E-commerce interest will continue growth trajectory, Amazon exec says

Chinese consumers have shown immense enthusiasm for cross-border online shopping and it has witnessed rapid growth in the past few years, said Li Yanchuan, head of Amazon China Global Store and Prime.

Li said beauty, personal care, clothing and sports-related products have been the most popular categories among Chinese consumers in the cross-border e-commerce sector, and fishing, skiing, virtual reality and camping products have also gained popularity among Chinese buyers.

"Although the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on international logistics, such as the reduction of global cargo flights, the logistics segment is gradually recovering in the second quarter," Li said, estimating Chinese consumers' purchasing demand to rebound in the second half of the year.

He noted orders from cross-border online shopping are still mainly from first-tier cities, however residents living in lower-tier cities have displayed rapidly growing purchasing power. Li said he remains upbeat about the prospects of the cross-border e-commerce market in China.

According to Amazon, Chinese consumers will enjoy 64 hours of Amazon Prime Day, the online retail giant's annual shopping event for its Prime members, and purchase nearly 20,000 brands worldwide, nearly 3 million new selected products and 2 million discounted overseas products from the Amazon Global Store.

In October 2016, Amazon launched Amazon Prime in China, the first global membership program with unlimited free cross-border shipping.

Statistics from the General Administration of Customs showed the import and export value of China's cross-border e-commerce reached 1.98 trillion yuan ($295.6 billion) in 2021, up 15 percent year-on-year.

In addition, the nation has further optimized the list of imported retail goods for cross-border e-commerce starting March 1. A total of 29 product categories with strong demand from consumers in recent years, such as ski equipment, dishwashers and tomato juice, have been added to the list, according to a statement jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance and seven other central departments in late February.