ENRICH in China Webinar – E-commerce development in China

On 26 May 2021 Bart Horsten was a speaker during a webinar about E-commerce in China, organized by ENRICH in China. ENRICH is a global network of centers and hubs that promotes internationalization of European science, technology and innovation (STI), promoted by the European Commission through Horizon 2020. Since 2019 Horsten is a partner to ENRICH through its wholly-foreign-owned affiliate in Xi’an, offering soft landing services to European SMEs.

The presentation started with an introduction about the specific characteristics of this huge and fast developing E-commerce ecosystem in China and the major players in the market. Bart also focused on the differences in consumer behavior between China and the West. 

The different E-commerce business models for European SMEs were also introduced, including the explanation of the difference between ‘domestic’ e-commerce and cross-border e-commerce. Bart also talked about ‘social commerce’, which is e-commerce through social media, and the concept of ‘New Retail’, a mixture of offline and online sales.

To conclude, the typical challenges and opportunities for European SMEs were demonstrated through case studies and examples, followed by a speech by Mr. Sun Yong, CEO of Accelet Corporation and a Q&A session.

The webinar was attended by 35 participants.