Chengdu booming as global e-commerce hub

CHENGDU, China, Sept. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- With cross-border trade representing a new direction for e-commerce in recent years, cross-border e-commerce in Chengdu has experienced explosive growth. Its public service platforms completed more than 61 million import and export declarations in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 276 percent.

How does Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan province, a city not located by the sea or any border, achieve such growth? The China Europe Express Railway (Chengdu-Chongqing) is gradually maturing, the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor involving Chengdu is accelerating, two airports in Chengdu are in operation, and related cross-border road transportation has opened, all contributing to Chengdu's increasingly rich channels for opening-up.

An import and export trading company located in the Chengdu Hi-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone, is among the beneficiaries of the development of the cross-border e-commerce industry.

A representative from the company said that cross-border consumption surged in 2024. In the first half of the year, its daily average order volume exceeded 20,000, with the daily average order volume of its bonded warehouse in Shuangliu district, Chengdu, close to 15,000 and the monthly throughput of infant milk powder exceeding 1 million cans. The company's platform saw its order volume increase by around 40 percent year-on-year, the representative said, adding that as a cross-border e-commerce company specializing in imported maternal and child products, it has served more than 2 million cross-border consumers.

The growth in sales and the development of cross-border e-commerce have given companies the impetus to expand their scale and supply chains. The above-mentioned trading company will continue to expand links with overseas brands and increase product categories, its representative said.

With diverse freight routes, products from around the world can be brought to Chengdu, while Chengdu's advantageous products such as women's shoes and used cars can be sold abroad. Chengdu is known as the "women's shoes capital of China" and is a major hub for women's shoe manufacturing in China. As cross-border e-commerce integrates with the local shoe industry, more companies found business opportunities abroad and Chengdu's shoe industry is changing from product export to brand export.

A Chengdu-based company, primarily engaged in outsourcing foreign women's shoe brands, launched its independent site this year and introduced its own brand for overseas sales. The concept of an independent site means establishing a website with its own brand to directly sell products to overseas consumers without relying on foreign brands or sales platforms.

Through the independent site, the company's per-customer transaction value can reach more than $100, compared to the previous $30.

Currently in Chengdu, an increasing number of shoe manufacturing companies are focusing on cross-border e-commerce. At the end of last year, there were fewer than 200 such companies, but the number has doubled this year. The traditional shoe manufacturing industry in Chengdu is rejuvenated, driven by cross-border e-commerce.

There are now more than 120,000 cross-border e-commerce entities nationwide. The businesses providing them services, such as logistics, payment and data, are also rapidly gathering in Chengdu.

A representative from the Chengdu bureau of commerce said that some traditional enterprises that were not engaged in cross-border e-commerce, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, are very willing to go global. The bureau will compile a manual for cross-border e-commerce services targeting such enterprises and nurture a batch of high-quality export brands.

Chengdu has planned to cultivate more than 15 advantageous industrial belts for cross-border e-commerce by the end of 2025, driving transaction volumes to exceed 140 billion yuan ($19.72 billion).