Overseas Brands Double Their Turnover in the Chinese 618 Shopping Festival

In the backdrop of consumer recovery, cross-border businesses are showing a rapid resurgence in their operations. According to a recent survey report by AliExpress, nearly 80% of overseas businesses believe that the cross-border e-commerce situation in China is steadily improving in 2023. Benefitting from online transactions and efficient supply chains, China's cross-border e-commerce import and export volume have grown nearly tenfold in the past five years, attracting a multitude of overseas brands to embark on their "entrepreneurial" journey in China. Let's delve into the performance of these overseas brands during their initial foray into the Chinese market.

Astounding Performance by Overseas "New Brands" in the 618 Shopping Festival

Within just four hours of the commencement of sales on Tmall's 618 platform, the turnover of 419 overseas new brands on Tmall International doubled. Emerging small and medium-sized brands from global new trends in countries like Italy, Japan, and France leveraged the mid-year's most significant consumer season, the 618 Shopping Festival, to successfully kickstart their initial sales peak in the Chinese market.

Among them, the sales of the French pure baby and child care brand bonpoint increased by more than 1000% year-on-year. Overseas trendy concept store HBX, highly sought after by the younger generation, also achieved over a 300% increase in turnover.

Furthermore, the Italian organic haircare brand myorganics, participating in Tmall 618 for the first time, achieved remarkable results. One of myorganics' star products, containing organic Tamanu oil, sold the equivalent of a month's worth of sales on the first day of 618, securing a spot in the top ten scalp essence products. Another Italian brand, specializing in eye health, brieye, achieved sales exceeding 1.6 million within just four hours of opening, approaching the level of sales in its Italian stores over a month.

On the JD.com platform, the performance during the 618 Shopping Festival was also impressive. Within the first 10 minutes, the turnover of 325 brands surged by over 100% year-on-year. The turnover of national pavilions exhibited a remarkable year-on-year growth of up to 368%. Sunscreen products saw a substantial increase of 360%, luxury wristwatches grew by 170%, and infant formula experienced a remarkable 200% increase in turnover.

Relentless Pursuit of Imported Brands by Chinese Consumers

This year, outbound travel services and imported consumption have witnessed significant opportunities, attracting global brands to enter the domestic market. During the 618 Shopping Festival, the participation of foreign merchants reached a historical high, with over 40,000 overseas brands joining the Tmall Global platform, including more than 5,000 new faces.

Simultaneously, new imported trend products are gaining popularity among Chinese consumers. Within the first hour of the 618 Shopping Festival, sales of imported surfboards on Tmall Global surged by an impressive 230%. Sales of imported bicycles and related equipment experienced a growth rate of over tenfold, while imported designer wine glasses and accessories achieved a remarkable 200% increase in sales. Additionally, imported health supplements containing ingredients like fish oil and coenzymes demonstrated outstanding performance with a year-on-year growth of over 100%.

Jingdong International's Import Consumption Report for 2023 also reveals that from January to May, the transaction volume of imported brand goods on Jingdong increased by 50% compared to the same period in 2020, while the variety of imported brand products grew by 114%.

Consumers are showing diversified preferences and a strong pursuit of quality, particularly in categories like personal care and beauty. Consumers born in the 1980s and 1990s continue to dominate, and top-tier cities remain the primary markets for imported products.

These data reflect the ongoing enthusiasm and diverse demands of Chinese consumers for imported goods.

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