China to be largest cross-border e-commerce market by 2020: report


  • Xinhua
  • 2015-06-18
  • 09:08 (GMT+8)


China will become the largest market for buying and selling products online across international borders by 2020, a report jointly released by Alibaba and Accenture said this week.

The total value of products sold by online retailers to overseas consumers will reach US$994 billion by 2020, with China the driving source of growth, the report said.

Online retail worldwide will grow 15% annually from US$1.6 trillion in 2014 to US$3.4 trillion in 2020, the report forecast.

Even stronger growth is expected for cross-border retail, which is expected to rise 27% annually to hit US$1 trillion by 2020, as consumers who shop for overseas products online are set to triple during the same period.

Much of the surge will be driven by Chinese consumers, who have been snapping up foreign products outside China or placing orders online. A growing number of Chinese online retailers led by e-commerce giant Alibaba and its chief rival JD.com have capitalized on the growing domestic appetite for foreign products — from diapers and milk powder to designer bags and fresh produce.

More than 100 million Chinese nationals traveled overseas last year, spending more than 1 trillion yuan (US$161.1 billion), data from China's Ministry of Commerce showed.

Cross-border retail also rose more than 30% last year to 4.2 trillion yuan (US$677 billion), the China E-Commerce Research Center said. China's commerce ministry predicts it will climb to 6.5 trillion yuan (US$1.05 trillion) next year.

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