The Dream Factory of China

　　Cross-border e-commerce operations in Shenzhen's Qianhai Bay Bonded Port Zone (QBPZ) have seen significant growth since the central government approved the establishment of the Guangdong Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in December last year.

　　In just over two months, customs authorities have handled about 610,000 e-commerce imports with a total value of 10.4 million yuan ($1.7 million) - a nearly seven-fold rise compared the last quarter of 2014. More than 15 e-commerce enterprises, including Tmall, Jumei and Vanguard, have registered in the zone.

　　Average warehouse rents in the zone have surged by 5.5 percent to the highest level in two years - 39.1 yuan per square meter per month.

　　"Cross-border e-commerce has been developing explosively this year," said Wu Liping, deputy head of the QBPZ's department of customs clearance. "At their peak, we dealt with some 100,000 imported packages each day. Last September, there were only roughly 100."

　　As online shopping becomes more popular and convenient, many mainland consumers are switching from domestic websites to overseas shopping websites - the so-called haitao - due to high quality and lower prices of overseas products.

　　According to the Ministry of Commerce, the number of haitao consumers on the mainland reached 18 million in 2013, with total spending on overseas websites topping $33 billion. Mainland customers' annual expenses via haitao are expected to hit 1 trillion yuan by 2018.

　　However, one of the biggest obstacles to the development of haitao is the long time taken for delivery of products. Customers normally have to wait for two weeks or so for their products to be shipped to their homes from abroad.

　　Flying start for online commerce in Qianhai

　　Under new supervision procedures in Qianhai, e-commerce companies can store their goods in the bonded zone and deliver them to clients directly from the area after they've placed their online orders.

　　"This way, we're able to save logistics costs. It will also bring bigger profits and more business opportunities," said Geng Xing, vice-director of the department of logistics at Jumei, a popular cosmetics e-commerce website.

　　Industry insiders, at the same time, are upbeat about the outlook for cross-border e-commerce in Qianhai.

　　Zhu Ye, vice-general manager of China Merchants Bonded Logistics Ltd, believes that the development of cross-border e-commerce will help ease the growing demand of domestic consumers for overseas products and, at the same time, solve such problems as slow delivery, poor after-sales services and complicated customs procedures.

　　Wu Dongshuo, general manager of Globex E-Services (HK) Ltd, which provides customs clearance services for e-commerce companies, said with Qianhai's close geographical proximity to Hong Kong and the rapid development of ports and airports in the region, cross-border e-commerce business has been rendered most convenient.

　　The new Guangdong FTZ, which was officially launched on Tuesday, covers Shenzhen's Qianhai and Shekou areas, Guangzhou's Nansha district and Zhuhai's Hengqin Island.