[Local evaluation line] Give full play to the role of cross-border e-commerce in stabilizing foreign trade and promoting consumption

On May 6th, the State Council issued the Reply on Agreeing to Establish cross-border electronic commerce Comprehensive Experimental Zone in 46 cities and regions such as xiong’an new area, and agreed to establish cross-border electronic commerce Comprehensive Experimental Zone in 46 cities and regions such as xiong’an new area, Datong, Manzhouli, Yingkou, Panjin, Jilin, Heihe, Changzhou and Lianyungang. Together with the 59 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive experimental zones that have been approved before, there are 105 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive experimental zones in China, covering 30 provinces, autonomous regions and cities, forming a development pattern of land and sea linkage and two-way mutual assistance between the east and the west.

The establishment of a cross-border e-commerce comprehensive experimental zone is a powerful move to cope with the impact of the epidemic, stabilize the basic foreign trade and promote the recovery of consumption. Since the beginning of this year, traditional foreign trade methods have been greatly affected by the epidemic, but cross-border e-commerce has released great potential. Under the special background, China’s vigorous development of cross-border e-commerce will not only help to alleviate the impact of the epidemic and boost domestic consumption, but also reflect China’s confidence and determination to unswervingly expand opening up and stabilize foreign trade.

Vigorously developing cross-border e-commerce is a "shock absorber" to deal with the epidemic. Cross-border e-commerce promotes the disintermediation of international trade, which makes China manufacturing directly face foreign end consumers and provides channels for small and medium-sized enterprises and individuals to participate in international trade. After the outbreak, traditional foreign trade methods were greatly affected, but cross-border e-commerce grew against the trend. During the epidemic, cross-border e-commerce achieved efficient and rapid global supply and demand matching, and improved the global supply chain centralized purchasing capacity of China’s foreign trade. In the first two months of this year, the import and export volume of cross-border e-commerce retail in China was 17.4 billion yuan, up 36.7% year-on-year. For example, the "Chifeng Global Purchase" APP is sought after by 4.35 million Chifeng citizens, and it has become a new fashion for local people to consult and purchase epidemic prevention products online. The addition of the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive experimental zone in China this time has provided a policy dividend for the development of cross-border e-commerce, which can greatly promote the cross-border e-commerce industry to restore its blood transfusion function, help to offset the impact of the epidemic on traditional foreign trade, and also help to more accurately support the foreign trade industry to resume production and normal trade, support enterprises to ease difficulties, dredge the industrial chain and supply chain, and play a good role as a "shock absorber". At the same time, the pilot cities and regions will also promote the improvement of the overall environment of cross-border trade in China by adopting policies first.

Vigorously developing cross-border e-commerce is a "strong shot" to stabilize foreign trade. After the outbreak of COVID-19, cross-border e-commerce has played an important role in stabilizing foreign trade, stabilizing enterprises and promoting digital transformation. Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, global economic activities are facing great uncertainty, especially the pressure on foreign trade. Under this circumstance, some enterprises in China began to export from offline to online, engaged in cross-border e-commerce exports in succession, actively sought new corporate customers, effectively opened up new businesses and markets, and made up for the adverse impact of the epidemic on the traditional trade model, which became a new kinetic energy to promote the growth of China’s foreign trade. At present, the traditional foreign trade is still severely impacted by the epidemic. It is necessary to further develop the unique advantages of cross-border e-commerce, carry out online marketing, realize online transactions, guarantee orders, markets and shares, and help foreign trade overcome difficulties with new formats and new models. The state’s policy of setting up a comprehensive pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce will help popularize mature practices and policy systems, improve the comprehensive service platform, help the foreign trade industry overcome difficulties and speed up the pace of China’s foreign trade transformation and upgrading, which is not only a powerful move to stabilize the basic foreign trade and build a global supply chain, but also a "strong shot" for cross-border e-commerce platforms and businesses.

Vigorously developing cross-border e-commerce is a "catalyst" for consumption recovery. Cross-border e-commerce is not only a new format to promote China’s foreign trade export, but also a new channel to meet the consumption upgrading of domestic residents. With the improvement of income level and quality of life, the pace of upgrading the consumption structure of China residents has accelerated, and the behaviors of buying imported goods and spending overseas have gradually increased, and cross-border e-commerce has become an important channel for international consumption. After the outbreak, cross-border e-commerce compressed many intermediate links of traditional trade agency, and diversified and personalized demands of consumers gathered through the cross-border e-commerce platform, which increased consumers’ sense of acquisition, greatly stimulated their desire to buy, effectively resisted the impact of the epidemic, boosted consumption recovery and promoted steady economic recovery. With the deepening of epidemic prevention and control, the role of cross-border e-commerce in promoting the docking of supply and demand has become increasingly prominent. On the one hand, the consumption of big data makes the supply side better understand the needs of consumers, which will enable enterprises to enhance market sensitivity and produce marketable products; On the other hand, the expansion of the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive experimental zone will drive more foreign trade market players to pay attention to the domestic market, and further release the potential of the consumer market by introducing more abundant and diverse overseas high-quality goods, thus driving the economic recovery into the "fast lane".

The development of cross-border e-commerce conforms to the wave of economic globalization and is inevitably impacted by the global epidemic. However, with the support of national policies, the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive experimental zones around the country will be able to take the initiative to promote the transformation and upgrading of foreign trade, turn short-term crises into long-term opportunities, and inject strong impetus into the stable and high-quality development of China’s foreign trade.

(Original title: [Ground Evaluation Line] Tianfu Online Review: Give full play to the role of cross-border e-commerce in stabilizing foreign trade and promoting consumption)