Cross border clothing trade, the next stop is trillions of dollars in Africa

【Summary Description】 As is well known, the predecessor of the term "cross-border shipping" was a well-known foreign trade business activity, commonly known as "foreign trade". In the decades of reform and opening up, among the three major drivers of China's GDP growth, "foreign trade" has always been the most stable and helpful to the country's manufacturing, labor, industrialization, and other industries. In the place where I grew up, Guangzhou has a history of two thousand years of foreign trade. In modern times, the Canton Fair has brought many opportunities to countless industries and manufacturing in China.

As is well known, the predecessor of the term "cross-border shipping" was a well-known foreign trade business activity, commonly known as "foreign trade". In the decades of reform and opening up, among the three major drivers of China's GDP growth, "foreign trade" has always been the most stable and helpful to the country's manufacturing, labor, industrialization, and other industries. In the place where I grew up, Guangzhou has a history of two thousand years of foreign trade. In modern times, the Canton Fair has brought many opportunities to countless industries and manufacturing in China.
In the past twenty years, there has been a special group of foreigners gathering in Guangzhou, who are foreigners from distant African continents. In Sanyuanli, a traditional gathering place for black people in Guangzhou, you will feel as if you have traveled abroad because there are so many foreign faces.
So why are Africans so eager to come to China and do business in Guangzhou, the least developed region in the world? The fundamental point lies in two points. Guangzhou is backed by the Pearl River Delta supply chain and has the most mature supply chain system in China and even the world. They can wholesale and find a variety of goods. The second and most important point is being able to make money.
In Marx's Capital, it was once said that all commercial activities are essentially a production relationship. The production relationship is the sum of the four links of production, exchange, distribution, and consumption. Guangzhou can meet the needs of Africans in terms of production and exchange, as they only need to redistribute goods to their mainland for consumption. This constitutes a stable and efficient production relationship.
So, let's return to our hot topic of "cross-border overseas" in the past decade. From the platform of the Lanting Jishi era to brands like Transsion and Xiyin, all overseas companies are doing one thing: selling the Chinese supply chain to foreign customers through their own means. We often discuss a term called "business model", but in fact, there are only two types of business models: selling one's own products (self produced or self branded) and selling others' products (platform).
So, the underlying logic of cross-border e-commerce going global is still foreign trade. I often hear many cross-border people say that I am not engaged in foreign trade. The definition of foreign trade and domestic sales needs to be clarified first. If you sell goods produced in China to Europe and America, Southeast Asia, and Africa, then what you do is foreign trade. If you sell goods produced in the United States to Americans, then you are indeed not engaged in foreign trade, but in domestic sales for Americans. Are you doing this business the same as foreign trade? The underlying logic is the same for customs declaration, clearance, booking of ships, finding customers, payment and foreign exchange settlement, and FB placement. So don't worry too much about how others perceive the term foreign trade. It's not a bad synonym, external ability is the underlying logic and essence of doing this business. Digitization, informatization, and branding are tools and empowerment for you to do this business.