At present, the speed of Chinese enterprises going overseas is changing with each passing day. 60% of China's overseas enterprises have involved more than 3 continents, 74% of the surveyed enterprises have business layout in Southeast Asia, 65% of enterprises have deployed in Europe, and 62% of enterprises have deployed in North America.
With the slowdown in the economic growth of the European market, the continued high inflation, and the further compression of the profits of cross-border overseas enterprises, emerging markets have risen against the trend in the global economic difficulties, which has become the key to breaking the situation. Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa have released many positive signals, and have become popular tracks for many cross-border enterprises to find new increments and explore new opportunities.
The first stop for Chinese enterprises to go overseas
Southeast Asian market
Among the four emerging markets, Southeast Asia is the first stop for many Chinese companies to go to sea, Cainiao, SF, Baishi, Yuantong and other logistics companies have taken it as the first choice to go to sea, J&T, Kerry Logistics, etc. have a very deep layout, and China's e-commerce platform to go to sea four tigers Shein, Temu, TikTok, AliExpress have also focused on Southeast Asia, according to relevant statistics, the current 385% of China's cross-border e-commerce companies have entered the Southeast Asian market. Why do Chinese companies choose Southeast Asia first to expand globally?
In addition to the fact that Southeast Asia is close enough to China in the simplest way, another important reason is that Southeast Asia has very strong growth potential and development prospects. Policy support, demographic dividend, and economic development have provided a strong market foundation for Chinese enterprises to go overseas in Southeast Asia.
According to the "2023 Global Retail E-commerce** Report" released by market research company eMarketer, in 2023, Southeast Asia's e-commerce market growth rate will rank first in the world, and Southeast Asia has become the fastest growing region in the world for three consecutive years. Among them, 4 regions in Southeast Asia are included in the list of countries with the fastest growth in global e-commerce in 2023, including the Philippines (2nd), Malaysia (3rd), Indonesia (7th), and Vietnam (8th).
In terms of population size, Southeast Asia is a dynamic market, with a younger population of about 6800 million, of which the number of Internet users exceeds 400 million, with the largest Internet user group in the world. In 2023, nearly 90% of internet users in Southeast Asia will be smartphone users, which is higher than in economically developed regions such as North America and Western Europe. It can be said that the Southeast Asian market is one of the most potential markets in Asia, with very large business opportunities and space to be explored.
"The last emerging blue ocean".
Latin American market
In December 2023, Amazon officially announced the opening of the Brazilian station to Chinese sellers, which attracted widespread attention in the industry; In August, Brazil's tax compliance plan officially came into effect, and after the tax reform, Brazil levied a unified 17% Goods and Services Circulation Tax (ICMS) on cross-border parcels on local Amazon, Shopee, AliExpress, Shein and other platforms, which had a great impact on cross-border e-commerce sellers and cross-border logistics companies. In fact, behind these actions is the explosion of the Latin American e-commerce market. According to Latin America Ecommerce 2023** published by Insider Intelligence, e-commerce sales in Latin America will increase by 14% year-on-year in 20233%, which is expected to exceed the $200 billion mark in 2026. E-commerce sales in the region are expected to grow at double-digit rates annually until 2026, making Latin America the world's second-largest e-commerce market, after the Middle East and Africa, known as the "last blue ocean" emerging market.
As the largest economy in Latin America, Brazil is the country with the most significant growth and largest e-commerce market. According to data from the Brazilian E-Commerce Association (ABCOMM), in 2023, the total sales of e-commerce in Brazil will reach 185.7 billion reais (about 37.6 billion US dollars), a year-on-year increase of more than 10%; *Total e-commerce sales may reach 2051 by the end of 2024100 million reais (about $46.1 billion), bringing the total number of sellers to 91 million. And the data of couponvalido shows that in 2022 there will be 22 in BrazilThe 2% increase in ** sales ranks ahead, much higher than developed e-commerce markets such as the United States and Japan.
In addition to Brazil, Mexico's position in Latin America should not be underestimated. In the process of reshaping the global ** chain, Mexico has become one of the beneficiaries of the "nearshoring" model, and has gradually become a popular market for cross-border enterprises to go overseas to dig gold. According to the relevant data released by Xinfu Think Tank, after 2020, the total amount of ** between the United States and Mexico has continued to break through, with an increase of around 18%, and it will reach a record high of 779 billion US dollars in 2022.
However, compared to other regions, Latin America now accounts for only 10% of the online retail market share, which is still lower than that of Chinese e-commerce (45%), the United States (30%), South Korea (30%), Indonesia (28%), etc. But this also shows that the development opportunities in Latin America are very large, and at present, the total population of Latin America is 6500 million, and the number of people who have used e-commerce to shop is about 300 million; Latin America's cross-border goods also mainly come from China, the United States and Japan, of which Chinese goods account for 62%, about 26 times, which can be described as a huge market capacity.
On the whole, the Latin American market has entered a dividend period of rapid growth, waiting for further exploration by more cross-border e-commerce and logistics personnel.
In the desert flows "a new blue ocean."
Middle East market
The Middle East is gradually becoming an emerging hot spot for Chinese cross-border enterprises to go overseas. On the one hand, the Middle East has an abundant young population, high spending power, and a considerable digital economy. According to the International Monetary Organization, the per capita GDP of the six Gulf countries in 2023 is 4$220,000 to $12US$480,000, both of which are above the developed international baseline (GDP per capita of US$20,000). Among them, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are the two largest economies in the Middle East, accounting for 75% of the population and 70% of the GDP of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
However, in the Middle East market, where every inch of land is at a premium, e-commerce accounts for only 0 percent of total GDP71%, far below the world average of 3%, let alone 5% in developed countries. Therefore, in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the "three major items" of social software, electronic products and online shopping are particularly developed, while Saudi Arabia's light industry is basically zero, and the acceptance of cross-border e-commerce is quite high.
After the epidemic, cross-border e-commerce has conquered cities in the Middle East. From 2019 to 2022, the cross-border e-commerce market in the six Gulf countries maintained a growth rate of 33%. By 2025, the Middle East e-commerce consumer market is expected to reach $50 billion, with a growth rate of 110%. As the largest e-commerce market in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has an internet penetration rate of 98% and an e-commerce penetration rate of 65%.5%。Data agency statista** Saudi e-commerce will grow by 12 in 20236%, up to 100400 million US dollars, and is expected to reach 16.8 billion in 2027, with a five-year compound growth rate of 135%。
In 2023, Amazon will focus on the Middle East market, and in order to help more cross-border sellers with blue ocean opportunities in the Middle East, it announced the official launch of the Middle East station "Ten Thousand Stores Set Sail" plan, which will support more than 10,000 Chinese sellers to settle in the Middle East every year in the next three years. Behind this move, what Amazon wants to seize is one outlet after another from the Middle East e-commerce market.
Unmissable potential stocks
African market
In the past two years, the African market is becoming an unmissable potential stock in the field of cross-border e-commerce, and tens of millions of Chinese people are heading towards this sun-scorched new continent to dig gold. With the rise of the Internet economy, population has gradually become a dividend and a driving force for high economic growth. According to Harvard University's Center for International Development**, seven African countries will be among the 15 fastest-growing countries by 2027. At the same time, internet penetration in Africa continues to rise due to the widespread adoption of mobile devices such as smartphones. The GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications Association) predicts that by 2025, 61% of Africa's connections will be made via smartphones, and 500 million people will become e-commerce users. As a result, Africa is also known as the world's last billion-dollar internet market.
The huge market potential has made Africa one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the world. According to relevant institutions**, from 2020 to 2025, the compound annual growth rate of the African e-commerce market will reach 155%, with a projected market size of 407$5.8 billion. Antonio Pedro, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, also said that by 2025, Africa's ** shoppers are expected to increase from 3 in 20213.4 billion increased to 51.9 billion, a growth rate of more than 56%.
At present, 80%-90% of the light industrial goods of African countries are imported from China, and cross-border e-commerce platforms Shein and Temu have included this emerging market in their overseas territory. For example, since entering the first game in Morocco in Africa in May 2022, SHEIN has been firmly at the top of the shopping app rankings on the African continent, and in August 2023, SHEIN surpassed US retail giants Walmart and Amazon to become the shopping app with the most Google Play** in South Africa.
African e-commerce started late, still belongs to the blue ocean market, the penetration rate of e-commerce on the African continent only accounts for 2%-5% of the total retail sales, far lower than the mature market, from the perspective of the competition pattern, the African e-commerce market has fewer players, a single form, and there is no social e-commerce similar to tiktok, the African e-commerce logistics market has more space to explore.