Rewards of e-commerce flow across border bridge(3)

Deep integration

The area's parcel delivery business is now deeply integrated with the e-commerce industry.

Xu Xiaobo, head of Yunda Express in Dongxing, began selling Vietnamese products to Chinese customers via an e-commerce platform in 2008. His goods include Vietnamese coffee, dried fruit and rattan products.

"It was not convenient to send products to China back then, so I thought why not start a parcel delivery business in Dongxing," he said. Xu, who began his parcel delivery business in 2009, said, "the cost (of sending e-commerce parcels) is lower and the efficiency has been increased".

While his main business is now parcel deliveries, he has continued doing e-commerce.

An e-commerce center was established in 2022 to boost the industry and foreign trade.

According to He Shiwu, deputy head of the Dongxing E-commerce Association, the center aims to gather together medium and large e-commerce and product-supply enterprises that operate in the city. The items they handle include wood products, wickerwork, and imported food items such as nuts and fruit.

There are now more than 20 companies at the center that sell over 200 types of goods, including food items, mahogany crafts and rattan products. The center dispatches about 500,000 parcels every month and has monthly sales revenue of about 9 million yuan ($1.26 million), Xu said.

During the "Double 11" festival in 2022, the volume of parcel deliveries generated by e-commerce stores located in the center was 10 to 15 percent higher than off-peak periods. "The e-commerce center and parcel delivery companies have a strategic partnership where we mutually benefit and support each other," he said.

Parcel delivery companies have also stepped up cooperation with the e-commerce center to ensure smooth operations.

"To cater for the increase in the number of orders during 'Double 11', e-commerce companies were able to contact express delivery companies to increase the frequency of shipments," he said.

Before the festival's peak, express delivery companies prepared enough warehouse space for goods and ensured they had enough packing material, Xu said. Arrangements for vehicle availability and personnel were also made more flexible to ensure efficient delivery services during the busy period.

Xiaotujie Trading, one of the e-commerce stores located at the center, mainly works with ZTO Express and YTO Express to send products imported from Vietnam across China.

During last year's "Double 11", the company increased its stock by 50 percent based on the sales performance in 2022, said Peng Weidong, head of the company.

"We stocked our products and completed packaging at a warehouse in the center in advance," he said, adding that once the customer places an order, a well-packaged product will be quickly sent out.

At dusk, the city begins to slow down. There is no more hustle and bustle on the border bridge and stores begin to close. Couriers' electronic bikes, with parcel delivery companies' names painted on them, are parked along the street.

But the next morning when the sun rises, the border bridge opens again at 8 am, and the city springs back to life.