China Center for International Economic Exchanges releases report: Alibaba International Station becomes the new mainstream form of digital foreign trade

On March 3 , the China Center for International Economic Exchanges released the "Digital New Foreign Trade Trend Development Report" based on China's foreign trade situation in 2020 and the development of cross-border e-commerce in the past 20 years , pointing out that Alibaba International Station has become a new generation of e-commerce paradigm.

The report states that the rapid development of new digital foreign trade represented by cross-border e-commerce has become the focus of competition in trade markets and rules among countries. It is estimated that by 2035 , 50% of China's import and export trade volume is expected to be expressed in the form of cross-border e-commerce.

[Photo: China Center for International Economic Exchanges releases "New Digital Foreign Trade Trend Development Report"]

In 2020 , China's foreign trade achieved a turnaround against the trend, among which cross-border e-commerce became the fastest growing mode of trade, with a year-on-year increase of 40.1% ; data from Alibaba International Station showed that the platform's actual transaction volume in US dollars in 2020 increased by 101 % year-on-year , and the number of orders doubled year-on-year. In January 2021, new foreign trade merchants had a "good start" again , with exports increasing by 177% year-on-year.

[Photo: Shandong Lingong sells machinery through Alibaba online trade fair live broadcast]

The report points out that digital new foreign trade is the third stage for Chinese foreign trade merchants to conduct international trade. It takes the full-link cross-border e-commerce platform as the core, connects the participants in the trade process, and forms a closed loop of cross-border B2B transactions from business opportunities to fulfillment through a one-stop cross-border supply chain service system. Buyers and sellers can complete the entire transaction and service process on the full-link cross-border trade platform.

A number of cross-border e-commerce platforms represented by Alibaba International Station are constantly expanding their functions, gradually extending from the platform's matchmaking for cross-border buyers and sellers to the field of foreign trade services, forming a new model in which the platform integrates resources to provide integrated development of the entire chain of cross-border goods trade and service trade.

The report believes that after more than 20 years of development, China's new digital foreign trade has achieved a process of improvement in business forms and expansion in scale, and has become an important force supporting economic growth. With its cost reduction and efficiency improvement and its role in driving related industries, the new digital foreign trade will provide a new path and new impetus for the "dual circulation" and effectively promote the "six stability".

On February 24 , at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said that after the epidemic, new formats and models of foreign trade have played an important role. The double-digit growth of cross-border e-commerce exports shows that these new formats and models have strong vitality.

[Photo: In the peak season at the end of 2020 , Alibaba International Station and ZIM urgently provide containers to merchants]

As a representative of new digital foreign trade, Alibaba International Station has invested 2 billion yuan to help traditional foreign trade merchants smoothly transform into new tracks. Through online exhibitions, Class B live broadcasts, 3D factory tours, short videos and other methods, it has shortened the distance between buyers and sellers across the ocean and made trade online easier.

At the same time, Alibaba International Station launched the "10 billion ecological investment fund" plan to accelerate the improvement of the "digital new foreign trade" track, improve the platform function construction, and build services in logistics, payment, customs clearance, tax refund and other links.

According to incomplete statistics, last year 72 listed companies and 274 brands from 14 industries have settled in Alibaba International Station and joined the new trend of digital foreign trade.

Appendix: Original report link: http://www.cciee.org.cn/archiver/cciee/UpFile/Files/Default/20210303152112448264.pdf

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