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People's Daily reporter Qiao Yeqiong and Sun Hongli

"Chinese smart products are gaining fans overseas" and "You can enjoy global shopping without leaving your home"... In recent years, my country's cross-border e-commerce has been booming. Now, about 9 million "small packages" travel between China and other countries every day, making it more convenient and faster for consumers to "shop around the world."

How fast is the development of cross-border e-commerce in my country? Data is the best proof. In the past five years, the scale of cross-border e-commerce trade in my country has increased more than 10 times. In the first half of 2024, my country's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 1.22 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%, 4.4 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of my country's foreign trade in the same period. In 2023, my country's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports increased by 1.2 times compared with 2018, running at an "accelerated" pace...

Walking into the front line of foreign trade practitioners and looking through the small business account books, People's Daily reporters will help you feel the surging development momentum that the new quality productivity has given to enterprises.

Marketing account: cross-border empowerment sales are "rising steadily"

"International shipping costs are unstable now, so we have to seize the opportunity of low prices and ship out the goods as soon as possible." 8 o'clock every morning is the busiest time for Yang Peiqin, the head of Xinhai Company in Baoding, Hebei Province. Counting, inventorying, and clearing goods... Under Yang Peiqin's skilled command, containers filled with PC sheets are orderly embarked on the journey of international distribution.

Customers are inspecting PC tiles at Xinhai's factory. Photo provided by the interviewee

Taking a break from her busy schedule, Yang Peiqin asked the reporter to do some calculations: sales in the first half of this year increased by nearly 20% year-on-year, the order conversion rate of new products increased by 10%, and the market share of new PC tiles in Central Asia alone reached nearly 30%. "This is all thanks to the cross-border e-commerce platform that empowers our business," Yang Peiqin said with a smile.

In 2013, the Shanghai Free Trade Zone was officially launched. "It was then that I first came into contact with Alibaba's cross-border e-commerce platform and set my sights on the international market." Yang Peiqin still remembers the experience of exploring overseas markets over the past 11 years. From products, publicity to big data analysis, with the empowerment of the platform, the company has successively launched patented reed boards, customized hexagonal tiles and other particle boards of different styles, which not only achieved sales growth, but also improved brand awareness.

"Our annual service customers have grown from being counted on two hands to several hundred now, achieving an average annual growth of 10%." Yang Peiqin said confidently: "This year, the company has developed new categories such as diamond hexagonal tiles, lychee-grained tiles, and sandblasted endurance boards, and launched a new PC tile production line, which greatly shortened the product delivery period. At the same time, by timely adjusting sales strategies and continuing to explore the Central Asian and Middle Eastern markets, we expect a small breakthrough in the second half of the year."

Time Account: Overseas warehouses can achieve "same-day delivery" at the fastest speed

"Place an order today and you can receive the good products from China on the same day at the earliest." This has been the shopping experience of many overseas buyers in recent years.

The same-day delivery of Chinese goods is inseparable from the presence of overseas warehouses. Overseas warehouses are where export companies send goods in batches to foreign warehouses to achieve local sales and local distribution, which is a major guarantee for faster cross-border e-commerce.

Salesmen are loading and unloading goods at an overseas warehouse of ZTO Express in Cambodia. Photo provided by the interviewee

Comparing the ordinary cross-border logistics and overseas warehouse local warehousing mode, Li Peng, vice president of ZTO International Business, showed reporters two account books:

One is the time account: in Africa, ZTO International's drop shipping time to local consumers has been shortened from about 3 weeks to as fast as 2 days; in Australia, it has been reduced from monthly to 2 days; in Cambodia, it has been reduced from 10 days to even same-day delivery.

One is the business account: since the first half of this year, in Africa, ZTO's international logistics costs have been reduced by 30% to 50%; in Australia, the express delivery business volume has increased nearly 4 times; in Cambodia, the express delivery business volume has increased by 29.3% year-on-year.

"We started to build overseas warehouses eight years ago. This not only makes express delivery faster and optimizes costs such as rent and labor, but also provides return and exchange and after-sales services, improving buyers' shopping experience and purchase conversion rate." Li Peng said that the company is currently optimizing the construction of intelligent warehousing and it is expected that the overseas warehouse business will reach a new level this year.

Industry account: One car going overseas drives the "whole chain" going overseas

"Going global and moving up", from "Made in China" to "Smart Manufacturing in China", now more and more companies are going abroad and exploring development opportunities and unlimited possibilities in the international market with innovative technologies.

At the Hisense factory, skilled workers are producing televisions. Photo provided by the interviewee

"Another new order! This is a rare second centralized purchasing order in a single month for German home appliance retailer MediaMark." Hou Lu, general manager of Hisense Germany, told reporters that the just-concluded European Cup not only ignited the enthusiasm of football fans around the world, but also boosted the overseas sales of large-screen TVs.

"In the first half of this year, Hisense TV's global shipment share continued to increase. The cumulative sales share of 100-inch high-end large-screen TVs in the German market alone reached 12.9%." Hou Lu said when reviewing the account books.

He excitedly told reporters that relying on the iterative innovation of display technology, Hisense has become the official partner of VAR (Video Assistant Referee) display for this year's European Cup, helping referees make more accurate judgments. "This is not only a recognition of our technology, but also a reflection of the brand's power in global sports events."

The “old three” exports have been rejuvenated, and the “new three” exports have demonstrated new advantages.

At the Shanghai Yangshan Port Terminal, Nezha cars bound for Thailand are being loaded into a ro-ro ship. Photo provided by the interviewee

In the Nezha Automobile production workshop in Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province, intelligent production equipment is running at full capacity. Stamping, painting, welding, assembly... dozens of processes are closely advanced, all relying on automatic production by robots, covering core technologies and component systems such as electric drive, extended range, thermal control, intelligent domain control, central supercomputing, and skateboard chassis.

Nezha Auto CEO Zhang Yong took out this year's account book: a total of 17,687 new energy vehicles were exported from January to June, exceeding the export volume for the whole of last year, an increase of 154% year-on-year.

"This year we will continue to upgrade the official overseas marketing website, overseas dealer management platform and user operation APP, expand the sales and service network, and drive the entire industry chain to go overseas with one car." Zhang Yong said.

As Chinese brands gradually extend their reach around the world, "small packages" will have more leverage points to leverage the global market. "We recently conducted a questionnaire survey, and the data showed that nearly 80% of cross-border e-commerce companies are optimistic about the growth momentum in the second half of the year." Li Xingqian, director of the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on August 2.