"Reverse Overseas Shopping" is popular in South Korea! These six Chinese products on AliExpress are hot-selling in South Korea!

During the Double Eleven and Black Friday promotions this year, Koreans snapped up Chinese products on China's cross-border e-commerce platform AliExpress, which made a number of trendy domestic products such as e-sports keyboards and fascia guns popular, and even caused "warehouse overflow" at the customs logistics center. This move also attracted the attention of many sellers to the Korean market.

As a trading partner of China, South Korea's entire e-commerce market is the fifth largest in the world , reaching 120 billion US dollars, which is equivalent to the entire Southeast Asian market. Its market potential cannot be ignored. According to the data of the Korean Statistics Bureau, South Korea's overseas shopping market is as high as 4.1 billion US dollars, of which Chinese goods account for 26%, which also means that Chinese cross-border sellers have great opportunities in the Korean market.

Especially in recent years, Chinese products have swept the Korean market. In terms of details, the growth rate of Korean overseas purchases of Chinese clothing and fashion categories is as high as 57.2%; computer office and food have increased by more than three digits ; home appliances and mobile communications, office stationery, and children's products have also increased by more than 50% .

The popularity of Chinese products in South Korea can be demonstrated by relevant data. The data shows that during the "Double Eleven" and "Black Friday" shopping period this year, Korean consumers rushed to buy Chinese products due to "reverse overseas shopping", causing the Korean Customs Logistics Center to be overwhelmed. For this reason, the Korean Customs Service has specially set up 6 teams to support customs in various places, working overtime at night and on weekends to handle import and export business.

The six most popular products for Korean consumers to buy through “reverse overseas shopping” Greater China products include Chinese "Internet celebrity" products including coffee machines, e-sports keyboards, fascia guns, blind box toys , camping tools, pet products, etc.

Figure: The six most popular Chinese products purchased by Korean consumers on AliExpress

Yong Yang, head of the Korean market at AliExpress, also said: "A large number of 'Made in China' products with relatively high unit prices and certain brand effects are being sought after by Korean consumers." Take the keyboard brand "MACHENIKE" on AliExpress as an example. It became a hot seller as soon as it entered the Korean market. More than a thousand mechanical keyboards were sold in Korea as soon as they were launched on AliExpress.

"Koreans' living habits and consumption trends are highly similar to those in China. We found that popular online products in China, such as coffee machines, fascia guns, and camping tools, are often also popular in Korea." Yongyang, head of the Korean market at AliExpress, also saw the same trend. He believes that "if domestic companies want to open stores on cross-border e-commerce platforms, then entering the Korean market will be an option with a relatively low threshold."

Precisely because of the same living habits and consumption trends, Koreans not only have a very high overall acceptance of Chinese brands , but also have an increasing love for Chinese cross-border platforms. According to statistics from mobile data analysis platform App Annie, during the overseas Double 11 shopping APP downloads in the Korean market, AliExpress ranked first in the ranking of shopping APP downloads, surpassing the local e-commerce platform Coupang.

It is understood that in order to help domestic merchants enter the Korean market, in recent years, AliExpress has cooperated with Cainiao to build warehouses dedicated to the Korean market in Weihai, Yantai and other places in Shandong, with a total area of ​​tens of thousands of square meters. Shipping through AliExpress Weihai and Yantai warehouses can allow Chinese goods to be delivered in about 3 days, which is almost the same as the local e-commerce logistics experience in Korea.

Li Daqian, head of the overseas business department of "Pineapple Jun" , a fascia gun merchant on AliExpress , said: "It only takes about three days to receive goods shipped from China to South Korea, and even one and a half days if it's fast! Many Korean consumers find it incredible!" Pineapple Jun has recently begun to pay attention to the Korean market, and unexpectedly became a hit.

The rise of cross-border e-commerce platforms, the improvement of cross-border logistics experience, and the competitiveness of Chinese products are enough to explain the fundamental reason why "reverse overseas shopping" is popular in South Korea. As Yongyang mentioned: "From Chinese people's 'overseas shopping' for Korean products to Koreans also starting to 'reverse overseas shopping' to buy Chinese products, South Korea will be the 'new blue ocean' for Chinese cross-border merchants in the next few years."

AliExpress

Reverse Overseas Shopping

South Korea