China: cross-border ecommerce growth rates to remain in double digits through 2019

In recent years, the main category boosting cross-border ecommerce in China has been health and wellness products. As a result of environmental pollution and following a number of food safety scandals that have rocked the country recently, consumers in China have developed an inherent suspicion of local food supplies, the same source indicates.

Data on cross-border ecommerce illustrates the concerns of wary shoppers across the country. For example, a December 2015 survey of cross-border digital buyers in China published by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) found that milk powder and baby products, along with health and wellness products, ranked among the top four product categories purchased from foreign sites. Australia, which has a reputation for making healthy and natural products, has been a major beneficiary of this demand. However, Australia is not the top seller of goods to consumers in China. According to Alibaba and CBNData, Australia accounted for just 7.9% of foreign sales to digital buyers in China on its Tmall marketplace in 2016, behind Japan (19.3%), the US (18.3%), South Korea (13.6%) and Germany (8%).