The Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce has issued the Key Initiatives on Promoting the Healthy and Rapid Development of Cross-border E-commerce Retail Imports to support the accelerated development of cross-border e-commerce retail imports and create an international consumer hub.

The Key Initiatives has introduced a series of support policies and innovation policies to support platforms in innovation, create new models, open up more channels for business, and offer new services. It also puts forward five development goals: building a "new highland" to bring enterprises together, establishing a global "new retail" center, forming a "new business pattern" with multiple scenes and a "new network" connecting the world, and forming a world-class "new business ecosystem". 

More foreign consumer brands introduced 

Statistics show that 801 first-stores (including 78 first-stores nationwide) were brought into Chengdu in 2021, making Chengdu rank among the top three in China following Shanghai (1,078) and Beijing (901). The international design elements with different styles and a variety of consumer experiences give the public a real sense of the vitality of Chengdu as an international consumer hub in the making. 

Such momentum will continue in 2022. For bringing in and nurturing business entities, the Key Initiatives proposes that the carrier-based platforms should pool and integrate resources to connect with global brands, enterprises and products. Sichuan should make great efforts to introduce foreign retail consumer brands such as yoga and sports, Japanese and Korean fashion FMCG, and affordable luxury brands. Sichuan should also give impetus to them to set up headquarters and build new retail first stores and flagship stores, thus driving the growth of Western China through consumption. 

We encourage the diversified development of business entities. Local enterprises are encouraged to develop cross-border e-commerce retail imports through self-built platforms, mini-programs and online stores. Sichuan enterprises whose import amount reaches a certain level will be given incentives and import subsidies based on the import amount. 

To support platforms in innovation, Sichuan will expand the import of high-quality and fine consumer goods such as edible bird's nests and saffron based on Chengdu International Trade City, create a model that integrates various business forms such as wholesale, retail and cross-border e-commerce, and build a global import and exhibition center for consumer goods. We will take medical devices, cosmetic medicine, dentistry, cosmeceuticals and other products as the starting point to create an import port for pharmaceuticals (cosmetic medicine) and other characteristic commodities. Based on the brand effect of the existing ice and snow resources, Sichuan will be made into an import port for ice and snow sports equipment. 

More speedy "overseas online shopping" experiences 

Located near the gate of Chengdu Airport Bonded Logistics Center, "Airport No. 1" adopts the "stores in the front and warehouses in the back + fast delivery" model of cross-border retail imports, bringing consumers a different experience of extremely fast "online shopping". After consumers purchase imported goods on the spot, the back-end system will declare to the customs in real time, and through the integrated supervision of "review, inspection and release", cross-border goods stored in nearby bonded warehouses can be delivered to consumers in about 10 minutes. 

Such speedy "overseas online shopping" experiences will increase in Sichuan. The Key Initiatives encourages enterprises to develop models such as "stores in the front and warehouses in the back + fast delivery", expand customer sources by setting up offline display stores in areas with dense crowds and concentrated consumer groups, and support the creation of five new cross-border e-commerce consumption scenarios throughout the year. 

For innovative business, culture and tourism consumption scenarios, we will support the Xindu JF Dry Ski Four Season Resort, Bonski, Meishan Legoland and other tourist attractions in setting up customs supervision sites to create a cross-border e-commerce import consumption scenario that combines business, culture and tourism. 

In addition, for the innovation of business models, the Key Initiatives also proposes that the establishment of duty-free stores in the port and city should be accelerated to meet the higher consumption needs of the public and create a new highland of quality life. 

More innovative channels to facilitate global trade 

In the first quarter of this year, the cross-border e-commerce transaction volume in Sichuan came to 18.052 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 71.2%. The new business form of foreign trade represented by cross-border e-commerce has become a new growth point to promote the steady development of Sichuan's foreign trade. 

In order to further support the "expansion and increment" of cross-border e-commerce imports, the Key Initiatives proposes that more channels should be opened up to form a "new network" that connects the world. 

For international trains, we will sort out the main export commodities of the countries along the China-Europe Railway Express and China-Laos Railway, carry out accurate investment promotion for imports, and utilize highway-railway coordinated transport to allow trains to drive the development of more regions. More than 10 overseas warehouses will be set up in hub countries along the railway through financing, strategic cooperation and other means. 

For aviation logistics, we will deepen the joint development of comprehensive bonded areas, bonded logistics centers (type B) and airports, and open more than five freight routes from Chengdu to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, ASEAN countries and other countries (regions).