Actually, even before Wang saw those two cans of milk powder on her computer screen, Xu's team had received orders from their partner and bought formula from Germany. When Wang saw them online, they were already sitting in the Guangzhou warehouse after going through all the procedures of customs clearance and quality supervision.
Their warehouse is 6,000 square meters, and they're now building another one that will be five times bigger.
As the workers sorted out the Wangs' order in the warehouse, a delivery note was generated on the network together with the bill and her ID info, which would be sent to Guangzhou's customs and quality supervision departments through a virtual channel.
Open and aboveboard
It was not just language obstacles that made mothers like Wang give up on foreign e-commerce websites.
Chinese parents who buy foreign milk powder form various online groups on social media, including WeChat. They compare notes on the taste and quality of various brands of formula all the time. The news that customs are stepping up their duty inspections was rapidly spread in their groups.
"I was worried about the duties, and even more worried about the delay," said Wang, "my daughter was waiting to be fed."
Now domestic e-commerce platforms are completely open and aboveboard. When Wang gazed back at her order, she was not aware the customs and quality supervision department had already given the green light to its delivery.
The General Administration of Customs announced in 2014 that all cross-border e-commerce platforms must be linked to the customs' network. The decision has not only prevented duty evasion but also sped up transactions.
The boom in cross-border e-commerce can be, to a large extent, attributed to the government's open attitude toward e-commerce enterprises dealing in imported goods, said Chen Yongjun, professor of economics and management at Guangdong University of Finance & Economics.
The growing number of transactions has also posed great challenges to supervision departments. Consumers are demanding ever greater efficiency, and the government has to adapt to the Internet age.
In May, the General Administration of Customs stipulated that customs must work with cross-border e-commerce platforms 24/7 and goods must be cleared within 24 hours of arriving at customs.
Thanks to these policies, it took less than a day for Wang's two cans of milk powder to be declared, checked and cleared.
At another cross-border e-commerce supervision center in Guangzhou where customs officers work alongside the quality supervision department, clearance takes less than 10 minutes.
Saving time is not the only advantage of buying from domestic cross-border commerce platforms, according to Duan Weichang, associate professor of management of Guangzhou University. As everything is "under the sunshine" now, potential quality problems could be prevented.
Greater expectations
Wang's two cans of German formula arrived four days after she placed her order, compared to the three weeks it used to take when she ordered from foreign websites. Her daughter, and millions of others, will rely on these sophisticated platforms for their supply of nutrients, a fact Chinese middle class parents are resigned to.
However, Wang still regularly visits overseas e-commerce websites, as the local ones only provide baby formula, skin care items and basic healthcare products.
Browsing a Japanese e-commerce website with online translation software, Wang is now looking for cough syrup for her daughter, which is highly recommended by other moms in their online group. The syrup has the red-nosed Anpanman anime character on the bottle and has a sweet peach flavor.
Domestic-made medicines for children taste horrible and as such it's a pain in the neck to get her daughter to take medicines, claimed Wang. "Foreigners have lots of devices to make the medicine taste better," said Wang, "I can't find them here."
A Guangzhou-based e-commerce platform began importing foreign products last year. It's owner said he aims to strike deals with foreign suppliers and producers to provide products that are in demand on the Chinese market. "Chinese customers believe that what foreigners use are good products," he said.
"Online purchases from overseas is an economic activity based on consumers' purchasing power, and, compared with other social areas, it provides an opportunity for equality and democracy to all people," commented Bao Yaming, a researcher of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences' Literature Research Institute.
