The scale of China's cross-border e-commerce exceeded one trillion yuan in the first half of the year, and these brands are selling wildly overseas!

In the first half of this year, China’s cross-border e-commerce once again delivered an impressive report card.

According to the latest estimates, China’s total import and export volume in the first half of the year reached 1.32 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.7%. Of this, exports were 1.03 trillion yuan, up 4.7%; imports were 291.1 billion yuan, growing even faster at 9.3%. Although the official data won’t be released until October, even this preliminary figure already shows the industry’s growth momentum.

Compared with last year’s full-year scale of 2.71 trillion yuan, if this growth rate is maintained in the second half of the year, a new record is likely to be set this year.

What’s even more noteworthy is that the number of registered cross-border e-commerce companies is also surging. In just the first four months of this year, more than 5,000 new companies were registered, nearly double the number in the same period last year.

Press conference scene Source: State Council Information Office

Why do overseas consumers love to buy Chinese goods?

Chinese products are becoming increasingly popular overseas for a simple reason: wide variety, good quality, and great value for money.

From clothes and mobile phones to household goods, cost-effective products easily win over consumers. For example, in Northern Europe, 30% of cross-border online shopping orders in Sweden and Norway come from China, and the proportion in Finland and Denmark also exceeds 20%. In Russia, Chinese mobile phones are selling like hotcakes—of the 11.2 million phones sold in the first half of the year, 81% were Chinese brands.

This trend is not surprising. In recent years, the reputation of “Made in China” has changed from “cheap but average quality” to “good quality and affordable.” Overseas consumers have found that for the same products, Chinese brands often offer a better experience, so they are naturally willing to buy.

Source: postnord

AliExpress and Temu become main forces in overseas markets

This market recognition is directly reflected in the outstanding performance of major cross-border e-commerce platforms, with Alibaba’s AliExpress standing out in particular.

Last year, South Korea’s total spending on Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms was 4.2 trillion won, with AliExpress alone accounting for 85%. Although Pinduoduo’s Temu entered the market later, its growth has been extremely rapid, with global cumulative downloads surpassing 1 billion in the second quarter of this year, making it a strong competitor to AliExpress.

Temu global app downloads Source: Statista

In addition to these major platforms, many Chinese brands have also made a name for themselves overseas.

For example, Anker Innovations started with power banks and has since expanded its business. In April this year, its brand eufyMake launched its first personal 3D texture UV printer on an overseas crowdfunding platform, raising over $10 million in less than 12 hours. Hikvision, which specializes in smart home security, achieved cross-border e-commerce sales of 6.8 billion yuan in the first half of the year, up 22% year-on-year. Brands such as Ecovacs and Dreame Technology in the robot vacuum sector have also accumulated a large fan base overseas.

eufyMake UV printer Source: Google

There is still huge room for future growth

The boom in cross-border e-commerce is backed by China’s supply chain advantages and growing overseas market demand.

Hao Xijie, CEO of “Make Friends Overseas,” put it bluntly: “The overseas market is the biggest incremental market in the future.”

For sellers, as long as they seize the opportunity, there is still huge room for growth.

Overall, the scale of 1.32 trillion yuan in the first half of this year is just a milestone in the industry’s development. As more companies join and more brands go global, this number will continue to rise.

For consumers, whether buying Chinese goods or selling overseas, the choices will only increase.