Cross-border e-commerce hits fast lane

China's cross-border e-commerce sector has entered the fast lane as companies explore new growth areas and the government adjusts regulation, according to speakers of the China-Beijing E-commerce Conference.

The cross-border e-commerce value of Yiwu city, in East China's Zhejiang province, reached 35 billion yuan last year, double the amount the previous year, Chen Zhicheng, vice mayor of Yiwu, told the meeting in Beijing on Thursday.

The total deals value of e-commerce in Yiwu was 85.6 billion yuan, exceeding the deal value in the city's physical markets, which was less than 70 billion yuan.

Li Jinqi, director of the Department of E-commerce and Informatization, Ministry of Commerce, said more than 80 percent of Chinese traditional foreign trade companies have used e-commerce to develop overseas business.

Gui Lei, chief finance officer of eBay Shanghai, a subsidiary of the eBay Group, a global e-commerce platform, said foreign-trade companies-turned-online sellers have entered the advanced overseas storage model directly while small and medium-sized sellers such as college students and early-stage entrepreneurs tend to start small by conducting cross-border retail.

Gui said eBay, which started to pay attention to cross-border e-commerce in 2006, has seen explosive growth but did not provide concrete data. Sectors of furniture, auto parts and fashion products have seen the most rapid growth as eBay has enhanced its ability to help sell products overseas by cooperating with a third-party company to change the off-line delivery model into an online one suitable for cross-border B2C (business to customers).

Alibaba Group Holding, a wholly-owned subsidiary, will invest S$312.5 million ($249 million) to purchase a 10.35 percent stake in Singapore Post, a move directly connecting China's e-commerce system with overseas logistics, according to a May 29 China Daily report.

Alibaba has also singed a deal with Australia Post to help more Western merchants sell to Chinese consumers and has signed separate deals with the French government and UK Trade & Investment to boost exports to China.

While Alibaba and eBay are strengthening their capability as a platform helping online sellers cross borders, the government is also doing its job by creating an environment favorable for the development of the country's e-commerce.

The commerce ministry's Li Jinqi said the body will conduct policy research, aiming to change regulations designed for traditional foreign trade but not suitable for cross-border e-commerce. The ministry will also speed up the creation of measures enabling cross border e-commerce and further improve network infrastructure, logistics and payment systems.

There will be a forum on cross border e-commerce today at the ongoing conference, part of the China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services which ends on Sunday.