summary

In 2025, China's new consumer market will shift from "scale expansion" to "quality leap", presenting the characteristics of "demand stratification refinement, supply innovation localization, and channel integration throughout the entire chain". On the policy side, the central and local governments have jointly introduced support measures for digital commerce and cross-border e-commerce, and the policy dividends of stabilizing foreign trade and promoting opening up continue to be released; On the industrial side, the upgrading of supply chain intelligence and localized service capabilities have become the core of competition; On the market side, International brands rely on cultural similarity and cost advantages to accelerate their entry into China. They need to take compliance as the foundation, digitalization as the lever, and localization as the path to seize opportunities in the new consumer market. This report provides a systematic guide for International brands to enter China based on policy interpretation, industry research, and brand cases.   

1、 Policy Framework and Recent Key Points: Institutional Dividends Release New Space for Cross border Trade

（1） Central top-level design: dual wheel drive of stabilizing foreign trade and promoting digital trade

In 2025, the State Council's "Opinions on Promoting Stable Scale and Optimal Structure of Foreign Trade" clearly listed "cross-border e-commerce" as a key support area, and proposed "expanding cross-border e-commerce retail import pilot" and "optimizing customs clearance facilitation measures". The Ministry of Commerce has simultaneously released the "Three Year Action Plan for Digital Commerce (2025-2027)", emphasizing "cultivating well-known cross-border e-commerce brands" and "supporting enterprises to build overseas warehouses and pre warehouses", providing policy endorsement for International brands to enter China.   

Accelerate the implementation of supporting policies by local governments: Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has launched a "green channel for cross-border e-commerce imported goods' immediate reporting and inspection '", compressing the customs clearance time from 48 hours to 6 hours; Guangdong has launched the "Special Support Program for International Brands Entering China", providing a 10% marketing expense subsidy to brands with first-year sales exceeding 50 million yuan; Zhejiang relies on the Hangzhou Comprehensive Pilot Zone to build a "International Characteristic Commodity Exhibition and Trading Center", providing integrated online and offline product selection services.   

（2） Customs and Regulatory Standards: Refined and Upgraded Compliance Requirements

In 2025, the General Administration of Customs will revise the "List of Cross border E-commerce Retail Imported Goods", adding 23 categories including International specialty fruit products and pre packaged dishes, while strengthening three major regulatory requirements:

Bonded warehousing regulations: require enterprises to establish a "one item, one code" traceability system to ensure physical isolation between bonded goods and domestically circulated goods;   

• Return and destruction management: Clarify rules such as "declaring the return of expired goods 30 days in advance" and "non degradable packaging needs to be destroyed separately", and violators will face credit downgrade;   

Label and labeling compliance: Imported pre packaged foods must complete Chinese label filing before entry, and nutrition claims (such as "low sugar" and "high calcium") must provide testing reports, otherwise they will not be allowed to enter.   

2、 The trend of industrial upgrading: the dual engines of "digitalization" and "localization" in the new consumption track

（1） Supply Chain: Digitalization and Intelligence Refactoring Cost Efficiency

China's new consumer supply chain has shifted from "scale driven" to "data-driven":

• Popularization of intelligent warehousing: JD Asia No.1, Cainiao Global Supply Chain Center and other intelligent warehouses have achieved "minute level picking", reducing cross-border goods warehousing time by 40%;   

Big data product selection: Tmall Global's "Global Trend Insight System" analyzes over 1 billion consumer behavior data to provide "hot product predictions" for International brands, reducing trial and error costs by 60%;   

Breakthrough in Cold Chain Logistics: Enterprises such as SF Express and ZTO have established a "48 hour fresh food line" between International and China, reducing the loss rate of tropical fruits such as durian and mangosteen from 15% to 5%, driving an annual increase of 35% in International food imports (General Administration of Customs, Q1 2025).   

（2） Service capability: Localization depth determines brand lifecycle

Research shows that the survival rate of International brands in China is less than 30%, and the core bottleneck lies in the "service gap". Successful brands generally build three major localization capabilities:

• After sales response: Set up a Chinese customer service team to handle returns and exchanges 24/7, increasing satisfaction to 90% (compared to only 55% for non localized brands);   

• Social media operation: open official accounts in Tiktok and Xiaohongshu, reach local users through KOC grass planting and live delivery, and the conversion rate is 2 times higher than that of pure shelf e-commerce;   

Channel distribution: Cooperate with regional distributors (such as Lianhua Supermarket in East China and Qian Dama in South China) to achieve "last mile" penetration through their offline networks.   

3、 The Path of International Brands Entering China: Practical Suggestions and Risk Avoidance

（1） Channel strategy: "Take small steps and run fast" to verify the market, and layered layout to improve efficiency

• Initial water testing (0-6 months): through cross-border direct mail or bonded warehouse mode of small batch import, select Little Red Book and Tiktok for content grass planting (for example, the Indonesian coffee brand "Gula Jawa" has accumulated 100000 fans in three months through the short video of "manual teaching+cultural stories"), and simultaneously open an "overseas flagship store" in Tmall Global to test price sensitivity and user preferences.   

Mid term expansion (6-18 months): If successful, collaborate with third-party service providers (such as Zongteng Group and DiSifang) to establish pre warehouses in East/South China, shortening delivery time to 2-3 days; Simultaneously entering Sam's Club, KKV and other offline channels to reach families and young consumer groups.   

Long term deep cultivation (18 months+): Establishing joint ventures with local enterprises (such as Thai food brand "MAMA" and Dingxin International jointly launching "Thai style instant noodles"), utilizing Chinese supply chain and channel resources to reduce operating costs by 30%.   

（2） Compliance strategy: full chain control, avoiding "hidden thresholds"

Food category: In addition to routine inspection and quarantine, special attention should be paid to additive standards (such as China's ban on the use of some International specialty spices) and pesticide residue limits (such as coffee beans complying with GB 2763-2024); The label should indicate information such as "country of origin" and "domestic agent", and the font size should comply with the GB 7718-2025 standard.   

Non food category: Clothing, beauty, etc. need to complete the "Import Non Special Purpose Cosmetics Filing" (declared online through the "Cosmetics Supervision" APP of the National Medical Products Administration); Electronic products need to obtain 3C certification, and lithium battery products need to undergo additional UN38.3 safety testing.   

Tax compliance: Cross border e-commerce retail imports are eligible for a tax-free limit of "5000 yuan per transaction, 26000 yuan per year". Any excess amount will be fully taxed according to general trade regulations. Brands need to guide consumers to place compliant orders to avoid being refunded due to exceeding the tax amount.   

4、 Business model and growth leverage: differentiation breakthrough between fast-moving consumer goods and mid to high end products

（1） Fast moving consumer goods category: low-cost distribution+high-frequency promotion to quickly increase sales volume

International fast-moving consumer goods brands (such as Vietnamese snacks and Indonesian seasonings) can rely on the "cross-border e-commerce+live streaming" model:

• Selection: focus on "small size, high re purchase" items (such as Vietnamese Prawn cracker at 10 yuan/bag, Indonesian sata sauce at 20 yuan/bottle);   

• Traffic: Cooperate with Tiktok experts in the "9.9 yuan second kill" and "buy one get one free" activities, and cooperate with the platform's "new business support plan" to obtain traffic subsidies;   

Supply chain: Adopting the "domestic contract processing+cross-border labeling" model to reduce initial costs, gradually switching to direct supply from the country of origin after stable sales.   

（2） Mid to high end category: brand story+experience scene construction premium

Thai aromatherapy, Malaysian white coffee and other mid to high end brands need to strengthen their "cultural narrative":

Scenario marketing: Opening "International Lifestyle Experience Stores" in Shanghai and Chengdu, integrating aromatherapy tasting, coffee latte art teaching, and handicraft workshops, with an increase in unit price to 200-300 yuan per customer;   

Content seeding: Collaborate with magazines such as ELLE and AD to launch a special topic on "International Aesthetics", conveying the concepts of "slow life" and "naturalism";   

Member operation: Establish a "black card membership system" and provide exclusive customized services (such as engraved aromatherapy and limited edition packaging), with a repurchase rate of 45% (industry average of 28%).   

Conclusion

In 2025, International brands entering China will usher in a golden window period of "policy friendliness+demand matching": the continuous release of RCEP dividends, the expansion of China's new consumer market, and the reduction of communication costs due to cultural closeness. The key to success lies in: taking compliance as the bottom line, avoiding labeling, inspection, and tax risks; Using digitalization as a tool to reduce trial and error costs through social media seeding and intelligent product selection; Taking localization as the path, deeply integrating into the Chinese market from after-sales, channel to cultural narrative. It is expected that in the next three years, International brands with "strong product power+fast response power+deep cultural identity" will occupy 10% -15% of the market share in the new consumption track, becoming a new growth pole for cross-border trade.