In 2023, press the "accelerator key" for the high-quality development of cross-border e-commerce

——Cindy Tai

Amazon Global Vice President,

Executive President of Amazon Global Store Asia Pacific

Published in "Time" magazine, created circle culture, won the Red Dot Award … As cross-border e-commerce practitioners, we have witnessed cross-border e-commerce step by step towards innovation-driven, digital empowerment, etc. In the stage of comprehensive digitalization of the logo, Chinese brands have gradually begun to emerge on the international stage.

Looking back at the ups and downs of 2022 , we have experienced unprecedented challenges with our seller friends, and the industry we are in is still showing resilience. From January to November, the total value of China's foreign trade exports increased by 11.9% year-on-year 1 . At the same time, in the past year, Chinese sellers have sold billions of items to consumers around the world through Amazon's 18 major sites2 .

Looking forward to 2023 , we are full of firm belief in development. The Central Economic Work Conference held not long ago proposed to continue to play the role of export in supporting the economy, which boosted the confidence of all cross-border e-commerce merchants.

In 2023, we will truly enter the accelerated era of cross-border e-commerce . I believe that with the comprehensive digitalization of enterprises and the joint efforts of all parties in the industry , the high-quality development of China's export cross-border e-commerce will press the "accelerator key".

Featured in Time Magazine

Just a few weeks ago, the US "Time" magazine released the "200 Best Inventions of 2022" list. A sweeping robot from Amazon seller Stone Technology appeared on the list with its innovative technology products.

This is not the first time that a Chinese brand has been featured on a prestigious international list. In 2022, Amazon’s Niu Electric will be launched . Its electric vehicles have successively won heavyweight awards such as the German IF Product Design Award, the German Red Dot Design Award, and the Japanese Good Design Award in the past few years; it has made considerable achievements in the field of bone conduction headphones. Shaoyin has also won the Wall Street Journal Annual Innovation Award, CES Innovation Award, etc. Govee , a smart home brand , has 16 sites on Amazon, including the United States, Europe, Japan, and Singapore . Its smart lighting products can meet the needs of users in different life scenarios and have won many international awards.

Stone Technology

These beautiful report cards show the fact that Chinese companies have transformed from "Made in China" to "Global Brands" and achieved initial success. In the past three years, the number of Chinese brand-type sellers on Amazon has increased by nearly 3 times 3 ; the sales of these sellers have achieved double-digit growth in the past year 4 . As the seller said, compared with traditional foreign trade, the way of thinking of cross-border e-commerce is quite different. The development of brand building towards high quality has gradually replaced the previous way of winning by price.

The commanding heights of global trade development

Digitization is the first opportunity for a new round of global trade transformation, and it is also the commanding height of future global trade development. The transfer of business model from offline to online is only one step of digitalization, and behind the frequent shining of Chinese brands on the world stage is the epitome of fully embracing digitalization from product selection, production, logistics, warehousing, marketing, to talents and ways of thinking .

For example:

The product development team of the outdoor brand Norhik learned from Amazon user reviews that "trouble setting up tents" is a major pain point. So they quickly followed up and improved the product structure, greatly simplified the construction method, and the iterative inflatable tent "sold out as soon as it was put on the shelves"; another example, KEMIMOTO , which is deeply involved in extreme off-road vehicle accessories, uses Amazon's brand analysis tool to search trends and purchase behavior , user portraits and other aspects, and successfully penetrated into the minds of consumers; in addition, many sellers use Amazon's flexible supply chain solutions to efficiently manage warehousing and logistics …

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The improvement of the speed and efficiency of the sea route is unimaginable in the traditional foreign trade era, which is also the key to future trade. In today's customer-centric digital trade, the key to business success lies in whether it can understand and quickly meet the ever-changing needs of consumers . In today's environment where uncertainties still exist, the cornerstone of long-term growth of an enterprise lies in whether it can have a development model with sufficient resilience .

To achieve this, the digital upgrade of the whole life cycle is the only way to go. This includes not only the intelligence of manufacturing equipment, the digitization of management processes, but also the flexibility of production and the digitization of user operations .

High-quality development of the industry

To develop efficiency from digitalization, to develop quality from branding, and to develop space from globalization, China's export cross-border e-commerce, driven by the joint efforts of all parties, can advance at full speed in calm times, and can also move forward steadily in times of stormy waves .

After the introduction of the "New Ten Measures", more than 23 provinces and cities have successively issued policies to support enterprises to expand market opportunities overseas . Many Chinese sellers are also gearing up and looking forward to 2023.

Just last week, Amazon Global Store China released its 2023 strategic priorities, including broadening supply chain solutions, developing in-depth new product selection whole-process solutions, developing overseas routes for light brand globalization, and strengthening localized services . At the same time, it was announced that Amazon's global store opening Asia's first comprehensive seller training center was officially completed.

The efforts of all parties fully reflect that, from the government to sellers, and then to overseas channels like Amazon, the development of the cross-border e-commerce industry created by multiple parties has formed a joint force.

The environment in 2023 will continue to change, and the global economic recovery will still be under pressure. However, the fundamentals of China's foreign trade exports are stable and the resilience is strong. These are our confidence to deal with new challenges. With the help of joint forces inside and outside the industry, the speed of transformation from "Made in China" to "world brand" will only become faster and faster; the quality of transformation will only get better and better. We will also fully support Chinese sellers to achieve long-term success and create a new pattern of global brands .

Data Sources:

[1] General Administration of Customs: In the first 11 months of this year, the total value of my country's foreign trade imports and exports increased by 8.6% year-on-year

[2] Amazon data, the time period is from 2021.8.31 to 2022.8.31

[3] Amazon data, the time period is from 2019.8.1 to 2022.7.31

[4] Amazon data, the time period is TTM ending 2022.9.30 compared to TTM ending 2021.9.30