Hangzhou pilot area catalyzes e-commerce trade

With the transformation and upgrading of traditional foreign trade businesses, a new cross-border e-commerce ecosystem has been gradually taken shape in the China (Hangzhou) Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Area.

Established in 2015, the comprehensive pilot area for cross-border e-commerce is the first of its kind in China.

Over the past four years, the pilot area has accelerated digital innovation and opened a new channel for Hangzhou's opening up to the outside world with a focus on cross-border e-commerce trade.

Last year, the pilot area launched a new plan to encourage the integrated development of the e-commerce and traditional manufacturing sectors. Within a year, it has nurtured a bunch of cross-border e-commerce giants with its annual sales turnover exceeding $10 million.

Dubbed "new trade, new service and new manufacturing", the plan involved setting up three databanks for the top 300 benchmark companies, as well as big sellers and cross-border e-commerce brands in the pilot area, to help over 10,000 manufacturers and trade companies to upgrade through digitalization.

A large number of manufacturers and trading companies in the textiles and garments sectors, as well as the outdoor leisure products and household and bathroom products sectors, signed up for the plan, and became big sellers by making efficient use of e-commerce platforms, according to the administrative office of the pilot area.

"It takes courage to transform from traditional foreign trade to cross-border e-commerce, yet we have ushered towards great development," said a senior official from a Zhejiang household products company, adding that the company's annual cross-border e-commerce transaction volume has increased more than 20-folds from 2015 to 2018, outperforming $3 million compared with traditional foreign trade business in the same period.

"The types of business are becoming increasingly diverse in the pilot area, including logistics, supply chain, and payment amongst others, which guarantees the rapid development of our company," said an official from a Hangzhou headquartered e-commerce firm.

Now, the cross-border e-commerce sector is burgeoning like never before in Hangzhou, serving as a major impetus to the city's fast-growing digital economy.

In 2018, the total amount of cross-border e-commerce transactions in Hangzhou surged 14.1 percent year-on-year to roughly $11.37 billion, of which exports accounted for $8.02 billion, up 14.2 percent from the previous year, while imports rose 14.86 percent to around $3.35 billion.

Looking to the future, the pilot area will further construction on the Electronic World Trade Platform, work to streamline procedures on customs clearance and improve services for local companies, so as to build a more open and efficient "digital area".