Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

Chinese-style livestream e-commerce is increasingly gaining traction in Latin American countries including Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday. China's well-established e-commerce model and extensive experience in the sector are gaining rising recognition now, creating a new platform for digital economy cooperation between China and Latin American countries.

At a time when the global trade landscape is undergoing profound changes, the growing popularity of Chinese-style livestream e-commerce in Latin America illustrates how the overseas expansion of evolving business models such as livestream based e-commerce is helping emerging markets seize opportunities brought about by deeper digital transformation. 

Beyond expanding trade channels, such cooperation is creating new sources of growth, employment, and industrial upgrading, injecting fresh momentum into global trade cooperation.

The intensifying digital trade cooperation, which can generate dividends in Latin American countries, is driven by market and industrial factors, including the strong access of younger populations in emerging Latin American economies to social media platforms and evolving consumer behavior toward more interactive and content-driven consumption.

In Argentina, Manuel Cuerva, CEO of the local livestreaming platform GoJiraf, who traveled to Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, to explore relevant technologies, said that although livestream e-commerce is still in its early stages in Latin America, it is growing very rapidly, adding that consumer habits in Latin America have shifted, particularly among younger generations who place greater value on experiences, and that livestream shopping meets this demand through real-time interaction.

With such demand in overseas markets, the expansion of China's livestream e-commerce model abroad not only helps Chinese products expand sales in international markets, but also exports a mature model, bringing new growth drivers to local industries and economies and fostering a mutually beneficial outcome on both the supply and demand sides, as well as within and beyond the industry. The evolving e-commerce model can create jobs in local industries, including e-commerce, logistics, and warehousing.

In a broader perspective, such digital trade cooperation is not limited to China and Latin American countries. Similar cooperation between China and countries in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and other regions is also accelerating.

China's "Silk Road e-commerce" cooperation initiatives are advancing with ASEAN partners, including joint efforts in cross-border e-commerce talent training, platform cooperation, and digital trade capacity-building across ASEAN countries, the People's Daily reported.

For emerging economies, the expanding digital trade with China and the implementation of a mature digital trade model helps effectively lower the entry barriers for local retail practitioners, expand market access for small and micro-sized businesses, foster new forms of digital employment, and invigorate local supply chains.

After a long period of development, China's cross-border e-commerce and livestream based e-commerce sectors are increasingly integrating new frontier technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence (AI) into the entire trade value chain. These mature platforms and business models are helping other emerging markets explore this field by reducing costs, which are expected to ramp up their development, quickly unlocking their economic growth potential in related sectors.

As frontier technologies such as AI and cloud computing continue to transform the entire digital trade value chain, China's established industrial advantages in the sector will expand win-win digital trade cooperation with other countries. According to industry forecasts, China's digital trade market is projected to reach 8.2 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion) by 2030. 

Amid global supply chain restructuring and the deeper digitalization pace, global digital trade has seen a period of rapid growth in the past years, with its role as a stabilizer becoming increasingly prominent. The wave of livestream-driven e-commerce transformation across borders between China and other developing countries in this field will provide a new stabilizing force for global trade.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn