handbook-tb

Jinyan LiSpecific reasons for cross-border online shopping include: greaterselection of products online — popular categories of goods boughtonline include computer hardware, personal electronics, and appareland accessories as well as automobile parts (particularly in the RussianFederation); higher level of consumer trust in quality, and time-saving;and perhaps most importantly, cost-saving. 41 One of the reasons forthe price advantage is tax. 42 The popular international websites forB2C transactions are those hosted by companies in the United States,such as Amazon, and other developed countries. 43Similar growth trends exist in other developing countries.In 2014, for example, the Asia-Pacific region was expected to claimmore than 46 per cent of global digital buyers and to spend more one-commerce purchases than North America, and the potential to growremains huge as Internet users currently account for only 16.9 per centof the Asia-Pacific region’s population. 44 Africa’s e-commerce has beendefined and accelerated by mobile networks. To promote e-commerce,entrepreneurs are reportedly contemplating circumventing the41For further information, see Research on International Markets, “RussiaB2C E-Commerce Report,” (2012), Market Report, available at http://ystats.com/uploads/report_abstracts/998.pdf?PHPSESSID=8703349841ca7cebda9e9ee664281724; Market Watch, “Eastern Europe B2C E-Commerce Report2013,” available at http://www.reportlinker.com/p0191557/Eastern-Europe-B2C-E-Commerce-Report-2013.html; Deloitte, “Doing Business in Russia2014,” available at http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-Russia/Local%20Assets/Documents/Doing%20Business%20in%20Russia/Doing_business_in_Russia_2014.pdf.42For example, in the Russian Federation, parcels are not subject to customsduties and import VAT if they do not exceed 31 kg in weight and 1,000euros in value each month per recipient. In the case of intangibles (such ascomputer programs, e-books, music or video content), there is no conceptof electronic import in the Russian Federation, allowing the content to bedelivered to Russian users tax-free.43Some of the websites are also hosted by Chinese companies, suchas Alibaba.44See “India, China to help APAC become largest e-commerce marketin 2014,” The Economic Times (online), 18 February 2014, available at http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-02-18/news/47451222_1_ecommerce-emarketer-emerging-markets.420