Cross-border e-commerce spurs growth in Chengdu

High-profile expo to highlight advances made by Sichuan's provincial capital

Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, is at the frontier of opening-up among the country's inland regions. It has achieved this by striving to integrate into China's new dual-circulation growth paradigm and taking advantage of cross-border e-commerce.

Chengdu is hosting the 2021 Western China Cross-Border E-Commerce Expo to promote industrial communication from Thursday to Saturday. More than 400 cross-border e-commerce businesses including Wal-Mart, Amazon, Microsoft, Ito Yokado, Bank of China, and Industrial and the Commercial Bank of China are displaying their latest products and services at the gathering. Exhibitors along the supply chain covering e-commerce platform operation, overseas warehouses, finance and tax services, technological services and marketing will take part. More than 300,000 visitors are expected to attend the three-day expo, which has a combined exhibition space of nearly 20,000 square meters.

The organizers said that more high-profile events, such as forums and conferences, will be organized to bring the latest information and ideas to all of the participants. Highlighted events are the Chengdong East New Area High-Quality Development International Forum; the Amazon Global Store-Opening International Forum; the Cross-Border E-commerce Talent Development Summit; the Cross-Border Logistics Technological Conference; The Cross-Border E-commerce Sellers Conference; and the Cross-Border E-commerce Finance Summit.

The first Western China Cross-Border E-commerce Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition will mark the final rounds of the Cross-Border E-commerce Talent Development Summit. The competition will better match talent and businesses to inject impetus into the industry.

A representative from the Chengdu Cross-border E-commerce Association said that the expo is of great significance to aiding communication, business brand awareness and talent exchanges. It will strongly support the quality development of cross-border e-commerce in Chengdu.

Chengdu was approved to be a comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zone in China in 2016. The city has spared no effort to support relevant industry developments in recent years.

A series of platforms have been created to encourage, guide and support cross-border e-commerce trade.

The Chengdu Global Cross-Border E-commerce Service Resource Center, the first of its kind in the city, is one of the most significant support projects developed by the local government. The center, established in October 2018, has become a hub for major platform operators, suppliers, traders and financial service providers.

A manager from the center said that it can serve eight key functions including cross-border e-commerce investment promotion, brand promotion, incubation, big data services, talent service and training.

"The Chengdu Global Cross-Border E-commerce Service Resource Center provides us with strong policy support and rental reduction. It combines sellers, platforms and service providers under one roof to support business development," said Luo Ronghong, executive general manager of Sichuan Chuanoutong International Trade.

Local officials said that Chengdu has set a goal to attract more than 10,000 cross-border e-commerce companies, more than 5,000 relevant service providers and more than 100,000 talented workers over the next few years.

In 2020, the total trade volume of cross-border e-commerce businesses in Chengdu was 43.58 billion yuan ($6.75 billion).

With the aim of serving the changing appetites of consumers, Chengdu has been creating new cross-border shopping experiences over the last few years. The 1,500-sq-m Airport One Store, that opened in May, is one of those attempts.

Under this new model, consumers can choose to buy imported goods such as cosmetics and food in the Airport One Store. The back office of the store will then make declarations to customs upon receiving orders. Consumers just need to wait for about 10 minutes to get the goods. The time is much shorter than the traditional method.

"The monthly income hit 1 million yuan in less than two months," said Zeng Shaozhe, manager of the store.

So far, the Airport One Store has developed more than 20 branches. There will be about 100 by the end of this year.

Looking ahead, Chengdu will reveal more support policies, attract more leading cross-border e-commerce platforms from both home and abroad, and third-party service providers and cultivate more unicorn enterprises.

Chengdu will also take advantage of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, signed last year, to strengthen business ties with Japan, South Korea and countries in Southeast Asia to develop new cross-border shopping experiences for consumers.