Exclusive interview with Qiu Han, CEO of PayPal PayPal China: Cross-border transaction breakpoints still exist, and we look forward to the emergence of more overseas industries to share infrastructure

21st Century Business Herald reporter Ou Xue reported from Shenzhen

Cross-border e-commerce continues to maintain rapid growth. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, the import and export of cross-border e-commerce in the first three quarters was 1.7 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.4%, driving the growth rate of import and export of goods trade by more than 1 percentage point in the same period.

"From PayPal's internal data, despite the increase in export uncertainty this year, the performance of B2C e-commerce is still very good, and the overall growth of export e-commerce is very optimistic." ”

Recently, Qiu Han, senior vice president and CEO of PayPal China, said in an exclusive interview with Southern Finance and Economics All Media and 21st Century Business Herald reporters that based on the vigorous development of China's import and export, the annual growth rate of PayPal's China business in the past five years has also been very high.

At the same time, as China's cross-border e-commerce moves from relying entirely on platforms to diversifying its operations, Qiu Han believes that the demand of Chinese merchants for cross-border payment is becoming more and more complex, and cross-border payment is ushering in many challenges.

Qiu Han said that at present, the "three-in-one" of domestic data flow, logistics and capital flow has been done very well, but there are still many breakpoints in cross-border transactions, such as the infrastructure of cross-border logistics still needs to be improved, and the relevant systems of customs need to be further opened.

In this case, Qiu Han expects more overseas industries to share infrastructure to improve the speed and efficiency of Chinese enterprises going overseas. When the digitalization of the cross-border e-commerce industry is more complete, the cross-border payment field will also usher in new development opportunities.

(Qiu Han, Senior Vice President and CEO of PayPal China/Photo provided by the interviewee)

Firmly optimistic about the Chinese market

21st Century: At present, what are the main business priorities of PayPal in China, and how does PayPal view the development positioning of China?

Qiu Han: PayPal's global product line is very rich, and it is difficult to list them all. PayPal serves more than 200 markets around the world, of which China has always been a very important market for us.

As a global manufacturing leader, China has cultivated many excellent overseas merchants, all of whom are our target customers. From another perspective, Chinese merchants also serve many overseas individual users, and are very important contributors to enriching the consumption choices of PayPal individual users.

The headquarters' attitude towards China has always been very firm and positive. The headquarters' continuous capital increase in PayPal China fully demonstrates the headquarters' expectations for the Chinese market.

From the perspective of PayPal's global business, the performance of China is also very bright, and our business data in the past five years have performed very well.

21st Century: In the competition with other cross-border payment institutions, what do you think are the main advantages of PayPal in China?

Qiu Han: PayPal provides end-to-end services, and we currently have an absolute advantage in the entire industry.

For cross-border sellers, what is the core is to sell goods to overseas consumers and get their payments back.

At present, PayPal has more than 400 million consumers and merchants overseas, and our global network coverage, user base, technical capabilities, and brand advantages enable us to provide end-to-end cross-border payment services, which is our differentiating advantage.

There are two important reasons why PayPal can become a leading enterprise in cross-border payment in the cross-border industry, which is brand added value and value-added services.

PayPal provides a value-added service called Buyer Protection, which will be reimbursed if there is a dispute or any problem during PayPal the transaction, the buyer cannot negotiate with the merchant normally, or the merchant disappears. PayPal's branding and buyer protection ensure that the transaction is processed. In a sense, it increases buyers' willingness to buy, which reduces costs accordingly.

For merchants, we actually have the same service, called Seller Protection, which protects eligible transactions and will not be compensated for fraud. In this process, PayPal does not make pressure payments, and the risk is borne by PayPal.

The overall growth of export e-commerce is very optimistic

21st Century: We know that PayPal is the first wholly foreign-owned third-party payment institution in China. From the perspective of payment institutions, how do you view the overall development of China's cross-border e-commerce industry, and what are the main development trends?

Qiu Han: Foreign trade has always been one of the three pillars of China's economy, and in the current economic environment, the development of foreign trade may be more important. Cross-border payment is mainly based on the development of China's import and export industry, so its development prospects are also very broad.

From PayPal's internal data, despite the increase in export uncertainty this year, B2C e-commerce performance is still very good, and the overall growth of export e-commerce is very optimistic.

From the perspective of categories, China is indeed the world's factory. For example, China has always been the world's leader in wigs that girls like. Personally, I prefer technology, such as keyboards and drones, not only big brands are popular, but many small brands are also doing very well. In many vertical categories, many Chinese companies have been very successful in overseas markets.

My view is that when Chinese get rid of the low-level competition of low prices and begin to focus on brands and build quality, our industry will enter the second stage.

In recent years, many enterprises that originally only did domestic business have begun to go overseas one after another, and some companies have only explored overseas markets for about a year, and their business data is extremely bright. I believe that this is just the beginning, and more and more Chinese companies will definitely go abroad.

While Chinese companies continue to develop overseas, it also brings us new opportunities to help us do better in the field of cross-border payments.

21st Century: From low-price competition to branding, how do you view the internal changes in the cross-border e-commerce industry?

Qiu Han: Enterprises that rely on making quick money at the expense of their international image will not go far.

At present, many Chinese merchants on PayPal are doing business honestly, seriously improving product quality, and striving to improve the recognition and image of Chinese products in the hearts of overseas consumers.

We see that many Chinese companies are doing very well in their products. I very much hope that one day, when consumers around the world hear Chinese products, they will reflect the word "high-quality goods". We hope to protect China's high-quality enterprises and make more and more high-quality Chinese goods.

Recently, I asked our team to purchase a batch of cool technology products exported by Chinese merchants to show them in the office to foreign colleagues who are on a business trip, hoping to introduce more high-quality products from China to them.

It is expected that more overseas industries will share infrastructure

21st Century: Payment has always been a very important part of the cross-border e-commerce industry. From your point of view, what are the remaining development challenges of China's cross-border industry at the payment level, and what suggestions do you have for this?

Qiu Han: Payment is always iterative according to the development of the industry. The domestic "three-in-one" has done a good job - that is, data flow, logistics, and capital flow, but there are still many breakpoints in cross-border transactions, such as the infrastructure of cross-border logistics still needs to be improved, and the relevant systems of customs, such as tax declaration and tax refund, also need to be further opened.

Now, many Chinese merchants are going overseas with new platforms and new ways, and they do not rely entirely on the big platform model. However, diversification and multi-channel operations will require more and more infrastructure, because many large e-commerce platforms have already built their infrastructure, and you may need to build your own infrastructure when you break away from it.

At present, there are more and more open resources and platforms that can be shared by the whole industry in China. I expect that there will be more shared infrastructure for overseas markets. At that time, the speed and efficiency of China's industry going overseas will be greatly improved.

This is also a great opportunity for us to do cross-border payments, because the more complete the digitalization of the industry, the easier it will be to work on digital payments.

21st Century: With 2024 just around the corner, what are PayPal's strategic priorities for doing business in China?

Qiu Han: The specific goals of next year's business cannot be disclosed. But one thing to share is that we will continue to focus on cross-border and continue to contribute to the development of China's import and export, especially to help Chinese merchants go overseas, and this general strategic direction will not change.

In the past few years, PayPal has just been licensed in China, and we will spend more effort on infrastructure to ensure that all our operations in China are legal and compliant.

Next, because the work of building the platform and infrastructure in the early stage has been basically completed, we will focus more on the business. To put it simply, next year we will focus more on how to better serve our merchants.

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