Visitors select goods at a flower sea agricultural industrial park in Yining county, Ili Kazak autonomous prefecture, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, May 18, 2023. (Photo/Xinhua)

Chongqing - Amid international trade uncertainties, China's supermarkets and e-commerce platforms have recently assisted foreign trade enterprises in expanding into the domestic market.

On April 11, JD.com announced a 200 billion yuan ($27.34 billion) support plan to help export goods transition to domestic sales. Over the next year, JD.com will procure at least 200 billion yuan worth of export-to-domestic products, assisting foreign trade enterprises in quickly entering the domestic market.

"Many foreign trade enterprises with years of experience in overseas markets possess excellent production capabilities and high-quality products. However, challenges such as unfamiliarity with the domestic market and lack of operational experience exist during the export-to-domestic transition," said a representative from JD.com. 

JD.com plans to leverage its self-operated model and supply chain capabilities by deploying professional procurement teams on-site, directly purchasing high-quality products from foreign trade enterprises, and creating a dedicated section for foreign trade products. Through traffic support and omnichannel marketing, JD.com aims to help them accelerate sales.

According to information previously disclosed by Pinduoduo, its support plan, amounting to hundreds of billions of yuan, will increase subsidies for small and medium-sized cross-border merchants, helping stabilize production, reduce costs, and improve efficiency in response to the risks of international trade.

On April 12, Meituan also announced that it will open green channels for merchant registration, operational support, and brand building to help foreign trade enterprises with strong supply chains and product quality quickly expand into the domestic market.

In addition to e-commerce platforms, major supermarket companies have also issued open letters to China's high-quality supply chains, proposing to open green channels for businesses facing export blockages and inventory buildup. These channels will provide convenience for expanding market access, helping companies enhance their understanding of the domestic market and develop new products.

On April 11, Chongqing-based Chongqing Department Store Co., Ltd. Supermarket Division announced an initiative to collaborate with national high-quality supply chain enterprises to establish a fast-track for export-to-domestic sales, helping Chinese factories affected by the international trade environment expand into the domestic market.

A representative from Chongqing Department Store explained, "We have previous cases of helping export enterprises transition to domestic sales."

For instance, a Zhejiang-based export company, which previously exported to more than 40 countries and regions, including Europe and the U.S., obtained EU certification. After collaborating with Chongqing Department Store, they jointly developed products suitable for the domestic market, achieving annual sales of over 10 million yuan, becoming the top-selling category at Chongqing Department Store, with a repurchase rate leading other brands, said the representative.

Chinese retailer Yonghui Superstores also released an open letter to China’s high-quality supply chain, stating, "If Chinese foreign trade enterprises face export blockages and inventory accumulation, Yonghui will open a green channel to enable their products to be listed in just 15 days."

Li Ran, Director of Applied Economics at Chongqing Technology and Business University, pointed out that during the window period of deep adjustment in the global trade and economic landscape, the foreign trade-to-domestic sales platform construction promoted by the Ministry of Commerce serves as a "buffer" to mitigate the decline in international market demand and is also a key institutional support for building the new development pattern of "dual circulation."

"Currently, foreign trade enterprises are facing not only the short-term shock of sharply reduced orders but also the systemic challenges brought by the restructuring of the global value chain," Li analyzed.

The Ministry of Commerce is promoting the building of related platforms to connect foreign trade products with domestic sales through the efforts of enterprises and industry associations. According to Li, the initiative can be realized by activating the domestic market's consumption elasticity, driving enterprises to shift from OEM to independent branding, and establishing a dynamic system linking domestic and international markets.

Li stated that it is not easy for foreign trade enterprises to shift from an "export-oriented" model to one driven by "domestic demand." Enterprises need to break barriers in areas such as products, channels, branding, and compliance.

"Traditional foreign trade relies on large B2B orders, while domestic sales require direct engagement with a fragmented retail market. In this regard, enterprises can leverage e-commerce platforms' exclusive channels for foreign trade, live-streaming sales, and other new channels to quickly reach consumers, or collaborate with offline new retail channels to shorten market entry cycles."

(Dai Xuelin, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)

(Chongqing Daily contributed to this report.)