The Silicon Review ^Asia

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, few Chinese companies are looking forward to leverage trade tensions and tap into the new growth opportunities in the online shopping segment. In our digital world, ecommerce has become an integral part of our daily lives through giants like Alibaba and Amazon, still online shopping accounts for very little of the overall retail sales. Official data suggests that, even though China has delivery integrated into its urban system, online sales are just a quarter of overall retail sales mix. That mere quarter portion is expected to grow in China and worldwide. The majority of the businesses are now looking to sell directly through online platforms to customers, instead of the conventional store system.

Consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal’s senior director, Suresh Dalai, has stated that the trend is now moving towards direct shipping of goods out of China. This is alleviating the downtrend in exports created by the trade wars. Cross-border payments also tripled from a year ago, and the ecommerce selling trend will continue to stay. Chinese factories are now experimenting with “business-to-consumer,” and now consumers can directly purchase a customized version of a product from the factory. The direct selling model has gained immense traction in China, and this has boosted logistics significantly.