Letting sellers tap into UnionPay’s massive base—and Chinese interest in cross-border ecommerce—could boost volume and attract sellers who might want to switch providers.

Shopify works with ecommerce giant JD.com to help its merchants sell in China: The deal marks a major push into China for Shopify and broadens JD.com’s international reach.

This interactive shopping format is now ubiquitous and synonymous with online shopping in China—beyond Singles’ Day. But there are some differences between regional markets: Influencers in China often work with multiple brands within a much longer streaming window, for example. But brands can take what they learn about livestreaming in China and apply it to their operations in other countries. 3.

We also expect that Amazon will make moves internationally, having filed “Amazon Pharmacy” trademarks or patents in the following markets: Canada, the UK, Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, the EU, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, and the UAE. While that doesn’t indicate imminent moves, it does signal Amazon’s intention to scale its online pharmacy beyond US borders.

We estimate that in China—where many shoppers want products from leading international brands, including luxury labels—the number of cross-border ecommerce buyers rose by almost 25% in 2020, as consumers took advantage of both direct sales from brand websites and marketplaces that have opened the vast Chinese market to non-Chinese products.

The platform will likely be focused on cross-border retail—primarily, shipping Chinese goods to other markets like the US. Per our forecast, cross-border ecommerce is steadily growing in popularity in the US, with 64.7 million people ages 14 and older taking part in it this year—more than a fifth (23.3%) of the population.

Parcels in the US, Australia, and the UK most commonly originate from China, as many retailers ship goods from the country.

Singles’ Day, the online shopping festival invented by Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba and held on November 11, is widely known in the West. Now, a series of similar “double-digit” shopping festivals from digital powerhouses Lazada and Shopee are driving ecommerce growth in Southeast Asia.

The number of cross-border ecommerce buyers in the US will rise by only 4.5% (or 2.9 million) in 2022, but other markets are growing rapidly. China led cross-border ecommerce buyer growth with a 24.5% increase in 2020, and Shopify’s partnerships with Chinese tech giants like Alipay, and with ByteDance’s TikTok, will help its merchants more easily penetrate the market.

In 2020, we found China was by far the fastest-growing market for cross-border commerce. Of internet users ages 14 and older, 24.5% purchased from a foreign merchant in 2020, followed by Brazil (14.2%), while the US lagged far behind (5.4%). But the cross-border ecommerce market is expected to grow significantly outside China in 2021.

Already No. 1 in ecommerce, China will overtake the US this year to become the world’s largest overall retail market for the first time.

AirAsia, one of the world’s largest budget airlines, is on a mission to build a regional super app. While it follows in the footsteps of titans like WeChat in China and Gojek in Southeast Asia, AirAsia could blaze a path for travel and other industries not endemic to the mobile space. Companies looking to expand their mobile business should take lessons from its journey, wherever its final destination may be.

AirAsia, one of the world’s largest budget airlines, is on a mission to build a regional super app. While it follows in the footsteps of titans like WeChat in China and Gojek in Southeast Asia, if AirAsia succeeds, it will blaze a path for travel and other industries not endemic to the mobile space.

A March 2020 study conducted by Instituto QualiBest found that 20.0% of Brazil’s internet users stopped buying products online from China. Nearly as many stopped going to indoor (19.9%) and outdoor events (17.8%).