The Xi’an International Logistics and Trade Park, in the city of Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province, got its cross-border e-commerce pilot -- www.iesroad.com – up and running, on Oct 28, with more than 5,000 goods, valued at around $200,000, available to countries such as the United States, France, and Canada, signifying the beginning of the province’s expansion to markets overseas.

This past March, the city got approval from China’s General Administration of Customs to export its goods via a pilot cross-border e-commerce project. Construction work on the related site was completed at the logistics park, this Oct 8, with a number of e-commerce, logistics and pay-handling enterprises ready and waiting to export their bicycles, appliances, clothing, digital products, and characteristic provincial goods.

The city will also be able to import commodities as long as it gets State approval, since the preparatory work is already completed, so, pretty soon, Xi’an residents should be able to buy cosmetics, milk powder, clothes and other products at lower prices and check the progress of their purchases online. The city is also expects to have about 2,000 related jobs by 2017, as more enterprises move to the park. The site is expected to help the proposed ‘online Silk Road’ connecting Shaanxi with Eurasia and turn the park into the biggest international distribution center along the physical Silk Road, and bringing the city a step closer to being the road’s new starting point.

Taking part in cross-border e-commerce approaches

Generally speaking, there are two forms of e-commerce -- business to business (B2B), or the selling of goods and services to another company via the Internet, for example, alibaba.com or pandabobo.com; and business to customer (B2C), referring to the selling of goods and services to customers, for example, xigangmall.com or witkey.com. Related logistics companies include Shanxi EMS, Shanghai Yunda Express Co, and Zhongtong Express Co. Those handling payments include China Construction Bank, China Merchants Bank, and Industrial Bank.

Xi’an cross-border e-commerce government assistance

Shaanxi governor Lou Qinjian, came up with the concept of turning Xi’an into a national pilot for cross-border e-commerce and described it in the Shaanxi Government Work Report this past January. Then the Xi’an municipal government submitted an application to the General Administration of Customs, on Feb 26, and got approval on Mar 19. Work on the site began with online testing, on May 22, and got a good response. Lou Qinjian then met with a delegation from the Alibaba Group, led by its CTO, Wang Jian, on July 8.

Source: China Daily