Article
The Development Status of Global Cross border E-commerce for Pet Supplies and the Response Strategies of Chinese Sellers
Zengyishuo Wang 1, Yi Zhang2 , Lingyan Chen3, Chenxi He4
1Jiaxing Vocational and Technical College, Jiaxing, China
* Correspondence: [email protected]
https://doi.org/10.63138/irp010206
Abstract: In recent years, with the globalization of the world economy and the vigorous development of e-commerce, the pet supplies industry has shown rapid growth in major markets. The rise and improvement of cross-border e-commerce platforms have provided efficient and convenient channels for the international circulation of pet supplies, further stimulating the development of the global pet economy. For Chinese sellers, exporting pet supplies has become an important segment of cross-border e-commerce, bringing both rich opportunities and challenges for enterprises. This paper focuses on the current development status of global cross-border e-commerce for pet supplies, analyzing aspects such as market scale, industry characteristics, and operational models. It systematically explores key issues faced by Chinese sellers in cross-border exports, including competitive pressure, policy compliance, and supply chain management, and proposes corresponding response strategies and future development ideas, aiming to provide valuable reference for relevant practitioners and researchers.
Keywords: pet supplies; cross-border e-commerce; brand building; digital marketing
1. Introduction
With the continuous increase in disposable income and growing demand for companionship, pets have gradually gained a higher status in global households. Particularly in developed regions of Europe, America, and Asia, pets have become important emotional support for many families. A series of extended services surrounding pets, including food, medical care, supplies, beauty care, insurance, and training, continue to emerge, forming a huge and active pet economy ecosystem. According to data from multiple market research institutions, the global pet market has maintained steady growth in recent years, and pet consumption enthusiasm continues to rise in both developed countries and emerging markets.
Against this background, cross-border e-commerce platforms have quickly integrated global supply chains through internet and modern logistics technology, injecting more vitality into international trade. Pet supplies, as a category of relatively standardized products with high added value and diversified market demand, have become a noteworthy highlight in cross-border e-commerce development. In particular, Chinese manufacturing has continuously upgraded in terms of product quality, design capability, and production capacity in recent years, while overseas consumers’ demand for emerging brands and cost-effective products has become increasingly significant. The combination of multiple factors has provided unprecedented opportunities for Chinese sellers to export pet supplies through cross-border channels. However, due to increasingly fierce competition in cross-border markets and differences in regulatory policies and cultural backgrounds across regions, Chinese sellers face many challenges when expanding overseas markets, covering various aspects including logistics clearance, compliance review, supply chain control, and brand building. How to effectively formulate response strategies, integrate advantageous resources, and steadily establish competitive advantages in the global market is an important topic that every Chinese cross-border seller must seriously consider and address.
This paper first reviews the current development status of global cross-border e-commerce for pet supplies, deeply analyzes the current market pattern and main trends, and then proposes corresponding response strategies and suggestions based on Chinese sellers’ position and role in this market, providing guidance for future development directions.
2. Global Pet Supplies Market and Cross-border E-commerce Status
2.1. Rise of Global Pet Economy and Market Scale
2.1.1. Continuous Expansion of Global Pet Market Scale
The pet economy has shown different levels of growth in regions including North America, Europe, and Asia. Among them, the United States and some European countries are mature markets for the traditional pet economy, with high household pet ownership rates, rational consumption concepts, and highly diversified product structures. The Asian market, especially China, Japan, and South Korea, has seen rapid growth in pet-related expenditure in recent years, with increasingly large consumption scales for pet supplies. Meanwhile, emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and Latin America also show enormous potential, with a noticeable increase in young people’s awareness of pet ownership, providing new growth points for the global pet economy.
2.1.2. Diversified Development in Subdivided Fields
As pet-keeping concepts change, consumers’ demands for pets’ diet, medical care, clothing, beauty, toys, training, and other aspects continue to rise, gradually expanding from initial daily necessities (such as pet food and basic supplies) to high-end, functional, and intelligent directions. Some emerging categories such as grain-free food, organic snacks, smart water dispensers, and pet wearable devices are being accepted by more consumers, providing broad space for market innovation.
2.1.3. Evolution of Consumer Cognition and Purchasing Behavior
The pet-keeping population is becoming younger, more female-dominated, and higher-educated. They tend to obtain product information online and are willing to purchase high-quality, aesthetically pleasing, and even customized products for their pets. Additionally, pet-related content is extremely rich on social media and community platforms, with most young pet owners learning about new products and making purchase decisions through KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders), short videos, and live streaming channels.
2.2. Position of Cross-border E-commerce in Pet Supplies Trade
2.2.1. Reasons for the Rise of Cross-border E-commerce
Improvement in Global Trade Policy Environment.The signing of free trade agreements or regional economic partnerships between multiple countries or regions, coupled with the promotion of cross-border e-commerce pilots in major countries, has created a more open and efficient cross-border trade environment.
Logistics Technology and Information Upgrade.Modern international logistics, warehousing, and information technology have shortened cross-national delivery times, allowing cross-border e-commerce sellers to provide relatively flexible transportation methods, making it more convenient for overseas consumers to obtain global products.
Changes in Consumer Demands and Consumption Habits.The demand for more personalized, high-quality, and differentiated products has given rise to cross-border purchasing behavior; meanwhile, major cross-border e-commerce platforms continue to optimize services in payment, after-sales, language, and other aspects, lowering the barriers to overseas shopping.
2.2.2. Advantages of Pet Supplies Cross-border E-commerce
Differentiated Product Supply.Cross-border e-commerce allows consumers to purchase unique or higher-quality pet products from other countries or regions (such as natural food, health supplements with special formulas), and meets the needs of specific groups for niche, scarce products.
Brand and Price Competitiveness. Overseas consumers generally recognize the cost-effectiveness advantage of “Made in China”; meanwhile, some Chinese brands continue to emerge through technological upgrades and design innovation, creating certain market impacts on traditional brands from Europe, America, and Japan.
Flexible Market Testing and Iteration: Cross-border e-commerce channels enable sellers to quickly test new products’ market acceptance at relatively low cost investment, and achieve iterative optimization through data feedback.
3. Main Characteristics and Development Trends of Global Pet Supplies Cross-border E-commerce
3.1. Main Industry Characteristics
3.1.1. Rich Categories and High Degree of Segmentation
Pet supplies cover multiple categories including pet food, snacks, health products, toys, clothing, daily care products, medical supplies, and smart hardware. Different industry players penetrate each other, with some traditional pet food manufacturers launching functional health products, and beauty care brands possibly extending to pet grooming and health management, achieving multi-category layout.
3.1.2. Combination of High-frequency Necessities and Low-frequency New Products
Pet food, litter (cat litter, pee pads, etc.) and other consumables are high-frequency necessities for consumers, with high repurchase rates and user stickiness, easily generating brand loyalty; while toys and clothing, though purchased less frequently, have strong demand for fashion and innovation, offering higher profit margins and marketing potential.
3.1.3. Strong Brand and Word-of-mouth Effects
Pet owners are extremely concerned about safety and health factors. If product quality or brand reputation is questioned, it will affect buyer trust and subsequent repurchases. Therefore, in cross-border scenarios, brand building and word-of-mouth communication are particularly important, even becoming key factors in sellers’ successful overseas expansion.
3.2. Development Trends
3.2.1. Demand Upgrade and High-end Development
More and more pet owners are no longer satisfied with basic products, but pursue natural, organic, functional ingredients and customized services. The mid-to-high-end market continues to expand, with segmented and specialized products becoming the focus of competition.
3.2.2. Social Media and Content Marketing Drive
Through YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and various vertical community platforms, sellers can precisely reach target users; recommendations from KOLs, internet celebrities, and professional veterinarians have high sales conversion capabilities.
3.2.3. Intelligence and Technology Empowerment
Smart feeders, pet monitoring devices, GPS trackers, and other smart hardware are gradually being accepted by more consumers. Big data, AI, and other technologies are also beginning to be applied in pet health management, online medical consultation, and other fields, further expanding the business forms of cross-border e-commerce.
3.2.4. Sustainability and Environmental Protection Concepts
More and more consumers are concerned about environmental protection, health, and animal welfare. E-commerce sellers need to consider sustainable development in product materials, packaging methods, and transportation processes to achieve green supply chain construction.
4. Competitive Advantages of Chinese Sellers in Global Pet Supplies Cross-border E-commerce
4.1. Strong Manufacturing and Supply Chain System
China has a relatively complete industrial chain advantage in manufacturing, with pet supplies having the characteristics of scale production and high cost-effectiveness in multiple categories including food, toys, and care products. Combined with the developed international ports and e-commerce industry support in coastal areas, cross-border exports can efficiently connect production and logistics ends.
4.2. E-commerce Platform and Digital Operation Experience
Benefiting from the rapid development of domestic e-commerce, Chinese sellers have accumulated rich experience and technology in live streaming, short videos, community e-commerce, digital advertising placement, and other aspects. These successful operational approaches can be transferred to overseas e-commerce platforms (such as Amazon, eBay, Wish, Shopee, etc.), accelerating brand overseas expansion.
4.3. Flexible Product Iteration and Customization Capabilities
Chinese factories possess strong product research and development and batch customization capabilities, able to quickly upgrade designs or improve functions based on market feedback, timely meeting consumers’ diverse needs.
4.4. Policy Support and Government Backing
To promote foreign trade transformation and upgrading, the Chinese government continuously introduces policies encouraging cross-border e-commerce, such as establishing cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones and providing foreign trade financing channels for small and medium-sized enterprises. These measures have provided Chinese sellers with a relatively relaxed development environment and support to some extent.
5. Challenges and Bottlenecks Faced by Chinese Sellers
5.1. Compliance and Policy Risks
Different countries have strict controls on pet food, animal and plant-derived raw materials, chemical additives, etc., with complex processes for import-export inspection and quarantine, labeling requirements, and registration filing. If sellers are not familiar enough with target market regulations, they may face risks such as cargo detention, fines, or even entry prohibition.
5.2 .Brand and Quality Trust Issues
While foreign consumers’ perception of Chinese manufacturing is gradually improving, in the field of pet supplies which is closely related to health, users have higher sensitivity to brand quality and safety. Once quality problems or negative public opinion occur, they often cause irreparable damage to the brand.
5.3. Logistics and Supply Chain Efficiency
Cross-border e-commerce logistics timeliness, shipping costs, and after-sales return processes are all more complex than domestic e-commerce. Especially for categories with strict temperature and time requirements such as pet fresh food and medicine, how to better complete overseas warehouse layout, optimize international transportation routes, and shorten delivery cycles all pose higher requirements for sellers’ supply chain management capabilities.
5.4. Overseas Market Environment and Cultural Differences
Chinese sellers may easily cause misunderstanding or resistance if they ignore factors such as overseas users’ language, culture, and religious beliefs in marketing promotion. In customer service, due to time differences, language barriers, after-sales policy differences, etc., sellers cannot respond timely to overseas consumers’ needs or feedback, affecting user experience.
5.5. Intensified Competition and Homogenization
While the entry barriers for cross-border platforms have relatively decreased, market competition has become more intense, with price wars and homogeneous products flooding the market. Without core technology or brand characteristics, sellers find it difficult to establish long-term advantages in overseas markets.
6. Response Strategies for Chinese Sellers
6.1. Compliant Operation and International Quality Standard Integration
6.1.1. Familiarize with Target Market Regulations and Standards
For different countries’ pet food and supplies safety standards and import-export quarantine requirements, complete corresponding registration filing, certification, and label review work (such as US FDA filing, EU CE marking, pet food regulations, etc.). Establish professional compliance teams or cooperate with third-party consulting institutions to follow policy changes in each target market in real-time, timely upgrade products and packaging, and reduce policy risks.
6.1.2. Enhance Quality and Safety Management
Improve enterprise’s own quality management system, such as following ISO, HACCP, BRC, and other international standards, ensuring product quality meets standards; strengthen raw material traceability and production process control, reduce quality problems; conduct rigorous product testing and trials, obtain international authoritative testing institution or industry certification endorsements for the brand.
6.2. Differentiated Products and Brand Building
6.2.1. Focus on Niche Groups and Pain Point Needs
Deeply cultivate high value-added areas such as pet food, smart devices, and medical care, develop or adjust products specifically according to different countries’ consumption habits and pet breed differences, providing differentiated selling points. Pay attention to local trends, such as organic, grain-free, high-protein products for European and American regions, and refined packaging and low-irritation formulas for the Japanese market.
6.2.2. Shape Brand Image and Professionalism
Establish professional brand positioning and visual systems through multiple online and offline channels; use social media operation, UGC content (user reviews), and KOL recommendations to increase brand exposure; emphasize professional functions, such as cooperating with veterinarians, nutritionists, pet trainers, etc., embedding scientific concepts and authoritative endorsements in promotion to increase trust.
6.2.3. Patent and Intellectual Property Protection
Apply for international patents or trademarks early in product appearance design, functional technology, etc., to avoid copying or infringement and maintain an advantageous position in subsequent competition; plan ahead for enterprise’s own trademark registration and domain name registration in overseas target markets to prevent preemptive registration.
6.3. Optimize Cross-border Logistics and Storage Layout
6.3.1. Diversified Logistics Mode Selection
For different order scales, product characteristics, and timeliness requirements, flexibly use international express, international small parcels, dedicated logistics, overseas warehouse direct delivery, and other methods to ensure both timeliness and cost considerations. For pet medicines, health products, or other goods with high transportation condition requirements, carefully select logistics channels with cold chain or constant temperature service capabilities to ensure product quality.
6.3.2. Overseas Warehouses and Localization Operations
Deploy overseas warehouses in major sales markets such as North America, Europe, Japan, etc., to accelerate delivery timeliness, reduce terminal logistics costs, and improve user experience. Rely on overseas warehouses to achieve “local shipping + local returns” model, better adapt to consumer after-sales needs, and improve conversion and repurchase rates.
6.3.3. Supply Chain Digitalization and Lean Management
Establish big data-based inventory forecasting and supply chain management systems to achieve automatic order allocation, dynamic replenishment, and reasonable warehouse scheduling. Continuously optimize packaging, transportation, and other links to reduce waste and damage rates. Work closely with logistics service providers and overseas warehouse platforms, master real-time logistics dynamics through system integration to create a supply chain visualization system.
6.4. Precise Marketing and Multi-platform Layout
6.4.1. Deep Operation of Mainstream Cross-border E-commerce Platforms
Develop differentiated product selection and promotion strategies for different platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Wish, Aliexpress, Shopee based on user profiles and rule characteristics. Fully utilize platform traffic tools (keyword advertising, flash sales, internal and external traffic driving) to increase exposure and conversion. Improve shop service indicators such as customer service response speed, shipping timeliness, return rate control to obtain more platform support traffic.
6.4.2. Social Media and Content Marketing
Publish quality content such as graphics, short videos through mainstream social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, share pet knowledge and product use scenarios to attract and retain overseas fans interaction. Cooperate with overseas internet celebrities, pet bloggers, veterinary experts to conduct product reviews, live streaming sales, or online activities, amplify brand influence through KOL word of mouth.
6.4.3. Cross-border Independent Stations and Private Domain Operations
In addition to entering third-party platforms, Chinese sellers can build brand independent stations, obtain customers through search engine optimization (SEO) and Google Ads, social advertising, and other multi-channels. Combine electronic mail marketing (EDM), APP push, membership points, customer care, and other methods to retain old customers, operate private domain traffic, enhance user loyalty and purchase repurchase rates.
6.5. Improve After-sales Service and User Experience
6.5.1. Language and Time Zone Adaptation
Equip multi-language customer service teams or use professional translation software to ensure timely and professional response to customer issues. Strengthen customer service training, fully understand product functions and common problem handling to improve customer satisfaction.
6.5.2. Sound Return Policy and Localized After-sales
According to target market consumption habits, formulate reasonable return processes and guarantee commitments to enhance user shopping confidence. Achieve localized returns through overseas warehouses or cooperation with local third-party service providers to improve after-sales efficiency and reduce logistics costs.
6.5.3. User Education and Professional Content Output
Provide professional pet breeding, nutrition guidance, and product use instructions on product detail pages, social platforms, or brand official websites. Establish online consultation channels, cooperate with veterinarians or nutritionists to provide value-added services for users, forming differentiated competitiveness.
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