The 5th Global Cross-border E-commerce Summit is held in Hangzhou from Nov 24 to 25. [Photo/china-hzgec.gov.cn]

The 5th Global Cross-border E-commerce Summit was held in Hangzhou from Nov 24 to 25, inviting industry insiders to look into the digital future of global trade, local media reported.

Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province and home to e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, shared its achievements and experience in developing cross-border e-commerce.

From January to September, the cross-border e-commerce industry in Hangzhou overcame the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and realized a year-on-year growth of 16.53 percent in total import-export volume, reaching a value of 77.26 billion yuan ($11.74 billion). Specifically, exports were valued at 53.7 billion yuan, up 16.73 percent, while imports were at 23.57 billion yuan, up 16.09 percent.

In addition, statistics show that by the end of September, Hangzhou had 27,143 online shops engaged in cross-border e-commerce and 200 related brands, 100 of which had an annual revenue surpassing $10 million.

There are now 160,000 business-to-business cross-border e-commerce platforms being offered in Hangzhou, represented by the Alibaba international version and ChemNet, generating $300 billion in Chinese exports ever year. Business to customer channels, such as AliExpress and Club Factory, have received over 600 million global users, generating annual exports of $22 billion. Aside from Tmall Global and Kaola, which offer Chinese consumers convenient access to global goods, foreign e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and eBay are seeking deepen cooperation with the city.

The summit was organized by China (Hangzhou) Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Area. The Japanese branch of e-commerce giant Lotte signed a cooperative agreement with the area at the summit.