The number of China-based consumers that shopped for U.S. brands online during the holiday season so far has reportedly increased seven times over last year. The figure comes from Ant Financial Services Group’s Alipay, which enables leading U.S. brands and retailers to easily sell and ship directly to customers in China through its Alipay ePass cross-border e-commerce solution. The findings are based on Alipay’s early holiday shopping review conducted from November 17-November 30. The company also found that total sales from China-based consumers purchasing U.S. products through Alipay ePass increased 15 times over last year. Alipay was launched in 2004 by the Alibaba Group.
 
In a statement, Jingming Li, president, Alipay US, said: “With better logistics and localized payment options now available to make cross-border purchases, we expect this tremendous growth of Chinese consumers to continue throughout the holiday season, particularly as U.S. e-commerce retailers provide more discounts and promotions.”
 
Millennials Take Over
For the first time, Alipay says that Millennials took the lead as the largest group of consumers, replacing the middle class as China’s strongest online shopping segment for cross-border purchases. Topping the list were shoppers born in the ’90s, with 34% of the shoppers born after the ’90s (which increased 3 times over last year), closely following those born in the ’80s. Shoppers were predominantly female (70%), with fashion, beauty, baby products and health & wellness categories representing 75% of total transactions. Further, 80% of total transactions were made by new Alipay ePass users. Overall, the most consumption took place in Shanghai and Beijing, followed by Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang.
 
Launched in September 2014, the Alipay ePass program is a cross-border e-commerce solution that enables U.S. brands and retailers to sell directly to Chinese consumers using localized payments and direct shipping. Through the program, Alipay’s 400 million registered users in China can shop its retail partners’ full online assortments at the same retail prices offered to U.S. consumers, while receiving Alipay’s shipping, customs clearance, and door-to-door delivery anywhere in China.