Promo events help boost exports, domestic brands

Chinese brands have seen booming sales and are gaining in popularity among overseas consumers during promotional events like Black Friday and the Cyber Monday online shopping spree, as a rising number of Chinese companies are stepping up efforts to expand their global footprint.

China-made smart home appliance products and sound equipment have been favored by foreign buyers, witnessed by an explosive growth in sales. On the first day of the Black Friday shopping carnival, sales of robotic vacuum cleaners from Dreame, a Chinese home appliance maker, ranked first on Amazon's online marketplace in Germany.

Statistics from AliExpress, Alibaba Group's business-to-customer platform, showed Chinese augmented reality goggles have been the bestselling products during this year's promotional campaign in overseas markets, with sales revenue jumping more than fivefold year-on-year in November.

Shenzhen Everycom Technology Co said the transaction volume of its projectors skyrocketed eightfold in November compared with the same period last year.

The General Administration of Customs said Chinese exports surged from $22 billion in 1981 to $3.36 trillion in 2021, leaping more than 100-fold over the past 40 years.

Household solar energy panels, electric blankets, laser cutting machines and peripheral goods related to the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar are some of the most popular categories with overseas consumers among all China-made products, said Alibaba.com, Alibaba Group's business-to-business platform that helps facilitate foreign trade.

Alibaba.com said sales of China-made new energy-related goods have maintained triple-digit growth for three consecutive years. In the first three quarters, turnover of domestic heating appliances－including electric water heaters and electric blankets－soared dramatically due to natural gas price hikes.

World Cup-related merchandise made by companies in Yiwu, China's small commodities hub in Zhejiang province, is popular among consumers from around the world. Furthermore, Chinese-made electric bicycles, camping products, beekeeping equipment and wall-mounted charging piles have gained traction among overseas buyers, Alibaba.com said.

Zhang Kuo, president of Alibaba.com, highlighted the resilience of China's foreign trade merchants, saying the popularity of China-made goods demonstrates the increasingly important role the country has played in ensuring the stability of global industrial and supply chains.

The import and export volume of China's cross-border e-commerce totaled 1.98 trillion yuan ($284.3 billion) in 2021, up 15 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs. E-commerce exports stood at 1.44 trillion yuan, an annual increase of 24.5 percent.

"As a new form of foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce has witnessed rapid growth during the COVID-19 and become an important driving force in stabilizing China's foreign trade," said Zhang Zhouping, a senior analyst of business-to-business and cross-border activities at the Internet Economy Institute, a domestic consultancy.

Overseas consumers have gradually boosted their awareness of and trust in Chinese companies and products, and maintained an optimistic attitude toward Chinese brands, according to a white paper released by online media outlets Sina News and Huanqiu.com.