China’s Cross-Border E-commerce Market Soared to $220B in 2017

Chinese consumers are increasingly e-shopping around the world. According to a study released July 31 by marketing and consulting agency Westwin, 67 percent of Chinese e-commerce consumers had a cross-border purchasing experience last year, a figure that was up sharply from 34 percent from the year before.

On average, China’s cross-border buyers ordered more than once per month from overseas, the report shows.

This rising demand for overseas items has led the country to import 1.5 trillion yuan ($220.3 billion) of items abroad in 2017, driving up the transaction volume on cross-border platforms to a total of over 400 billion yuan ($58.7 billion), the report shows.

The country’s cross-border e-commerce shoppers are, in general, wealthier than those who only purchase at home. 53 percent of cross-border consumers spent more than 10,000 yuan ($1,468) and 15 percent of them spent over 20,000 yuan ($2,936) over the past 12 months. In particular, female consumers and those with kids show higher purchasing frequency and spending than others, the report notes.