Launching eCommerce in China: Everything B2B Enterprises Need to Know 

With projected ecommerce revenue of US$3.6 trillion by 2028, China is undoubtedly one of the world’s most attractive ecommerce markets. For B2B, B2C, and D2C enterprises in manufacturing, distribution, and other sectors, the region represents a significant opportunity.

Yet any organization willing to succeed in China must understand that the local market is nothing like any other market. Simple localization tweaks won’t cut it. Operating in China means navigating a complex regulatory environment, distinct technical infrastructure requirements, and business model expectations. 

With a 10.42% ecommerce compound annual growth rate (CAGD)—outpacing the EU and close to the US—China’s market is expanding faster than most mature economies while offering unmatched scaling potential.  

B2B digitization is accelerating as local manufacturers and distributors modernize procurement processes, creating demand for systems that can handle complex purchasing rules and contracts, tiered pricing, and multi-entry operations.  

The window of establishing early-mover advantage is closing as competition intensifies. In 2024, 53,766 new foreign-invested enterprises were established—up 39.7% year-on-year, according to the Statistical Bulletin of FDI by MOFCOM.  

For companies that are already serving Chinese customers but do so offline or via intermediaries, the question of ecommerce launch is not a matter of when, but rather if you can afford to wait and miss out while competition captures the market. 

China requires distinct market launch and deployment strategies. 

Not only is the Chinese ecommerce market impressively enormous, which already makes it challenging to launch a commercial presence, but it also operates under an entirely separate set of technical rules and compliance laws.

• First comes compliance, then everything else. China doesn’t allow quick launches and a figure-it-out-as-we-go mentality. Every company must obtain specific licenses, registrations, patents, etc, before the platform can go live. This is not an obstacle or friction—it’s the foundation of how digital commerce operates in the region.   
• Local technical infrastructure is a must. All “Great Firewall” jokes aside, hosting infrastructure locally is the ultimate way to secure acceptable performance. Websites that are hosted outside China experience latency and reliability issues, which creates significant risks for operations and simply frustrates customers.  
• Data sovereignty is non-negotiable. Chinese legislation clearly requires all data collected within China to stay in China. These laws affect everything—from where your databases are hosted to how you structure workflows. 
• Familiar services don’t always work. Solutions such as Imperva (WAF) and SendGrid for email delivery are enterprises’ favorites across the globe, but don’t operate within China, forcing teams to source local alternatives and re-architect integrations. 
• The influence of marketplaces and social platforms. Chinese purchasing process is shaped by super-platforms—such as Tmall, Pinduoduo, and JD.com— with livestreams and social feeds spilling over into B2B ecommerce, forming businesses to coexist with these channels, integrating catalogs, pricing, and orders. 

Every ecommerce that operates in China—hosted on mainland Chinese infrastructure and accessible to the public—has an Internet Content Provider (ICP) license issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).  

This is a mandatory requirement, and hosting providers are required to suspend or block all ecommerce sites that don’t have proper licensing, often without notice.  

NB: Websites hosted outside of China that remain accessible within the country do not require an ICP license. However, these sites cannot support a fully operational eCommerce business.

There are two types of ICP certifications: 

1. ICP Commercial License: Required for ecommerce businesses and paid online services that accept payments and facilitate transactions online.  
2. Basic ICP Filing: Required for informational, non-commercial websites.  

The commercial ICP license involves a more stringent review process and evaluations and requires additional documentation—including your legal entity details, business activities, technical setup, and outlines of security measures for user data.  

The ICP license is a first, albeit mandatory step, to running a successful business in China, but it’s far from being the only one.  

Depending on the nature of the business and planned activities, those willing to operate in the Chinese market have several other regulatory obligations to fulfil first.

• EDI license for third-party transactions. While the official name of the license is Online Data Processing and Transaction Processing License, it is commonly referred to as EDI or Electric Data Interchange license. It is required for platforms that act as marketplaces to facilitate third-party transactions.  
• Data protection compliance. Data protection rules affect every step of ecommerce operations in China—from privacy policies to technical architecture. Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) and Data Security Law (DSL) govern customer data collection, processing, and storage. Cross-border transfers require a CAC security assessment or Standard Contract Clauses plus a mandatory Personal Information Protection Impact Assessment. Platform design must keep customer identities, orders, and behavioral data in-region, sharing only aggregated or anonymized metrics globally. 
• Multi-level cybersecurity protection. China’s Multi-Level Protection Scheme (MLPS) and Cybersecurity Law require all ecommerce platforms—including B2B platforms that handle payments or financial data—to complete security reviews based on their “critical information infrastructure” status.  
• AI and algorithm regulations. AI-generated content, algorithmic recommendations, or personalization all must comply with Algorithmic Recommendation Provisions (2022) and Generative-AI Interim Measures (2023). You’ll be required to be transparent about opt-out mechanisms, how algorithms work, and measures to prevent discrimination.  
• Ecommerce Law. The Ecommerce Law, introduced in 2019, requires sellers to identify verifications, consumer protection, and platform liability for goods quality. The law also mandates platforms to report any IP infringements and maintain all transaction records for over three years. 
• Product-specific approvals. Some types of products—including food, chemicals, and medical devices—require additional authorization. Manufacturing and distribution companies should consult with the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and other specialized bodies for details.  

The Chinese ecommerce market is notoriously complex to navigate, with common failure patterns (that are preventable) being: 

• Reusing a global technology monolith, ignoring data residency, ICP, and other constraints. 
• Translating the global strategy into Chinese, instead of creating a locally adapted business model—marketplaces, social commerce, credit and payment terms, etc.  
• Underscoping the legal work—such as having no local counsel or MLPS filing— right at the beginning, resulting in getting blocked by the regulator late in the project.  

A Chinese legal entity is typically a prerequisite for obtaining an ICP license. This means that any organization must establish a local presence first—either by partnering with a Chinese company that can hold the license on behalf of the foreigner, or by registering a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE).  

The key steps of the process include: 

• Registering your domain with a Chinese domain registrar, authorized by MIIT. 
• Signing for hosting services with a China-based hosting provider. 
• Submitting all documentation in Chinese—including proofs of legal presence, tech specifications, and business licenses. 
• Waiting for approval to come through—up to 20 business days after submission on average, with possible delays to 60-90 working days.  
• Prominently display your ICP number on the website footer.  

Applications are handled at the provincial level, and there are distinctions in requirements by region. 

For companies not ready to establish a full local entity, China's 100+ cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) pilot zones offer a point of entry. These zones allow foreign companies to sell into China without establishing a local entity, though with certain limitations. 

Tip: CBEC is typically more suitable for testing brands and limited assortments than complex, contract-based B2B operations.  

Here’s how CBEC works:

• Products are stored in bonded warehouses. 
• Products go through customs only when purchased by a Chinese customer.  
• Eligible products on the official CBEC import list enjoy reduced import tax rates and simplified customs procedures.  
• Compliance with Chinese regulations is still required (product safety, labeling, customer protection).  

The CBEC model helps reduce upfront costs and tackle regulatory complexity—compared to traditional importing.  

Although it doesn’t exempt the organization from compliance with local rules and regulations, it can work as a pilot for testing the market before committing to a full localization.  

Not every company should launch the same way in China. Your approach depends on several factors. 

If you're testing the market or have limited resources:  
Start with cross-border e-commerce zones or establish a presence on existing B2B marketplaces. This minimizes upfront investment while you validate demand. 

If you're committed to China as a strategic market:  
Establish a WFOE, obtain full licensing, and deploy locally hosted infrastructure. This provides maximum control, best performance, and strongest competitive positioning—but requires significant investment. 

If you're expanding into China as part of a unified global strategy:
Choose composable platforms that is flexible and can be fully customized to Chinese business practices while maintaining data residency and regulatory compliance. Pre-built solutions often lack the flexibility B2B enterprises need for contract pricing, customer-specific catalogs, and complex approval workflows. 

Launching an ecommerce business in China does not only require extensive paperwork, but it also impacts the majority of technical decisions.

• Local hosting: Ecommerce sites hosted outside of China experience significant performance penalties, worsening customer experience. Also, local hosting indirectly improves your search engine ranking on China’s dominant search platform—Baidu—which weights page speed and overall user experience.  
• Data residency rules: All Chinese customer data must be kept within China’s borders, requiring companies to host their databases locally and preventing unauthorized cross-border data transfer.  
• Payment integration: All payments must be processed by local payment systems—Alipay, WeChat Pay, etc—that also require an ICP license.  
• Mobile-first design: China boasts an unmatched mobile internet use domination, and the ecommerce ecosystem is predominantly mobile as well, making mobile apps and responsive web designs mandatory.   
• Content Delivery Networks (CDN): Companies wanting to improve performance can utilize CDNs that serve content into China, but that would require ICP certification.   

✔️ Identify clouds that will host Chinese instances. 

✔️ Choose solutions to ensure the buyer’s low latency (CDN, edge caching, local POP). 

✔️ Filter out the data that must stay in China entirely.  

✔️ Research mandatory cross-border data flows (for analytics, global ERP, etc) and compliance.  

✔️ Identify who is responsible for compliance filings and audits, and what MLPS level applies to the platform.  

✔️ Think through data recovery strategy (backups, replication, incident response). 

✔️ Choose local payment methods that will be supported. 

✔️ Plan integration of invoicing, VAT, and customs with local financial systems.  

✔️ Design optimization for the Chinese language and search engines for navigation, search, and content.  

✔️ Ensure the experience with the ecommerce platform is mobile-first and WeChat-centric. 

✔️ Decide on integrations with local marketplaces (Tmall) and logistics providers. 

✔️ Check that the architecture is composable enough and API-first to flexibly swap local services without complete replatforming. 

If you’re deploying a composable or headless ecommerce platform in China, architecture decisions made early will determine long-term success.  

• Separate your Chinese instance: Rather than extending your global platform into China, deploy your Chinese operations as a distinct instance. Local data residency, localized user experience, and market-specific integrations will simplify compliance and performance optimization.   
• Integration complexity plan: You will need middleware to sync product data, inventory, order information, etc, between your global and Chinese systems without violating data transfer laws—designing what data flows across and how. 
• Technology partnerships: Production-ready cloud services in China are limited. You should thoroughly select the partner in China to meet the solution’s requirements and your expertise. 
• Composable architecture: Composable platforms make it easier to swap China-specific components of the system without forcing you to replatform the entire system. Having separate catalog and order management, payment handling, and pricing is critical when navigating highly regulated, evolving markets.  

Tip: Deploying e-commerce in China takes longer than most enterprises expect. Plan up to 12 months for full rollout, budget for ongoing compliance, and consider investing in local expertise. Having Chinese-speaking members on the team to work with local integrators, compliance consultants, and strategic goals like marketing strategy will make a huge difference. Many vital elements of the launch—including ICP applications—will only be available in Chinese.  

• Can the platform run in Chinese cloud environments with full data residency control? 
• Does the platform support multi-instance and multi-region deployments? (so China is isolated but still integrated with global systems)? 
• How does the platform work with local invoicing, payments, and tax? 
• Does the platform offer composable functionality to implement China-specific capabilities without the full replatform? 
• Do you have successful rollouts and proven projects in China? 

Virto Commerce’s composable architecture ticks all the boxes of B2B, B2C, and D2C ecommerce launch in China.  

• Full support of local hosting requirements  
• Complete data residency compliance  
• Flexibility to adapt to China’s unique regulatory environment  
• Proven launches on the Chinese market  

Virto’s composable ecommerce platform is built to deploy anywhere, including the Chinese market.  

China-launch customer case with Virto: A global optical equipment manufacturer recently chose Virto’s composable platform to support a full ecommerce replatforming that included operations launch in China. Moving away from the 13-year-old home-built system, the customer required extreme flexibility for business rules, tight ERP integration, and a fully separate China instance.  

Virto was selected as a solution that could fully cater to the needs, rather than force the manufacturer into a box. Candid reference calls with other Virto customers, architecture diagrams of existing Chinese rollouts, and an open GitHub codebase were key in the decision-making process.

Book a call today to learn how our team rolled out multiple projects in the Chinese market and discuss your deployment strategy.