Policies support the transformation and upgrading of cross-border e-commerce industry

In the process of high-quality development of foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce is playing an increasingly crucial role. On January 14th, the core data disclosed at the press conference of the State Council Information Office showed that China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports will reach 2.75 trillion yuan in 2025, a sharp increase of 69.7% compared to 2020.

Policy Support and Regional Trade Agreements

In recent years, the cross-border e-commerce industry has continued to receive favorable policies. For example, the "Reply of the State Council on Approving the Establishment of Cross border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zones in 15 Cities (Regions) including Hainan Island and Qinhuangdao" issued on April 22, 2025, clearly states that the cross-border e-commerce statistical system should be further improved, and support policies such as exempting value-added tax and consumption tax on cross-border e-commerce retail export goods within the comprehensive pilot zone should be implemented according to regulations. Enterprises can choose to have their corporate income tax assessed and collected. For cities (regions) where the comprehensive pilot zone is located that have been confirmed by the local customs to meet regulatory requirements, relevant policies for cross-border e-commerce retail imports should be automatically applied, and support enterprises in jointly building and sharing overseas warehouses should be provided.

The dividends of regional trade agreements broaden the channels for enterprises to "go global". 2026 is the fifth year since the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) came into effect, and favorable policies such as tariff reductions will inject momentum into Zhejiang enterprises to integrate into the regional industrial chain and explore overseas markets.

Industry Trends and Expert Insights

Driven by both policies and the market, the direction of industry development has become increasingly clear. Chen Yanyi, Chief Strategy Officer of Guangzhou Siyide, told Securities Daily reporters that cross-border e-commerce has entered a mature period driven by both efficiency and brand. In the next 3 to 5 years, the core evolution direction will be deep technological penetration, accelerated brand "going global", and differentiation in emerging markets. The application of technology will further promote the improvement of operational efficiency, and the influence of Chinese brands in overseas e-commerce markets will continue to expand.

Zhan Junhao, founder of Fujian Huace Brand Positioning Consulting, stated in an interview with Securities Daily that the cross-border e-commerce industry has entered a critical stage of upgrading from scale to refinement, with core growth points focused on increasing penetration rates in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and "going global" in high value-added categories. In his view, listed companies with independent brands and global resource allocation capabilities are expected to continue expanding their global market share, promoting further growth in industry scale, and helping China's foreign trade continue to improve quality and efficiency.

Company Strategies and Localization

With the growth of industry scale, brand transformation has become an important direction for cross-border e-commerce listed companies to cope with homogeneous competition, and related enterprises are intensively promoting capital and business layout. The 2025 performance forecast recently disclosed by Hangzhou Juxing Technology Co., Ltd. shows that the company expects a net profit of 2.419 billion to 2.764 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 5% to 20%. As a leading global hand tool enterprise, the company holds the core proprietary brand WORKPRO, as well as multiple overseas acquired brands such as ARROW and Goldblatt, to build a brand matrix covering different segmented fields and price ranges.

Cross border e-commerce leader Zhejiang China Small Commodity City Group Co., Ltd. has also received attention for its recent layout actions. The company has signed a strategic investment agreement with Egatee, an African B2B e-commerce platform, to strengthen the construction of the China Africa digital trade channel. Relying on the core supply chain advantages of Yiwu, the company has established a cross-border full chain service system and a global overseas warehouse network to assist small and medium-sized merchants in "going global", and its own cross-border business scale has also steadily increased.

Localization layout has become a key path for listed companies to reduce costs and improve efficiency in response to global market tariff adjustments and consumer demand differentiation. Lege Ergonomic Technology Co., Ltd. will launch a self built overseas warehouse strategy in 2024. Its first self built warehouse in Georgia, USA will be delivered by the end of 2025 and officially put into use in January 2026. At present, the company continues to promote the construction of its US warehouse network, strengthen investment in overseas warehouse automation and informatization, improve operational efficiency through large-scale application of self-developed equipment and information systems, and improve the entire cross-border logistics service system, helping itself and its partner merchants reduce costs and increase efficiency.

In addition, some companies have gone public overseas to raise funds, with a focus on global after-sales systems, research and development laboratories, and other fields, further consolidating the foundation of brand globalization.