AI, cross-border e-commerce are bright spots for Chinese internet firms in 2024, UBS says
- China’s e-commerce platforms, facing intense domestic competition, are ramping up overseas expansion, according to the Swiss bank
- AI also remains a main theme for Chinese internet companies, although monetisation continues to be a challenge, the bank says
Chinese internet firms can look to chase growth through international markets and artificial intelligence (AI) in 2024, according to UBS.
China’s e-commerce platforms, facing intense domestic competition with new rivals and short-video app operators, are ramping up overseas expansion, Kenneth Fong, head of China internet research at the Swiss investment bank, said in a briefing in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
Temu – owned by Pinduoduo parent PDD Holdings and based in Boston – and Shein – founded in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing and headquartered in Singapore – were the two most-downloaded shopping apps on Apple’s US iOS store in the past 30 days, according to app analytics platform data.ai.
Selling competitively-priced products in the international market could give Chinese internet firms room to grow and boost their valuations, according to Fong.
The import and export value of China’s cross-border e-commerce industry reached 2.38 trillion yuan (US$333 billion) in 2023, up 15.6 per cent from the previous year, according to preliminary estimates published by the State Council Information Office earlier this month.