Some U.S. brands and retailers are seeing major increases in their sales to Chinese consumers, but not through bricks and mortar expansion. Alibaba and JD.com are making it easier than ever to set up flagship stores on Tmall.com and JD.com. These sites are allowing companies to sell in China without having to establish full operations in China.
And recently, Walmart announced the debut of Global E-Buy; a new feature that will enable Chinese consumers to buy products made and sold in U.S.
“What this all adds up to is the rapid maturation and importance of the cross-border commerce opportunity in China. This is the future of ecommerce and retail, the growing reality that you can sell from and deliver to anywhere in the world through ecommerce,” says Jim Tompkins, CEO of Tompkins International.
This is not just a commercial movement. The Chinese government’s goal is to rapidly expand consumption as a major part of its economy. The government has spent the last two years adjusting laws and regulations to encourage spending and to make it easier to sell in China. One such example is the new online tax and tariff regime recently approved.
In China, Tmall.com and JD.com are in a fierce competition to sign up global brands and retailers to sell to Chinese consumers on their platforms. Cross-border commerce is still in the development stage in many parts of the world, but is well established in China. Costco, Nautica, Nike, Macy’s and many others have embraced cross-border commerce as a big opportunity.
“China has more than 500 million online consumers today, many of whom have an insurmountable appetite for American products and brands,” Michael Zakkour, Author of China’s Super Consumers.
To further understand the cross-border commerce revolution and how to create a supply chain to be a part of the revolution, read “Cross-border Commerce With China Takes Great Leap Forward” for greater detail.