The E-commerce business in Dongguan is undergoing a new round of development with great achievements since Dongguan was approved as one of the third group of comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border E-commerce in July, 2018.

In 2018, the import and export volume by cross-border E-commerce enterprises in Dongguan reached RMB 37.01 billion with a year-on-year increase of 133%, ranking 1st in the country. The import and export volume by cross-border E-commerce enterprises in Dongguan realized RMB 26.97 billion in the first eight months in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 12%. Over the same period, China Post Dongguan Branch has delivered 56.191 million international mails, i.e. 271,000 mails/day, a year-on-year increase of 12%. Now, there are more than 10,000 cross-border E-commerce enterprises in Dongguan.

271,000 Mails Sent Internationally Each Day

In 2014, Dongguan Cross-border E-commerce Central Park was jointly established by  Dongguan People’s Government and Dongcheng Sub-district. In September, 2017, Dongguan International Mail Exchange Office and Interchange Station was put into operation and customs staff also enter the office to monitor its operation. The cross-border sector has been growing strongly in last two years. In the first eight months of 2019, the Office has delivered 56.371 million international mails, i.e. 271,000 mails/day.

The international journey of a mail starts at the moment when a cross-border E-commerce enterprise accepts an order placed by a foreign buyer to buy  Made-in-Dongguan products through the cross-border E-commerce platform. These products, after being weighted, will be labeled and transferred to the auto-sorting belt, through which they will be classified based on their destinations. Upon spot check by the customs, the products will be sent to Guangzhou or Hong Kong, and finally their international buyers.

There are totally 18 incoming and delivering auto-sorting belts with a capacity of 2,500-3,000 mails per hour in the Office. It will take minimum one hour for a mail to go through all procedures in the Office before being sent to the airport.

Shangjingcheng International Brand Incubator was set up in Dongguan Cross-border E-commerce Central Park to help Dongguan-based manufacturing enterprises to transform into cross-border E-commerce enterprises. The journalist noticed that the modern office of Shangjingcheng was the reconstruction of an old factory.  “More than 90% of our staff hold bachelor’s or higher degrees, of which, 60% are masters’ degree. Many of them also have foreign study experience.” Ma Feng, responsible person of Shangjingcheng and deputy general manager of Sainstore Inc., told the journalist. Enterprises in the Park will receive a wide range of services, including design, marketing, logistics among others. They can start business on the date of entering the Park, which will encourage more and more Dongguan-based enterprises to step into the cross-border E-commerce sector.  

With the support of Dongguan International Mail Exchange Office, Shangjingcheng International Brand Incubator and the Commercial System Reform Base, Dongguan Cross-border E-commerce Central Park aims to establish an E-commerce eco-system and a comprehensive supporting system for the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries by taking the advantage of product exhibition and distribution. In this way, a cross-border E-commerce cluster will be formed. The Park will further develop a comprehensive cross-border E-commerce industrial chain and gather more and more giants with the efforts to construct an innovative pilot park and its infrastructure, cooperate with various platforms, encourage the development of cross-border E-commerce enterprises, develop warehouse and logistics, as well as promote O2O online and offline coordination.   

An Improving Cross-border E-commerce Ecology in Dongguan

“Compared with other comprehensive pilot zones, Dongguan has the biggest advantage in manufacturing industry and its complete product categories. It is one of the important sources of supply at home and abroad.” According to an official from Dongguan Bureau of Commerce, “Enterprises from more than 200 countries and regions are doing business with Dongguan-based enterprises. More than one-third of the products sold online are manufactured in Dongguan.

The official also said that by taking advantage of the developed manufacturing industry and supporting industries, Dongguan has attracted investment from high-quality companies in such platforms as Alibaba Cainiao.com, 163.com and Amazon. As such, a matchmaking platform between giants and manufacturing  enterprises has been formed to further promote production based on distribution  and the other way round, and eventually realizing a substantial increase of  export by cross-border E-commerce enterprises in Dongguan in recent  years.

In 2018, the total number of cross-border e-commerce import and export declarations in Dongguan exceeded 360 million, involving more than 4,300 categories, mainly  mobile phones and parts, plastic products and hardware products.

In order to build a comprehensive cross-border E-commerce park network, Dongguan  has already deployed cross-border E-commerce retail export and retail import  functions in various qualified customs in Shatian, Nancheng, Chang'an, Fenggang  and Changping. Entities providing such supporting services as logistics, sorting  and comprehensive foreign trade services have been introduced as well. The  cross-border E-commerce business is spreading and booming all over the  city.

In order to further improve the cross-border E-commerce ecology in Dongguan, it’s expected that overall functions and services will be reached by optimizing and integrating such governmental services as commerce, customs, taxation and  foreign exchange in next three years, according to the previously issued China (Dongguan) Cross-border E-Commerce Comprehensive Experimental Zone  Implementation Plan. By 2020, the cross-border E-commerce import and export volume of Dongguan controlled by the customs will exceed 45 billion yuan. Meanwhile, 3-4 demonstration park will be set up, which will increase the total import and export of cross-border E-commerce sectors in Dongguan.

■ Statistics

In 2018, the total import and export volume of cross-border E-commerce sector in Dongguan reached 37.01 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 133%, ranking first in the country.

From January to August 2019, the import and export volume of cross-border E-commerce  sector was 26.97 billion yuan, up 12.0% year-on-year, of which exports were 25.36 billion yuan, up 9.3% year-on-year, and imports were 1.61 billion yuan,  up 83.1% year-on-year.

Over the same period, China Post Dongguan Branch has delivered 56.191 million international mails, i.e. 271,000 mails/day, a year-on-year increase of  12%.

Until October 15th, 2019, 3C products accounted for 30.9% of products sent worldwide through  Dongguan International Mail Exchange Office, clothing and accessories accounted  for 19.4%, furniture products accounted for 12.6%, and beauty products accounted for 5.5%.