10, 8.0/10, and 7.8/10 respectively, suggesting that centralized commercial platforms have a leg up among consumers who are accustomed to a “Wild West” environment in e-commerce in China.

By exercising more control over procurement and ensuring the authenticity of goods purchased on their sites, they are able to offer a measure of security that the individual seller-dominated Tmall Global and similar platforms cannot.

Read part 2 here.

The total transactions of China cross-border e-commerce market reached 6.3 trillion yuan (US$920 billion) in 2016, including retail and B2B according to a Chinese research company iiMedia. And, it’s expected to reach 8.8 trillion yuan (US$1.28 trillion) in 2018.

The total number of cross-border shoppers in China exceeded 410 million in 2016 and is expected to reach 740 million in 2018. The growth was 78.3% in 2016 and will slow down to 27.6% in 2018.

The total transactions of China cross-border e-commerce market reached 6.3 trillion yuan (US$920 billion) in 2016 from 5.1 trillion yuan in 2015, including retail and B2B. It’s estimated to reach 7.5 trillion yuan in 2017 and 8.8 trillion yuan in 2018.

In China cross-border retail e-commerce import market, Kaola.com (Netease) led in 2016 with 21.6% market share by total sales value, followed by Tmall (18.5%), Vipshop (16.3%), JD Worldwide (15.2%), Jumei (12.4%), and Xiaohongshu (6.5%).

73.6% cross-border online shoppers in China are female; 30.9% have monthly income of between 5,001 and 8,000 yuan; 84% are between 19 and 40 years-old; 45.2% live in the east (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, etc). Tier-1 and tier-2 cities accounted for 77.4% all cross-border online shoppers in 2016.

46.2% chose mobile as primary devices for cross-border online shopping. 48.2% installed 2 to 3 cross-border online shopping apps.

Near one third (31.4%) of users open cross-border shopping apps 2-3 times per week; 58.5% spend 11 to 30 minutes every time.

27.3% users on average shop cross-border products once a month; 58.5% at least once a month.

42% spend between 301 and 500 yuan per order.

The top product category for cross-border online shopping is skincare and makeup (43.2%), followed by baby products (41.5%) and apparel & shoes (36.1%). Only 20.4% bought cross-border health care products online; but, 37.2% expressed intention to buy in this product category in the future.