Industrial E-commerce Develops in Full Swing

By Jenny Hu

In 2022， the role of digital economy as a stabilizer and accelerator of the national economy was more prominent. Industry digitalization， which is driven by Chinas intelligent manufacturing， has become the main engine of Chinas digital economy development. As the core component of industrial digitalization， industrial e-commerce also developed in full swing.

In the past three years， the COVID-19 pandemic has brought plenty of pressure to Chinas industrial economy. With relatively weak market growth， industrial e-commerce has demonstrated its ability to resist uncertainties and risks. The performance of listed companies shows that although the growth rate of many industrial e-commerce companies was less than expected， most of them are still growing in a relatively stable way.

Scale expansion in strength

According to the “Report on China Industry Digitalization Market 2022（I）” released by the ECRC. In the first half of 2022， the industrial e-commerce market in China reached RMB 14.2 trillion， and it is estimated that the market size will reach RMB 31.4 trillion in 2022. From 2017 to 2021， the scale（growth rate） of industrial e-commerce market in China is RMB 20.5 trillion（22.75%）， RMB 22.5 trillion （9.75%）， RMB 25 trillion （11.11%）， RMB 27.5 trillion （10%） and RMB 29.11 trillion（5.85%） respectively.

In this regard， Zhang Zhouping， Director and senior analyst of B2B and Cross-border E-commerce Department of ECRC， said that the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries through “internet+” and supply-side reform has become an irreversible trend， and it is also a strategic opportunity period for industrial e-commerce. In 2022， the scale of the industrial e-commerce market continues to expand. Although the overall growth expectation of the industry is not as good as 2021 due to the big environment， the overall growth trend is still strong. Industrial e-commerce is becoming a “cardiotonic”to boost industry confidence and a “ballast stone” for the economic downturn.

“In the process of digitalization of traditional industries， traditional industries generally exist： the circulation chain is long and the cost is high， the number of enterprises is large and scattered， and there is room for technological upgrading. By reducing transaction costs， including but not limited to money， communication costs， matching costs， etc.， industrial e-commerce digitally transforms factories， clouds production capacity， and empowers them by releasing production capacity through transactions，” Zhang Zhouping said.

The 14th Five-Year Plan （2021-2025） and the Long-Term Goals for 2035 clearly put forward “promoting the deep integration of digital technology and real economy， and empowering the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries”. The Guide to Facilitate Development of the Digital Economy in the 14th Five-Year Plan（2021-2025） regards “remarkable achievements in the integration of digital economy and real economy” as one of the goals of digital economy development， and clearly puts forward to push the digital transformation of industries to a new level.

“When the incremental dividend of the consumer internet gradually fades， the real blue ocean of the digital economy lies in the combination of digital platforms and production scenarios， empowering and upgrading traditional industries to form an industrial internet. As a new digital economy model and new format that relies on the internet and digital technology to optimize and upgrade the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain supply chain with all links， factors and scenarios， and integrates the real economy， the industrial internet has attracted both stateowned enterprises and private enterprises to enter the market，” Zhang Jiayi， assistant to the general manager of Yunmao Information and director of pilot ecological business， said.

According to the E-commerce Database of DATA.100EC.CN， in 2022， the number of industrial e-commerce financing was 72， accounting for 27.69% of the total financing in the digital economy investment and financing database， accounting for nearly 30%. The total amount of financing reached RMB 7.91 billion， exceeding the amount of financing in hot areas such as digital retail， digital life and cross-border e-commerce.

Zhang Zhouping pointed out that although the year-on-year growth rate of financing in the industrial e-commerce sector declined in 2022， it was related to the overall capitals confidence in economy. In this market， there are still companies that obtained a large financing of more than RMB 100 million such as Baibu， Ruigu Shop， JLC Technology， Style3D， Zhiyi Tech， YS Group， Ouyeel， Grainger， Lixiaoyun， Ant-fa， Ideamake， No.1 Industrial Products， Zhoupu Data， Yesmro， Dalezhuang， Bailian-ai， Weiling， Ai Ke Nong， Elitesland， ELS Technology. Compared with other financing environment in the digital economy， industrial e-commerce is still favored by capital. Under the trend of digital industry development， this field is expected to continue to receive capital investment and support.

“Affected by the policy orientation and the uncertainty of the investment environment， the overall pace of capital action has slowed down， and it has been adjusted from dominant high returns to sustainable competitiveness. With the further acceleration of the digital transformation and upgrading of traditional industries， the prospects of the industrial e-commerce market are promising and will certainly be concerned by the capital market，” Zhang Zhouping said.

The digital integration of supply chain resources will diversify gradually in the future

At present， after years of development， industrial e-commerce platforms such as Ali 1688， Guolian Co.， Ltd.， Toocle， HC Group and Shanghai Ganglian have gradually diversified their service models， accelerate the digital integration of supply chain resources such as finance， logistics， warehousing， processing and design from the earliest information services， and cultivate new modes and formats of industrial e-commerce.

Zhang Zhouping said that after years of accumulation， the industrial e-commerce platform has built a strong trust relationship and cooperation stickiness with the production enterprises in the industrial chain， so it gradually began to promote the strategic landing in smart supply chain， big data， cloud factory， etc. It aims to build a multi-level ecosystem covering“data-technology-platform” and create multiple growth poles for trading， enterprise service and industrial digital transformation.

With the increase of tools such as futures and derivatives， the tools and models used by enterprises have expanded from the earliest commodities trading to the current OTC options， pricing and a series of swap products. At the same time， the integration of “industrial finance” and“financial industry” has become a new model for the market to actively manage risks.

Zhang Jiayi mentioned that among the industrial e-commerce platform enterprises， the Ouyeel transaction interoperability business of the Shanghai Futures Exchange standard warehouse receipt trading platform jointly launched by Shanghai Futures Exchange and Ouyeel realized the transaction interoperability between the on-site market and the off-site spot market of Ouyeel. The future industrial e-commerce platform will be positioned as an industrial service provider， combining spot， futures and options to provide comprehensive risk management solutions for industrial chain customers. Docking between futures and spot is an essential service model for the development of platform enterprises.

“In practice， the industrial internet is the application of the industrial internet in the industrial field， and it is also the best foothold and breaking point of industrial digitalization. It solves the communication between equipment， people and technology and favors the technical business system. The industrial internet is the infrastructure formed by the diffusion of digital technology in the industry. It solves the coordination between business and production management， and integrates many different volumes and scattered upstream and downstream manufacturersresources in the overall industrial chain. The direction of industrial internet construction lies in designing complex systems and processing complex information，” Zhang Jiayi said.

For example， the “Cloud Factory Plan” of Guolian Co.， Ltd. relies on the order， supply chain and technical attraction of the platform to provide onestop services for factories such as raw material procurement， finished product sales and digital factory solutions. In addition to building a trading platform for finished fabrics， Baibu cut into the digital production of textile fabrics， and began to try to transform the capacity of the upstream textile mills. First， the downstream orders were classified and gathered， and then the system was disassembled and distributed to the grey cloth factories. In the future， the deep integration of industrial internet and industrial internet in industrial e-commerce will become an inevitable trend.

Guo Tao， a special researcher of ECRC and well-known internet expert in the research center of e-commerce， said that in 2022， relevant favorable policies such as national support for platform economy and digital economy continued to exert their strength， industrial internet and traditional industries accelerated the pace of integration， and various new technologies such as artificial intelligence， big data， blockchain and IoT accelerated their application in industrial internet platforms， and the scale of platform transactions achieved sustained and steady growth， and the industry gradually entered a mature stage of development.

“In the future， faced with the three major opportunities of policy dividend release， industrial transformation and economic transformation， industrial e-commerce is expected to usher in new opportunities for intelligent， ecological and international development. New technologies， formats and models are constantly emerging， accelerating transformation into new kinetic energy for economic development，” Guo Tao said. For example， in September， 2022， Guolian Co.， Ltd. announced that its application for issuing global depositary receipts （GDR） and listing on the SWX Swiss Exchange was accepted by the China Securities Regulatory Commission， which was an important measure for enterprises to enter the international market.