BEYOND EXPO 2024 | Pioneering the future of innovation in cross-border e-commerce

Cross-border e-commerce has emerged as a catalyst for economic growth while providing consumers with a frictionless shopping experience. This consumption model has given people all over the world access to Chinese-made products.

A panel discussion at BEYOND EXPO’s Cross-Border E-Commerce Summit provided insightful perspectives from industry leaders on growth trends and opportunities in the global e-commerce landscape in 2024 and beyond.

The cross-border ecosystem is much more complex than a Chinese seller taking an order and shipping goods to an overseas buyer. It involves many different elements, including cross-border platforms, payment systems, investors, data service providers, etc.

Chinese merchants new to cross-border trading face a key question: “where and how do I start?”

Dina Ghazarian, chair of the board of directors for the National Consumer Technology Association and founder and CEO of Austere, said partnering with established brands and service-based companies can help leverage e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and TikTok.

Xiaohongshu, a popular lifestyle-sharing platform that has also expanded into e-commerce, aims to emerge as a service provider that leverages its content and targeted advertising capabilities to drive cross-border e-commerce growth, said Ning Guang, the company’s business manager.

Asked about the perception of Chinese brands in the American market, Ghazarian said “localization and rebranding” would help them appeal to a diverse consumer base.

“We leveraged our assets to get more diverse backgrounds and become recognized as a diverse brand,” Ghazarian said. “If we did that, no one would think it was a Chinese brand.”

But Cheryl Tan, Indiegogo’s Asia Pacific sales director, argued that consumers are drawn to brands that have a “silver lining”.

“We’ve seen examples of Chinese brands going overseas and successfully transforming themselves into local U.S. brands,” she said.

While TikTok has emerged as one of the most well-known and successful Chinese brands in the US, it also faces significant challenges, and political factors may still pose a major obstacle for Chinese brands looking to expand globally.

Panelists said the cross-border e-commerce industry is likely to adopt AI technologies faster than other industries due to factors such as time zone differences, round-the-clock operations and the desire to use AI to address cross-cultural challenges.