China's cross-border e-commerce leads the Korean market: achievements and challenges ahead

China in the first half of 2025cross-border e-commerceexistKorean marketDelivered an eye-catching report card. Data show that the number of Chinese cross-border e-commerce direct purchase of goods amounted to 70.83 million pieces, with an absolute advantage of 77% ranked first in South Korea's e-trade imports, the share of about three times compared with 2021 to realize the strong momentum of development not only shows the competitiveness of China's cross-border e-commerce, and has become an important force that can not be ignored in the trade exchanges between South Korea and China.

I. "China's speed" forged by scale and efficiency

There are multiple key factors behind the rapid rise and dominance of Chinese cross-border e-commerce in the Korean market. From the product level, China's manufacturing system is perfect, the cross-border e-commerce platform has a rich and diverse range of commodities, covering a variety of areas, including daily necessities, electronic products, clothing and accessories, which can meet the needs of Korean consumers at different levels. At the same time, Chinese goods have a significant advantage in cost-effective, compared with some similar goods in South Korea, China's cross-border e-commerce commodities in the price is more attractive, and the quality is also improving, gradually breaking the stereotype of "low price, low quality" in the past.

In terms of logistics and distribution, in recent years, Chinese cross-border e-commerce enterprises have continued to increase investment and optimize their logistics systems. Nowadays, cross-border parcels sent from China to South Korea can often be delivered to consumers in a relatively short period of time through efficient international logistics channels, compressing cross-border delivery timeframes from weeks to days, and the enhancement of logistics timeframes greatly improves the shopping experience of consumers, and further strengthens the competitiveness of Chinese cross-border e-commerce companies in the South Korean market. In addition, the cross-border e-commerce platform also focuses on localized services, providing Korean-language customer service, convenient payment methods and after-sales services in line with the habits of Korean consumers, all of which have laid a solid foundation for the development of Chinese cross-border e-commerce in the Korean market.

II. Cracks in trust under the share of high light

However, behind the bright results, Chinese cross-border e-commerce companies are also facing a severe consumer trust crisis in the South Korean market. According to the data of Korean regulatory authorities, trademark infringement cases involving Chinese cross-border e-commerce goods in the first half of 2025 increased by 21% year-on-year, and the relevant departments in Seoul found that most of the goods on the market were imitations when they conducted spot checks on Chinese cross-border e-commerce goods, and even more worrisome is that some children's products were detected to have exceeded the standard of harmful substances by 746 times, which is an alarming exceeding data that seriously threatens the physical health and safety of children. This alarming figure poses a serious threat to children's health and safety. Meanwhile, the number of complaints from Korean consumers against Chinese cross-border e-commerce products surged by 56% year-on-year, with complaints focusing on substandard quality, counterfeiting and poor after-sales service.

III. Quality control and consumer protection front-loaded

Consumer trust is the lifeline for the development of the cross-border e-commerce industry. If these current problems are not addressed in a timely manner, they will not only affect the reputation and share of Chinese cross-border e-commerce in the South Korean market, but may also have a negative impact on the overall international image of Chinese goods. Therefore, Chinese e-commerce platforms, while expanding their market share, urgently need to make their commoditiesquality controland the building of a consumer rights protection system is given a prominent place.

On the one hand, e-commerce platforms should strengthen control at the source, strictly screen the merchants stationed there, carry out full supervision of the production, processing and transportation of commodities, and establish a perfect commodity quality traceability system to ensure that consumers buy commodities of qualified quality and traceable origin. For merchants involved in counterfeiting and trademark infringement, we should increase penalties and resolutely withdraw them to form an effective deterrent. On the other hand, the platform needs to improve the consumer rights and interests protection mechanism, open up complaint channels, improve the efficiency of complaint handling, and provide timely compensation and solutions for reasonable problems reflected by consumers. At the same time, a third-party testing organization can also be introduced to carry out occasional sampling of commodities on the platform, and the test results will be disclosed to consumers to enhance consumer trust in the platform commodities.

The success of China's cross-border e-commerce in the Korean market is an important breakthrough in the development of the industry, but the current consumer trust issues should not be ignored. Only by facing the problem squarely and actively taking effective measures to strengthen the quality control of goods and the protection of consumers' rights and interests can we realize the sustainable development of China's cross-border e-commerce in the Korean market and further promote the healthy and stable growth of China-Korea trade.