Cross-border e-commerce exports keep growing, Europe the most concentrated growth market

Cross-border e-commerce export numbers stayed strong again this year, with Europe the most concentrated source of growth. Amazon's number of European marketplaces, local seller participation, and the share of Chinese sellers in the DE/FR/IT/ES marketplaces were all climbing.

A bigger market is good for the industry, but it brings two changes:

First, competition shifted from "do you have goods" to "are the goods in stock". In the early days of European marketplaces, picking the right product basically meant orders. By 2019, dozens of Chinese sellers crowded into the same category — whoever turns inventory faster and has a shorter stockout window stays ahead. Behind inventory turnover is entirely logistics capability.

Second, compliance requirements became concrete. VAT, product compliance, packaging labels — things that could once be postponed now became door-knocking issues. This year we clearly felt the questions shift from "how much per kilo" to "how do I do deferment".