In 2015, a2 Milk chose JD Worldwide as the first online platform to launch its first-party store in China and introduce its world-famous milk powder products to the Chinese market. China is the top priority market for a2 Milk, and many Chinese parents have become customers of the company’s milk formula, which is designed to be easier for children to digest.

Over the past 4 years, JD has leveraged its unique insights into the Chinese market and consumer preferences to provide a2 Milk with customized marketing solutions, increasing the brand’s recognition among Chinese consumers.

On June 18 this year, the peak day of JD.com’s annual 18-day “6.18” anniversary sales festival, a2 Milk was the top-selling brand on JD Worldwide, and the brand’s platinum baby milk powder was the best-selling product. Sales of a2 products on the day increased 210% compared to the previous year.

Earlier this year, a2 Milk was a participant in JD.com’s “Brand Competitiveness Plan“, a one-month program which is an extension of JD’s previous Super Brand Day program and provides brands with comprehensive marketing solutions to increase sales performance and build up brand recognition.

Marketing solutions offered through this initiative include guidance on marketing campaign timing, choice of promotional channels, and help in identifying the target audience for a campaign. On every day of the one-month long campaign for a2 Milk, JD helped the company identify a group of customers who had indicated interest in a2 products within a specific period of time but had not yet made an order.

Coupons were then sent to these high potential customers. The ROI of coupons during the month of the campaign was 3.6 times higher than the typical average, and fans of the a2 Milk online store on JD Worldwide surpassed 1 million users.

“China is the top growth market for The a2 Milk Company, and JD.com’s expertise in innovative marketing has consistently allowed us to make the most of this exciting opportunity,” said Xiao Li, CEO of a2 Greater China. “Last year, we launched a blockchain partnership with JD, using a QR code on a2 Milk products to show logistics information at every stage of delivery. This is just one of the ways we are working together to give customers more peace of mind and confidence in their purchases.”

“The a2 Milk Company’s premium dairy products are an increasingly popular choice for Chinese parents across the country,” said Chris Cui, Head of JD Worldwide. “As China’s largest retailer, JD has unique capabilities to offer a2 Milk assistance in terms of marketing solutions, logistics and technology, helping a2 continue to grow their market share.”

With a reputation for safety and quality, products from Australia and New Zealand have consistently sold well on JD.com, with health supplements, maternal and baby products, wine, milk and cosmetics among the best-selling categories.

In addition to a2 Milk, popular brands including Swisse, Blackmores, Devondale, Penfolds, and Jacob’s Creek have also seen impressive growth in sales on the JD platform, with sales of Penfolds products increasing by more than 200% YoY during the first 30 minutes on June 18th.

China’s cross-border e-commerce users overview 2019

With the fast growth of cross-border retail e-commerce market and the increasing consumption strength in China, the Australian natural health brand Swisse announced its official entry into this market on 8 April 2017.

Chinese consumers will soon be able to buy Swisse products in offline retail stores in addition to the current cross-border e-commerce channels.

Chinese consumers’ demand in this category of products is extremely strong; and, there is a trend of explosive growth according to Liu Peng, the GM of Tmall Global. Tmall will allocate more resources for health supplement products; and, Swisse is to invest RMB 600 million for the strategic cooperation with Tmall.

Swisse has already been benefiting from cross-border e-commerce operations with Tmall Global, JD Worldwide, VIP Global (Vipshop), Kaola, and Xiaohongshu.

Swisse products have now successfully entered Australia, New Zealand, China, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands markets. It plans to launch in 30 countries in the next five years.

Cross-border e-commerce can no longer meet the expectation of Swiss for this RMB 170 billion market. Swisse products to be sold in retail stores will be in line with food safety and supervision of the local government with different prices.

The Chinese majority owner of vitamins group Swisse Wellness had moved to full ownership with a $311 million buyout of the remaining 17% of the company in December 2016.

China online shopping market forecast 2017-2019

The number of outbound Chinese tourists surged during the Chinese New Year holidays in 2016 and many countries and regions have been ready to meet the Chinese tourist shopping tide. Japan, Thailand, and Australia were popular outbound destinations.

Chinese outbound tourists to Japan was predicted to reach a record high of 6 million person-trips during CNY in 2016 according to Japan Tourism Organization. Japan was the second popular outbound destination of Chinese tourists during CNY. The most popular destination was Thailand.

The Japanese retail industry faced a large number of shopping Chinese during CNY in 2016. Famous Japan travel attractions were crowded with Chinese tourists. Hotel accommodation fees increased and China to Japan airplane tickets also increased.

Japan’s official statistics showed that Japan’s tourism revenue turned to profitability in 2015 for the first time in 53 years. However, the increase of Chinese tourists visiting Japan has slowed since the second half of 2015.

Australia was also popular among Chinese tourists. China had more than 10 million people applying for a visa to Australia in January 2016, which has set a new monthly record high. Although Chinese tourists were still enthusiastic in shopping, they were more rational towards goods.

Also read: China Outbound Travelers Shopping Overview 2015

A total number of 220 million Chinese residents will travel overseas with a total spend of $450 billion in 2025 , up from 120 million residents spending $250 billion in 2015 according to Goldman Sachs’ report.

120 million Chinese tourists will travel overseas in 2015, with 70 million traveling to Hong Kong/Macau, around 5 million to Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, 12 million to ASEAN, and 2 million to the US; and, two thirds of current outbound travelers are millennials (15-35 years old), estimated by Goldman Sachs.

70 million Chinese travelers who visited Hong Kong and Macau in 2015, where it doesn’t require a passport but a permit to enter.

Only 4% people in China currently holds a passport and this figure are expected to reach 12% within 10 years. The number of travel-ready millennials who will graduate from Chinese universities in the next 10
will reach 74 million.

The number of Chinese residents who will visit Japan will reach 16 million in 2025, up from 5 million in 2015. The average cost of a package tour to Japan is $2,000, including money spent on shopping ($1,000). Korea, Australia and Europe are also expected to become tourist hot spots.

Also read: China Travel Market Overview for Q4 2015

The year 2015 sees Australia’s most popular tourism market since 2000 when the Olympics was held in Sydney. 91 million Australian dollars (US$62.79 million) was spent every day in Australia by international tourists, where Chinese tourists contributed 19 million Australian dollars (US$13.11 million).

Since late last year, the Australian dollar dropped further after experiencing a slight rebound last month. The exchange rate of the Australian dollar against RMB continued to weaken this year although several intermediate rises. As of September 2 2015, the Australian dollar against RMB had fallen by about 10%.

Influenced by the devaluation of the Australia dollars, Chinese outbound tourists to Australia increased. Among the international tourists visiting Australia, China accounted for about one-fifth, which was meant to bring Australia US$4.83 billion every year.

According to data of Australian tourism, the total expenditure of international tourists in Australia increased by 10% to US$23.04 billion, US$2.21 billion growth compared with last year. The number of Chinese tourists traveling to Australia increased by 22% to 864,000 person-trips compared with last year with the total consumption increase of 32%. Besides, Chinese travelers’ travel expenditure accounted for 6% of Australian GDP.

Also read: China the Largest Inbound Tourism Market for Japan H1 2015

The Hurun Report recently published The Chinese Luxury Traveler 2015, for the fourth consecutive year. The report revealed the features of Chinese traveling enthusiasts, including their decision-making process, social media habit, travel trend, sales and gifting preference.

Here are top ten highlights from The Chinese Luxury Traveler 2015.

1. More foreign travels – average traveling expense for past year

More than 200,000 Chinese traveling enthusiasts traveled to different countries for four times and 33 days on average. For the data 33 days, leisure travels are increased by 10% to 20 days, business 13 days. Last year, the total population of off-boarder travelers were 116 million, up by 17.8%, on basis of China Tourism Academy.

2. Stronger presentation of traveling agencies – DIY travelers fewer than 30%

Traveling agencies processed approximately a half of total hotel bookings. China’s Top 12 Agencies for Mainland-based Luxurious Foreign Travels include 8 Continents, Wild China*, Diadema, HH Travel, My Tour, Magic Travel*, Ctrip, Sinbad Travel*, Zanadu, CITS, CTS and CYTS.

American Express performed best in areas of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Top 5 Agencies for Hong Kong-based Luxurious Foreign Travels include Wincastle Travel, Cathy Pacific Travel, American Express, Swire Travel and Westminster Travel.

Top 5 Agencies for Macaw-based Luxurious Foreign Travels are Macaw CYTS, Macaw CITS, Macaw CTS, Hong Thai Travel and American Express.

Top 5 Agencies for Taiwan-based Luxurious Foreign Travels are Asuka Travel, Royal Jetway Express, American Express, ITIS and Lion Travel.

Mr. Hu Run said, “the list is formed on basis of surveys on over 70 managers of luxury hotels globally, which performed by ILTM, GHC Asia famed for public relations in luxury travels in Asia, and Hurun. It’s the first time we created the lists of the most popular agencies in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan areas. “

3. Destinations

South Pole traveling is increasingly popular. According to the survey, the most impressive and frequently visited destination among all is South Pole. The main reason appeals to 49% travel enthusiasts is spectacular natural views, seconded by rare animals and vegetation, 19%, and travel surprise, 17%. Additionally, cruise tour is a hit last year. Maldives is particularly attractive to Chinese rich people, and Australia, the top destination for all the riches, second by France, without any surprise.

Great Britain and Italy are the two countries increasingly attracted to travelers, in sharp contrast with German and Swiss that see a drop in interested travelers. Moreover, exotic destinations like Hawaii and Dubai enjoy the popularity among rich people in recent two years, while Sanya and Tibet are of great appeal among all China attractions. For those traveling enthusiasts, they made traveling decisions on foreseeable creative experience. Furthermore, medical tour is a hot topic nowadays. 60% Chinese rich people have taken medical tours before.

Pros and Cons of Top 5 Destinations. Travelers usually visited United States of America for business and family purposes, and gave a low rating to food. Japan is the primary choice for shopping and earns the highest food rating. Both France and Great Britain attract a great number of travelers for shopping and business, while Great Britain rated higher than France in food. For Australia, it is the absolute right choice for leisure and holidays, in the meanwhile travelers rarely visited the country for business, food, family or shopping.

Also read: Understanding Chinese Luxury Travelers

According to data from China Tourism Academy, total revenue generated from China inbound tourism market reached $51.646 billion with an increase of 3.27% year on year, ranking 4th in the world, following America, France and Spain in 2013.

In 2013, top 10 countries by foreign travelers were South Korea, Japan, Russia, America, Vietnam, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore and Australia.

Also read: Chinese New Year Traveler Insights 2015

According to Hurun Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey 2015, Chinese luxury travelers on average go on business trip for eight days a month and the super rich are away for 11 days a month. And they also take 8 and 12 days of holiday respectively, one more than last year.

Chinese New Year is preferred time to travel, followed by October Golden Week and the summer holidays. The Peninsula Hotel replaced the Shangri-La as China’s preferred hotel brand; the Mandarin Oriental improved the fastest, rising to second place. Aman Resorts is named Best Luxury Boutique Hotel Brand in Hurun Best of the Best Awards 2015.

Australia is the top luxury travel destination, followed by France. Maldives shoots into third place. UK back into the Top 10.

↑ ranked higher than last year ↓ ranked lower than last year   * New entry this year

The same survey also unveiled that in China gift-giving market, travel gift vouchers continued to show a strong rise for the third year. Travel retail continues to change the dynamics of luxury in China, with 7 out of 10 luxury goods bought by Chinese now being bought overseas.

Read more: 74% Chinese Rural Residents Willing to Travel in 2014

Chinese citizens’ Tourists Satisfaction Index was 76.98 in Q3 according to China Tourism Academy , which was in a basic satisfaction level (relatively low). The top 3 countries among 24 sample countries with the highest satisfaction were Italy, Singapore and the U.S..

China is now the second most popular source country for visitors to Australia, following New Zealand with 1.2 million trips from across the Tasman in the last financial year.

In Q3 2014, the gap between Chinese satisfaction of outbound tourism and expectation was narrowed. While ratio of complaint was rising, Chinese travelers who complain and reported complaint accounted for 12.98% and 1.68% respectively. The main issues were travel products & service quality, public service including Chinese language support, and sense of security.

Italy, among all sample countries surveyed, ranked the highest according to the Tourists Satisfaction Index:

1. Italy 79.95
2. Singapore 79.82
3. The U.S. 79.79
4. Japan 79.48
5. New Zealand 79.36
6. Canada 79.02
7. U.K. 78.85
8. Australia 78.66
9. Thailand 78.49
10. France 78.23
11. South Korea 77.55
12. Spain 77.31
13. Germany 77.13
14. Malaysia 76.84
15. Indonesia 75.86
16. Cambodia 74.13
17. Argentina 74.08
18. South Africa 73.98
19. Vietnam 73.84
20. Russia 73.79
21. Philippines 73.39
22. India 73.38
23. Brazil 73.05
24. Mongolia 72.61

Also read: Rise of the China Outbound Tourism

The total number of mainland Chinese cross border online shoppers reached 18 million 78% of which are mobile shoppers; and, China has become the second cross border online shopping destinations in the United States, according to a Nielsen survey, commissioned by PayPal.

Related: Chinese cross-border online shopping insights 2016

Cross-border Online Shopping Trend

The research from Nielsen shows that over 90 million cross-border shoppers across six key markets – the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, mainland China and Brazil – will be spending over USD100 billion on overseas websites this year alone.

One interesting finding from the research: shoppers in of China (and Brazil) proved particularly keen to be protected should something go wrong with a purchase, showing that a perceived lack of security can be a far bigger barrier to a purchase than any country border.

It also revealed the top online shopping destinations in the world:

• USA (45%)
• UK (37%)
• mainland China (26%)
• Hong Kong (25%)
• Canada (18%)
• Australia (16%)
• Germany (14%). But despite the global

Characteristics of China Cross-border Online Shoppers

• There are 18 million online cross-border shoppers in China, 78% are cross-border mobile shoppers
• Chinese cross-border shoppers spent RMB216 billion in 2013 – with up to 35.9 million online cross-border shoppers expected to spend up to RMB1.0 trillion a year by 2018; Chinese mobile shoppers spent $16.7 billion in 2013
• Health and beauty products are a popular purchase for shoppers in China; top five cross-border purchase categories in China over the past 12 months are:
  • clothes, shoes and accessories (RMB22.0 billion)
  • health and beauty products (RMB17.6 billion)
  • computer hardware (RMB13.5 billion)
  • jewellery, gems and watches (RMB13.1 billion)
  • personal electronics (RMB12.9 billion).
• Cross-border online shoppers’ top shopping destinations:  US (84%), Hong Kong (58%), Japan (52%), UK (43%), Australia (39%).
• Geographic proximity plays a part in purchasing decisions; and, mainland Chinese shoppers buy from Hong Kong and Japan
• The average age of cross-border shopper in China are younger among all countries surveyed (25-44 y-o)
• Shoppers in China and Brazil value protection more than their counterparts in the West
• China is the second cross-border online shopping destination (39%)  in the USA after the UK (49%); the second (48%) in Brazil after US (79%); the second (23%) in UK after US (70%); the fourth (17%) in Germany; the third in Australia

Cross-border shopping is expected to grow by 200% in the next five years, with the greatest growth coming from China?

In 2013, the combined cross-border mobile shopping markets of the USA, the UK, Germany, Australia, China and Brazil are already worth $36.4 billion – accounting for more than a third of all cross-border online shopping in these markets.

Where China Cross-border Shoppers Shop

With the launch of Free Trade Zone in Shanghai, a cross-border B2C platform kuajingtong.com was launched at the end of 2013; and, Amazon is also going to build logistics and warehousing centers in the free trade zone.

Kuajingtong is the first cross-border e-commerce platform granted by Chinese government as they supports cross-border shopping. It is supported by Shanghai Customs, Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau and State Administration of Foreign Exchange, has the advantage in product authentic guarantee, competitive pricing, transparent taxes, convenient logistics and customer service.

Amazon China will also take advantage of Shanghai’s FTZ to help Chinese shoppers buy in the global market and global shoppers buy from China.

China Cross-Border Payment Status

Current Chinese consumers’ cross-border payment included cross-border online shopping payment, cross-border fund transfer and cross-border offline shopping according to iResearch. Most consumers used cross-border online shopping, with 65.7%.

Data showed that third-party platforms were the most popular method for cross-border money transfer. 50.9% consumers chose third-party platforms to transfer money, while 39.8% chose commercial banks. Only 9.2% would use remittance companies.

18.9% Chinese consumers preferred domestic third-party online payment; 16.6% favored online banks; and 15.5% would choose credit card offline payment.

More than 80% Chinese consumers preferred online payment in cross-border payment.

Short-term trips from China have grown from 234,000 in 2003-2004 period to 769,000 in 2013-2014, making a record number of visits to Australia according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

China is now the second most popular source country for visitors to Australia, following New Zealand with 1.2 million trips from across the Tasman in the last financial year.

The most frequently cited reason for journey was for a holiday, making up nearly half of all journeys, and the median amount of time people spent in Australia was 11 days.

Said Assistant Director of Demography, Neil Scott.

Chinese outbound travelers reached 97.3 million in 2013 and are estimated to break 100 million in 2014. China Tourism Academy estimates total revenue generated from China’s travel industry is going to reach RMB 3.3 trillion (USD 530 billion) this year with 3.76 billion person trips.

In August 2013, China outbound travelers kept growing, Asia was the main destination for Chinese tourists.

Data showed that Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand and Singapore were the top choices of Chinese outbound travelers. And the number of travelers to Australia surged 40% compared to last month. 

Reasons for the fast increase were: first, Summer vacation was a major tourist season; second, New Zealand lower the requirements for visa to Chinese tourists; third, Australia launched China 2020 strategic plan.

Recently, more and more Chinese choose New Zealand for visiting. According to estimation of New Zealand, during the five years from 2013 to 2018, Chinese’s consumption in New Zealand would go up 13%, equal the consumption of Australian tourists.

A recent Roland Berger survey confirms that outbound Chinese tourism is going to boom in Europe in the years to come. The figures for 2012 are already impressive. They expect 18 million Chinese tourists will travel abroad, of which, 4.6 million will visit Europe, with France alone accounting for 1.5 million travelers.

In 2010, 85% of the 2.3 million Chinese outbound tourists in Europe traveled to 4 countries (France, Italy, Germany and the UK); the vast majority of the packages to Europe include France. For the Chinese, Europe’s attractiveness is a result of three factors: the presence of outstanding landscapes and natural sites, the overall hospitality and atmosphere and the variety of cities and places to visit.

Europe will need to address some issues such as the language barrier and the complicated visa process to countries like France.

Chinese Are The World’s Biggest Tax Free Shoppers

Chinese tourists came out tops again as the world’s biggest tax free shoppers in 2011 who chalked up more than US$2.3 billion in tax free shopping transactions. Each Chinese shopper’s tax-free average spend amounted to more than US$1,041 per person, which is much higher than their Japanese US$681 and Russian (US$461) counterparts.

Australia is the latest country trying to attract well-heeled Chinese travellers, and has launched a new $250 million dollar advertising campaign including new broadcast, print and digital advertising showing key attractions such as the Bungle Bungles, Lizard Island and Uluru.