What are the new trends in global consumption in 2022? Which Chinese exports are the most popular? If Taobao shopping carts are a barometer of Chinese consumption, then, to some extent, the annual Hot 100 list from AliExpress also provides a glimpse of global consumption trends and tendencies.

Based on a comprehensive assessment of the relevant industry scale and category trends shown by more than 26 million active business buyers in more than 200 countries and regions in real transactions of cross-border trade in 2022, the cross-border e-commerce platform Alibaba International Station has recently released its first annual top 10 commodities for 2022, of which new energy-related products, World Cup peripherals, camping tents and others have become global "Explosive".

Some consumer economy insiders analyzed that international trade is facing many uncertain challenges due to global epidemics, inflation, logistics fluctuations and other factors. But Made in China has leveraged its digital capabilities to gain quick insight into changes in overseas demand, demonstrating the tightness of China's economic ties to the world and becoming the most certain part of the global supply system.

Driven by high quality

New energy industry "chasing the wind and the sun"

After years of exploration and accumulation, China's new energy industry is using cross-border e-commerce to open up new growth space. Data shows that China's new energy-related categories on Alibaba International have maintained triple-digit growth for three consecutive years. In the Alibaba International Station 2022 top ten products, home solar energy, electric blankets, wall-mounted charging piles and other new energy industry products accounted for three seats.

This year, by the soaring prices of natural gas, electricity and other energy, home solar energy has become the "meat and potatoes" of the European market. 2022 photovoltaic system products buyers increased 62.68% year-on-year, sales increased 162.89%. And because there are subsidies for the installation of photovoltaic equipment, some European and American households see the purchase of photovoltaic equipment as an investment, rather than simply a consumer. Meanwhile, Chinese heating products continue to sell well. In the first three quarters of this year, sales of domestic electric water heaters, electric heaters and other categories on Ali International surged, with sales of electric blankets up nearly five times year-on-year.

"Compared with previous years, the biggest difference this year is the high increase in orders from Europe, March and April orders compared to the same period in previous years increased by 30%, orders have also been scheduled to the end of November. Workers used to be able to leave work at 7pm, but now they need to work overtime until 10pm." Ltd. said to reporters, in order to seize this wave of market dividends, the company increased marketing efforts, and continue to invest in product development, combined with the needs of different scenarios directed research and development, while the company has also been planning capacity expansion.

In addition, electric bicycles and new energy wall-mounted charging piles are also riding on the green low-carbon east wind to achieve rapid export growth. In 2022, the number of global buyers of new energy charging piles increased by 2.5 times year-on-year and the transaction volume increased by 184%.

And new energy products are also hot overseas sales of industrial laser machinery. In recent years, Chinese laser machinery has gradually broken the market situation previously monopolised by overseas brands. In 2022, the number of global buyers of industrial laser machinery on Ali International Station increased by 51.1% year-on-year, and the volume of transactions increased by 36.3%. It is expected that China will account for 30% of the global supply of laser machinery by 2027. Jinan, Shandong Province, as the representative of the laser machinery foreign trade industry belt, is out of a high quality "sea" of the new road.

World Cup diversion

China-made periphery continues to be popular

The World Cup being held in Qatar is one of the most important international events, and the football economy surging inside and outside the stadium has become one of the driving forces behind the growth of China's cross-border exports.

As early as June this year, "football" became a buzzword on platforms and sales of related goods continued to rise. Before the official start of the tournament, the number of global buyers of goalkeeper gloves increased by 323% year-on-year, desktop football balls surged by 444% and World Cup trophies and medals jumped by 126%. In the top 10 commodities of 2022, the World Cup periphery and mobile board room also "shot" in two seats.

According to feedback from Yiwu merchants, the World Cup surrounding products in earthy gold colour scheme is extremely popular with overseas consumers, taking advantage of the World Cup, the first half of this year's orders have been on par with last year's annual.

Not only is the World Cup commemorative trophies, fan medals, badges, key chains and other peripheral products continue to be popular, the popularity of the Qatar Fan Village priced at $ 200 a night container flats, also highlights the charm of Made in China.

Headquartered in Shunde, Guangdong Province, in Hui green construction is China's leading container manufacturing enterprises in the industry, in 2006 to see the trend of overseas mobile home, to develop mobile home manufacturing line, so early layout also allows the enterprise to seize this year's "World Cup dividend".

According to the introduction, this year's World Cup to provide comfortable accommodation and resting places for fans visiting Qatar, the organisers selected six mobile home suppliers worldwide to build 12,000 sets of mobile homes, these suppliers are from China, Zhonghui Green Construction is one of them. They supplied 2,000 of the amazing "magic" houses - 24-hour construction, one-stop decoration and fully intelligent support - and orders from the World Cup contributed to around 40% of Sino-Fair Green Construction's export share this year.

In fact, before the Qatari fan village was unveiled, "mobile panel house" had long been a buzzword in Ali International's cross-border index, which predicted that in the next three years, one-third of buildings in overseas markets, including hospitals, commercial, industrial and residential sectors, will increase the application of prefabricated mobile panel houses, mainly showing standardization, light assembly, one-stop The three main trends are standardisation, light assembly, one-stop shop, full renovation and intelligent.

For a better life

Leisure and beauty consumption have new ideas

Although people's lifestyles have changed as a result of the epidemic, the popularity of camping tents, leisure beekeeping equipment, nail stickers and false eyelashes on the Ali International website shows that consumers' pursuit of a better life has not diminished on a global scale.

Data shows that the outdoor sports industry continues to boom on Ali International, with sales in the tent category doubling in 2022. It is expected that by 2024, the global outdoor camping population will be close to one fifth of the total population. China is the "home base" of the global outdoor product supply, with 150,000 manufacturers and more than 200,000 traders.

In addition to camping, recreational beekeeping is also moving from the niche to the masses, becoming a new fashion for overseas consumers. For European and American consumers, beekeeping is not only a way of life to return to nature, but homemade honey can also be given to friends as a new social gesture. Based on this, relevant equipment manufacturers in Henan seized a great opportunity at Ali International Station, with exports contributed by cross-border e-commerce doubling in the first half of the year compared to 2021.

Although the cosmetic industry was affected by the general reduction in going out during the epidemic. But love of beauty is still an attitude to life, and beauty accessory products represented by false eyelashes and nail stickers continue to be popular in Europe and the US. Ali International Station data shows that in 2022, the number of buyers of false eyelashes grew by 65% year-on-year, with a 24% increase in transaction volume; the number of buyers of nail stickers grew by 70% year-on-year.

"Against the backdrop of the overall foreign trade market facing greater volatility, this list reflects the boom in private SMEs' export goods and shows us the resilience of China's foreign trade merchants and confidence in the high-quality growth of China's foreign trade." Zhang Gao, President of Alibaba International Station, said that the continuous emergence of national goods explosion fully demonstrates the increasingly important role of Chinese supply in the global industry chain synergy.