A worker sorts products for transshipment at an e-commerce logistics warehouse in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province. File photo: VCG

China's e-commerce sector maintained robust growth momentum between January and May 2025, with online retail sales increasing by 8.5 percent year-on-year. It has leveraged its strengths in innovation, diverse business models, vast market scale, and international collaboration to boost domestic demand and foster inclusive global trade growth, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Friday.

Key growth drivers included premium products, digital services and emerging business models. Sales of digital products saw a 10.4 percent growth, of appliances and electronics in consumer goods trade-in programs increased by 14 percent, while sales of online services rose by 13.3 percent, and instant retail sales grew by 12 percent.

The integration of e-commerce with industrial clusters has accelerated the digital transformation of industries. Over 200 events were held across more than 20 regions to enhance the capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises. Notable cooperation agreements in agricultural products and logistics reached a value of over 400 million yuan ($55.70 million). Also, the widespread adoption of AI has helped reduce R&D cycles by 40 percent and operational costs by 15 percent.

International cooperation under the Silk Road e-commerce expanded. China upgraded its e-commerce cooperation mechanism with Kazakhstan and established a new bilateral framework with Bangladesh, bringing the total number of partner nations to 35.

Forty key activities throughout the year have worked in synergy to provide support, including 12 major events such as the Silk Road e-commerce cooperation conference and Africa online shopping season. The events attracted participation from 52 countries, leading to over 100 cooperation deals and injecting new e-commerce vitality into global trade.

Notably, the Silk Road e-commerce pilot zone made progress in institutional opening-up by signing a strategic agreement with Kazakhstan on cross-border data infrastructure and rules, fostering new data cooperation paths with neighboring nations, the MOFCOM said.