Cross-border e-commerce opens in Qingdao, ushering in a new era of foreign trade

Cross-border e-commerce is booming
On May 17, the first domestic cotton yarn cross-border e-commerce trading service platform was opened in Qingdao. The platform adopts an O2O operation service model that combines online and offline services and will provide small and medium-sized textile companies with an online platform for direct dialogue with international cotton yarn suppliers. .
Dong Yunliang, general manager of Textile Network, who is responsible for the operation of the platform, told reporters that currently domestic textile companies are generally facing high domestic cotton prices, sharp rise in production costs, and gradual loss of competitive advantages in the international market. Companies have a large demand for cotton yarn import transaction services. At the same time, in production and The introduction of e-commerce in the trade link will help textile companies accelerate their transformation and upgrading and form stronger market competitiveness.
The opening of the cotton yarn cross-border e-commerce trading service platform is a microcosm of the vigorous development of Qingdao’s cross-border e-commerce. In the current recession of traditional foreign trade, not only service companies have seen the new foreign trade dividends brought by cross-border e-commerce, but the cross-border e-commerce model has also become the first choice for more and more entities to expand overseas marketing networks and achieve transformation and upgrading. .
“At the Canton Fair in recent years, short- and medium-term orders accounted for more than 80%. Although the risk of payment recovery has been partially avoided, it is also a reality that profits have been significantly reduced.” Wang Yuezhong, the person in charge of a foreign trade company in Qingdao who just participated in the 115th Canton Fair, believes , through cross-border e-commerce, bypassing middle traders and talking directly to overseas consumers is obviously a better sales model, and it can also achieve overseas retail.
Wang Yuezhong revealed: “Now the proportion of e-commerce can account for about 30%-40% of our total exports. This year, as our e-commerce team improves, this proportion will exceed traditional export methods.”
“Although cross-border e-commerce has just started in Qingdao, it is showing rapid development momentum.” Gao Haiyun, secretary-general of Qingdao E-commerce Association, said that in Qingdao, there are many cross-border e-commerce practitioners and rich business formats.
Data shows that there are about 130,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in Qingdao with a registered capital of less than 2 million yuan, and nearly 60% have begun to engage in cross-border trade e-commerce. E-commerce applications cover a variety of models, involving production, life, public services and management fields, and various business formats such as B2B, B2C, C2C, and O2O have emerged. Rough statistics show that the number of individuals engaged in cross-border e-commerce in Qingdao is no less than 10,000.
According to customs data, in 2013, Qingdao imported and exported 1.262 million postal express items, a year-on-year increase of 16.5%; non-postal express items were 3.459 million items, a year-on-year increase of 20.1%, of which more than 80% were cross-border e-commerce transactions. The industry in Daocheng predicts that cross-border e-commerce will maintain strong growth momentum in 2014.
​Policy continues to exert force
In February this year, the General Administration of Customs officially approved Qingdao to carry out pilot work related to cross-border trade e-commerce services. Qingdao, together with five pilot cities including Shanghai and Hangzhou, will enjoy a series of preferential policies to promote the development of cross-border e-commerce.
At the end of April, Qingdao City issued the “Implementation Opinions on Carrying out Pilot Work on Cross-border Trade E-Commerce Services”, which is committed to exploring service standards and specifications in customs clearance, inspection and quarantine, foreign exchange settlement, tax refund and statistics, and optimizing the policy and service environment. , to promote the healthy and rapid development of cross-border trade e-commerce.
Ji Yunhe, manager of Qingdao Dafu Textile Co., Ltd., said that this year he plans to separate traditional export and cross-border e-commerce businesses and devote all his energy to the development of cross-border e-commerce. In his view, cross-border e-commerce has now ushered in the best opportunity for development. “The Qingdao municipal government attaches great importance to cross-border e-commerce, and the communication with enterprises is also very smooth. They will be there when doing research and issuing policies. The company came to investigate and the policy is right.”
Electronic payments and authentication are also important components of the supporting environment. At present, Qingdao has 3 e-commerce payment license companies and 1 digital certification agency; the city has 6 logistics parks, 7 logistics centers, and more than 40 well-known domestic and foreign logistics companies; China Unicom’s “cloud computing” base, China Telecom Information Services The bases are respectively located in Qingdao and will gradually be built into an important data center in northern my country and even a data center in Northeast Asia.
In the framework of Qingdao’s business policy in 2014, cross-border e-commerce was placed in an important position. “Users’ dependence on the Internet has subverted traditional consumption habits and consumption models. Whether it is e-commerce or Internet, it is an evolution of manufacturing enterprises. We must guide and create conditions to promote their development so that enterprises can In the era of network economy, we have competitive advantages and have the initiative in the market.” Ma Weigang, director of the Qingdao Municipal Commerce Bureau, introduced that Qingdao will build a cross-border e-commerce platform based on the Qingdao Electronic Port, and follow the supervision of “centralized supervision, list verification, and summary declaration” model, build a centralized supervision logistics platform, and connect with relevant management departments, e-commerce transaction systems, logistics enterprises, and electronic payment platforms to achieve full electronicization and information sharing.
Direct purchase of overseas products will be realized within the year
Cross-border e-commerce will also have a disruptive impact on citizens who are keen on overseas shopping.
Previously, citizens’ “overseas shopping” mainly purchased goods through the Internet, that is, sellers purchased goods abroad or through foreign contacts, and then transported them to Qingdao by express delivery. However, after the implementation of cross-border e-commerce pilot,Retail businesses for individuals will be fully open. Citizens only need to click the mouse at home and place an order through a cross-border e-commerce website, and the goods will be shipped directly from the exporting country, and the logistics company will directly carry out customs declaration and inspection. The customs will also open a special channel for these small-value items. examine.
Industry insiders said that for consumers, the biggest change is that the tedious purchase process is eliminated, which reduces shopping costs. In addition, due to customs inspection as a guarantee, the quality of goods is also more guaranteed.
This vision is expected to be realized this year. According to the “Implementation Opinions on Carrying out Pilot Work on Cross-border Trade E-Commerce Services”, Qingdao will build more than 3 well-operated cross-border trade online retail trading platforms in 2014 and cultivate more than 2 cross-border trade e-commerce comprehensive service demonstrations. area to meet citizens’ overseas shopping needs. Based on this, it is planned to build 2 to 3 cross-border trade e-commerce enterprise gathering areas and 3 to 4 warehousing and logistics supporting service areas.
Su Jing, deputy secretary-general of the Qingdao Internet Business Association, said that according to estimates, overseas products purchased through cross-border trade online retail trading platforms can arrive in about 10 days after the order is placed.