E-commerce booming after cross-border exchanges simplified

The inland city Zhengzhou, Henan province, is setting an example for the rest of China on how to make cross-border e-commerce simple and lucrative.

State-owned Henan Bonded Logistic Center, which started operations in 2014, has an innovative policy on cross-border e-commerce, which has shortened the waiting times for customers dramatically.

Instead of ordering a product from overseas and waiting the usual 15 days for it to arrive, it can be picked up almost immediately from a bonded warehouse, said Xu Ping, CEO of Henan Bonded Group.

It is a landmark innovation to shorten the e-commerce process in China, she said, adding it allows customers to buy and sell products from around the world quickly.

In the first half of this year, the center handled 318 million parcels for import and export with a total value of 35.2 billion yuan ($512 million), the highest amount on its records.

The center was built as part of a central government pilot program to create import and export logistics platforms to cater for the increasing demands of crossborder e-commerce.

Zheng Guoqiang, assistant manager of Zhengzhou International Hub Development and Construction, said the integrated network of express railway lines, airlines, and shipping lines has provided swift and cheap transportation options for the booming industry.

Luo Tong, director of Xiaohongshu, a domestic e-commerce operator, said preferential policies and innovative measures had motivated his business to expand at home and abroad.

In addition to the express railway network to markets in Europe and Asia, Zhengzhou has access to shipping links via Qingdao port, Shandong province, and Lianyungang port, Jiangsu province.

Direct air routes from Zhengzhou to Luxembourg, which began operating in 2014, have also helped boost global trade and earned the title of the "Silk Road in the air".

The Spanish clothing company Zara ships its products destined for Chinese markets via the small landlocked duchy to Zhengzhou and then to other parts of the country, said Chen Tianjin, logistics manager of the Chinese company that handles Zara's products.

Efficient transportation and bypassing other borders have greatly shortened the export time, she said, adding that more than 20,000 metric tons of Zara products have been delivered to China via the flight route.

"It is quite easy for us to buy the goods from around the world, like wine and fashions from Europe," said Li Haitao, 36, a Zhengzhou resident. "It's like returning from a holiday with foreign brands as gifts.

"I think the e-commerce exchanges are not restricted to goods, our culture can also reach foreign customers this way."