The State Council has introduced a number of support policies, which will further benefit cross-border e-commerce!

2022 is a year full of ups and downs for the foreign trade industry. The consequences of the United States' money printing last year began to emerge, triggering global inflation and declining consumption; the Russia-Ukraine war in the first half of the year further exacerbated supply chain tensions; repeated outbreaks of the epidemic caused ports to be blocked and freight rates to soar.

Cross-border e-commerce, as the pillar of the foreign trade industry in the new era, has been deeply affected. In the first quarter of this year, the growth rate of my country's cross-border e-commerce stagnated, with imports and exports increasing by only 0.5% year-on-year.

In order to help foreign trade enterprises tide over difficulties and solve the difficulties in foreign trade work under the current complex background, the State Council held a standing meeting on cross-border assistance policies.

It is learned that the State Council executive meeting held on May 5 once again made arrangements for stabilizing and improving the quality of foreign trade. The primary measure is to focus on securing orders and stabilizing the import and export of key industries and labor-intensive industries, and put forward a number of specific requirements for promoting the development of cross-border e-commerce:

1. Introduce a policy to facilitate cross-border e-commerce export returns and exchanges as soon as possible. Effectively and orderly dredge sea and air ports and other collection and distribution, and improve operation and customs clearance efficiency. Make good use of air cargo capacity to ensure the transportation of important parts, equipment and products. Investigate and punish illegal foreign trade freight prices.

2. Support eligible cross-border e-commerce enterprises to apply for high-tech enterprises. Increase efforts to support enterprises' technological innovation capabilities and improve the quality of industrial development.

3. Optimize the services of platforms such as the Canton Fair and strengthen linkage and mutual promotion with cross-border e-commerce. All regions should make good use of special funds for foreign economic and trade development to support small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in overseas exhibitions. Cultivate a number of new import and export trade innovation demonstration zones.

From the above deployment, we can see that the cross-industry is closely watched by the upper level. The government is working hard to build and maintain stability in this last bastion of the foreign trade industry. The new policy will further benefit cross-border e-commerce:

1. The logistics problem of return and exchange has been alleviated

The extremely high return rate has always been the biggest concern of sellers on B2C platforms. Taking the US cross-border e-commerce market as an example, the cost of returns alone in 2020 was as high as 550 billion US dollars. The return rate of online shopping was nearly 20%, twice that of physical stores. By 2021, the amount of returns was as high as 761 billion US dollars. The high cost of transoceanic logistics has greatly increased the financial worries of Chinese sellers. The introduction of policies to facilitate cross-border e-commerce export returns and exchanges will gradually improve this situation.

Reports show that some regions have already put into practice the practice of making cross-border e-commerce export products “exportable and returnable”. For example, Guangzhou Customs will further support the acceleration of the construction of cross-border e-commerce hubs at Guangzhou Airport and Nansha Seaport, and support Foshan in innovating the export warehouse model.

2. Innovative enterprises will receive preferential policies

In the direction of technological innovation and scientific development, the state has provided many preferential policies for high-tech enterprises that have successfully applied for certification: the corporate income tax rate has been reduced from the original 25% to 15%; the business tax is exempted for related income such as technology transfer, technology development and service business; support from special government funds is available; employees of enterprises enjoy various talent benefits, etc.

The state's support for the innovative development of cross-border e-commerce can be described as "real money". It is reported that Shenzhen recently announced the "List of Proposed Reward Projects for the Cross-border E-commerce Professional Service Reward Project of the 2021 E-commerce Innovation and Development Support Plan", with a total of 11 companies' projects included in the list, with a total reward amount of 11 million yuan.

Since China's reform and opening up, the special economic system has made the policy dividends more obvious. With the continuous increase in economic policies, leaders in various industries have been born. Following the country's opening-up, entrepreneurs on the front line have made a lot of money. As an emerging industry, cross-border e-commerce has allowed pioneers to accumulate a lot of wealth in the early stage. Before 2020, cross-border sellers were very confident. The market was vacant and the platform was loose, so everyone could get a share of it without any effort.

This fertile market quickly attracted a large number of "gold diggers" to join. Today's cross-border e-commerce industry is seriously involuted and close to saturation. Big sellers rely on accumulated traffic to squeeze out their peers, but they can't escape the crackdown of the platform and the fluctuation of exchange rates. Small and medium-sized sellers have difficulty in promotion and have meager profits. Many are already hanging on with their last breath.

The new policy has given practitioners hope and opportunities. While it has attracted new competitors to join, it has also made old members who are eager to make a comeback watch covetously. Some speculate that the future of the cross-border e-commerce industry will be a stage where opportunities and competition coexist, and it will become a stage for excellent sellers.