Tech giants like Tencent are actively supporting the "export to domestic sales" initiative

Author | Huang Yu

Editor | Wang Xiaojun

In the current uncertain foreign trade environment, major technology giants are joining the ranks to support the "export to domestic sales" initiative to alleviate the pressure on foreign trade enterprises.

Now Tencent has also taken action. On April 17, Tencent launched the "New Journey of Foreign Trade Acceleration Plan," which aims to broaden domestic and international markets for foreign trade enterprises through ten measures, including a green channel for store opening, new business incentives, traffic support, and rate discounts. It is expected to create an additional sales scale of 100 billion yuan for foreign trade enterprises through commercial ecosystems such as mini-programs, WeChat small stores, and digital offline stores.

Tencent's support measures mainly focus on helping foreign trade enterprises expand into the domestic market.

As the main battlefield for Tencent's e-commerce today, WeChat small stores have become the vanguard of Tencent's "battle."

Firstly, WeChat small stores provide rapid store opening services for foreign trade enterprises. Merchants can apply to open a store with a business license and achieve a green channel for review within minutes. To further reduce operating costs for merchants, WeChat small stores implement a zero deposit trial operation for up to 2,691 business categories, allowing merchants to list products without paying a deposit.

At the same time, WeChat Pay provides a fast track for newly settled foreign trade merchants in the WeChat ecosystem, ensuring that eligible merchants can complete the activation of payment functions on the same day. For newly settled mini-programs that meet relevant conditions, foreign trade merchants can also enjoy preferential support policies for payment processing fees throughout 2025, reducing their operational burden.

Simply opening a store is not enough; WeChat small stores also launched a package of incentive measures for all newly settled foreign trade merchants to support their continuous growth.

It is reported that self-operated transaction amounts within 1 million yuan for a single store can enjoy a reduction in technical service fees; individual merchants can receive up to 15,000 yuan in traffic incentives for live streaming sales; at the same time, the platform will fund freight insurance subsidies for users to reduce merchants' return freight costs.

In the WeChat e-commerce ecosystem, promoting and selling through influencers is also very important.

Therefore, Tencent has also introduced a measure that allows high-quality foreign trade merchants with stable operations to enter the WeChat small store "Preferred Alliance." Relying on platform capabilities, WeChat small stores can efficiently match high-quality foreign trade merchants with sales channels within the WeChat ecosystem, such as video accounts, public accounts, alliance leaders, and promoters, to help foreign trade merchants expand their online sales.

In addition, WeChat small stores plan to launch a "Foreign Trade Goodies Festival" live broadcast special.

The video account live broadcast room supports customized tags, which can provide foreign trade merchants with "export to domestic sales" displays, strengthening connections with users; for foreign trade merchants with high quality, good content, and high brand recognition, WeChat small stores will promote transaction conversion and expand the operating benefits of high-quality merchants through precise recommendations and marketing position displays.

WeChat Pay also provides marketing tools and post-payment traffic support for foreign trade merchants.

It is understood that WeChat Pay offers a variety of merchant marketing tools, including vouchers, discounts, and red envelopes, to newly settled foreign trade merchants, and provides post-payment recommendation traffic support for high-quality merchants, helping foreign trade merchants accurately reach consumers, enhance operational efficiency, and achieve revenue growth In addition to assisting foreign trade merchants in transitioning to domestic sales, Tencent also plans to promote its sales in Southeast Asia through Tenpay Global (Tencent's global cross-border payment solution platform for businesses).

Specifically, Tenpay Global will collaborate with Southeast Asian e-commerce platforms to launch the "Sail Plan," providing full-chain support for small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises to expand into the Southeast Asian market. Through the "Ten Exemptions" policy, such as no waiting to open a store, free training, no store commission, no storage fees, and no collection fees, it aims to help export enterprises alleviate difficulties.

In the context of significant changes in global trade, on April 11, the China General Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with seven associations including the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, the China General Merchandise Business Association, and the China Culinary Association, jointly issued a proposal stating that expanding the domestic market, promoting the coordinated development of domestic and foreign trade, and facilitating the transition of export goods to domestic sales has become an urgent task.

In addition to Tencent, technology companies such as JD.com, Alibaba, Pinduoduo, and Meituan have also joined the ranks of supporting foreign trade enterprises, launching their own special support plans to assist foreign trade companies in achieving the transition from export to domestic sales.

For example, JD.com announced the launch of the "Export to Domestic Sales Support Plan," which will establish a special procurement fund of 200 billion yuan within the next year to purchase high-quality products from foreign trade enterprises on a large scale.

Additionally, JD.com will provide intensive training and resource subsidies for merchants who join, helping them quickly adapt to the domestic market. Foreign trade enterprises can quickly register through a dedicated email or the "Open Store" feature on the JD.com app, achieving "0 yuan to open a store, 1-minute registration."

Alibaba's B2B cross-border e-commerce platform, Alibaba International Station, has also initiated a special action to fully support small and medium-sized foreign trade merchants facing difficulties. Since April, thousands of "customer service representatives" have been dispatched to almost all foreign trade industrial belts across the country.

For merchants with unsold inventory, Alibaba International Station has connected with domestic sales channels such as TaoGongChang and Tmall Supermarket, and will launch a dedicated registration portal in the merchant backend, simplifying processes, prioritizing reviews, and assigning personnel for follow-up. At the same time, Alibaba International Station has opened a dedicated traffic channel to provide traffic support for merchants expanding into new markets, connecting them with a broader global customer base.

In this wave of foreign trade challenges, an increasing number of industry giants are contributing to helping foreign trade enterprises weather the storm