Mariana Rizzo, a 23-year-old Italian studying architecture at the University of Naples Federico II, has made shopping part of her experience of everyday life in China. She first visited the country in 2023 and has returned three times, with some trips lasting almost two months.
Her shopping list includes beauty products, clothing, accessories, snacks, technology and lifestyle goods, as well as items that are harder to find in Italy.
"When it comes to Chinese brands, one of the beauty brands I really like is Flower Knows. I love their makeup, but also the packaging and the attention they put into the design," she said.
Rizzo is among the growing number of foreigners visiting the country for the "China haul" — a trend of international travelers filling their suitcases with Chinese products before heading home.
Underpinning the phenomenon is the growing appreciation of the quality and modern appeal of Chinese brands often highlighted on social media and shopping platforms.
"Sometimes I see something on Xiaohongshu or Douyin and think, 'I need to find this when I go to China!'" Rizzo said.
"For me, shopping in China is not just about getting something cheaper. It's about having access to a much wider variety of products and experiencing the trends and lifestyle of the country directly," she said.
Her favorite purchases include a qipao, the traditional dress worn by Chinese women, and a DJI Osmo Pocket 4 camera for recording her travels.
"Buying it in China was particularly interesting because DJI is a Chinese technology brand, and I was able to discover and buy it directly there," said Rizzo, adding that the camera was considerably cheaper in China than in Italy.
She has also noticed growing interest in Chinese products and brands among her friends and classmates in Italy, and sometimes she introduces them to brands she has discovered.
Better than socks
The appeal of homegrown Chinese brands among overseas shoppers is increasingly visible in Shanghai.
Foreign customers accounted for about 35 percent of sales at footwear brand Pane's two Shanghai stores, while overseas shoppers accounted for around 30 percent of sales at Wangxiaoben's Shanghai stores, according to a report by Jiefang Daily in June.
Wang Xianming, founder of Wangxiaoben, a Chinese lifestyle brand known for its bags, said the appeal lies in the happiness their products bring shoppers. When he established the brand in 2016, he started with socks, hoping to turn a basic necessity into an accessory that could lift people's mood.
"I wanted socks to be more than just something people wear. They could also complement an outfit, express a sense of style and bring a little happiness to everyday life, even if only for 15 seconds," Wang said.
In 2024, Wangxiaoben began making what Wang calls "dopamine" bags, which have since become its main product category. The brand's product range also includes hats, socks and pet accessories.
Wang first noticed an increase in foreign customers in 2024, particularly visitors from Southeast Asia and Russia shopping at the company's store in Shanghai's Super Brand Mall. In September 2025 it opened a store at Shanghai Joy City and noticed South Korean and American bloggers sharing content about its products.
"Online platforms in Thailand and Russia began working with us, making our products available to new consumers," said Wang of the overseas bloggers' brand promotions.
One South Korean blogger, for example, posted a video of the brand's Shanghai store this summer, prompting numerous inquiries from her followers. She subsequently bought more than 100 bags for followers and friends during her stay in the city.
Wangxiaoben products have also attracted repeat international shoppers. A Malaysian woman visited Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, three times over two years, buying multiple products on each trip and developing a close friendship with the store manager, Wang said.
Customers from Southeast Asia tend to prefer lower-priced bags, while those from Japan and South Korea seem to care less about prices. The brand's overseas customers also span a wider age range than its younger Chinese shoppers.
"We are not making major adjustments specifically for foreign customers. In Shanghai, we are looking into tax-refund policies and other measures to make shopping more convenient for international visitors," Wang said.
Wangxiaoben has around 120 stores nationwide, mainly in tourist destinations and major cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing in Jiangsu province, and Chengdu in Sichuan province. It has registered its trademarks overseas and plans to expand gradually into international markets through social media promotion, while exploring complementary products around the lifestyle concept behind its "dopamine" range.
"I can clearly see that overseas consumers are developing greater trust in and appreciation for Chinese brands. This is closely related to the development of China's manufacturing, design and branding capabilities. It feels a little like how Chinese consumers once felt when they went abroad to buy local brands," said Wang.
Premium goods
Beyond individual shopping experiences, broader consumer perceptions of Chinese brands are evolving.
According to Ipsos' 2025 Global Trust Index for Chinese Brands, the global net trust score for Chinese brands rose by 12 percentage points from the previous year to 32 percent, while the proportion of consumers in developed markets who expressed trust in Chinese brands reached 36 percent.
Guo Xiaoling, a professor of marketing at the Business School of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said Chinese brands must win acceptance, trust and even become aspirational for consumers in developed markets to command a price premium.
"In the early 2000s, when China joined the World Trade Organization, 'Made in China' was often associated with low prices and value for money, targeting lower-end market segments rather than mainstream markets. Over the past two decades, China has made significant progress in the transition from Chinese products to Chinese brands," said Guo.
Overseas perceptions of Chinese brands have been shaped by China's growing national strength and cultural influence, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and new energy vehicles, as well as improvements in innovation, design, quality and sustainability, she said.
Citing Bain & Company's 2025 China Personal Luxury Report, Guo pointed to homegrown high-end brands such as fashion label Icicle, jewelry brand Laopu Gold, fragrance brand Documents and handbag maker Songmont.
"Brand craftsmanship, storytelling and interactions with potential consumers on social media now play a major role in stimulating consumer interest and desire," said Guo.
At Songmont's flagship store at Indigo shopping mall in Beijing, she met young foreign consumers who had come specifically to shop and learned they had discovered the brand through social media.
When teaching foreign exchange students, Guo asked them to visit well-known Chinese brand experience spaces, such as Pop Land. She believes these firsthand interactions deepen their understanding of Chinese brands and culture and encourage positive word-of-mouth when they return home.
"If social media is the digital infrastructure for elevating Chinese brands, then firsthand experience is the booster and the experience capsule built on top of it," she said.
Chinese businesses should recognize that their brands represent the country to overseas consumers, whether through Laopu Gold's cultural heritage or Pop Mart's broader appeal.
"When overseas consumers learn that a brand they like originates in China, their fondness for that brand will inevitably lead to a more positive perception of Chinese brands as a whole," said Guo.
Cross-border sales
While overseas consumers are increasingly discovering Chinese products through travel and social media, Chinese e-commerce platforms are also stepping up efforts to reach them in their home markets.
China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 2.84 trillion yuan in 2025, up 4.8 percent year-on-year, the General Administration of Customs said at a press conference in July.
The challenge for Chinese businesses is turning overseas consumer interest into purchases and repeat business, with this year's overseas Singles Day shopping season already underway.
AliExpress launched its sales campaign on Nov 1, with promotions running through Nov 18 before moving into its Black Friday campaign. According to AliExpress data, the volume of goods stocked in its overseas warehouses ahead of this year's Singles Day online shopping rush rose 146 percent year-on-year.
George Wang, chief financial officer of Shoplazza, an AI-native e-commerce platform that has served more than 650,000 merchants worldwide, said merchants' priorities have shifted from simply setting up overseas online stores to learning how to operate and grow their businesses in international markets.
"Acquiring customers online has become harder, so merchants have to watch spending, conversion and margins much more closely. Over the past two years, one clear trend is that merchants' needs are shifting from 'help me set up an overseas online store' to 'help me run my overseas business'," said Wang.
"Social media helps consumers discover brands, and this sparks their interest, while content creators build trust through product reviews, demonstrations, and firsthand experiences," he said.
Overseas consumers usually pass through several processes before buying, including watching a product video on social media, reading a creator's review, and comparing options on a marketplace or the brand's own website.
"Some brands using Shoplazza's platform include links on their online stores that direct customers to Amazon, allowing consumers to choose their preferred purchasing channel. This approach lets the two channels work together, with the brand's own online store driving traffic to Amazon while helping merchants build lasting customer relationships through direct sales," said Wang.
On Oct 5, TikTok announced an AI shopping assistant and Buy Direct, a one-click checkout tool, with partners including Shoplazza.
"The shopping assistant allows consumers to ask about sizing, product details, delivery and stock before proceeding to the checkout, without leaving the TikTok app," he said.
Wang gave the example of Real-SilkLife, a Chinese direct-to-consumer brand offering silk, cashmere and linen clothing and home products, primarily in the US and Europe.
By using Shoplazza's system and AI agents to streamline tasks such as store setup, product listing, multilingual content management and data analysis, the brand increased regional orders by 30 percent and average order value by 22 percent over three months.
Wang said another example is JammyJem, a Chinese brand selling squishy toys and blind-box products. "It uses online livestreams and TikTok short videos to engage overseas consumers, and buyers also share their purchases and unboxing videos, drawing in new shoppers," he said.
JammyJem's data for Japan showed that around 60 percent of its customers who placed orders in a given month made at least two purchases that month, while about one-third placed orders five or more times.
Rizzo, the Italian student, said her interest in Chinese products continues after she returns to Italy.
She typically selects items on Taobao, Tmall and JD.com before traveling and has them delivered to an address in China. She tried ordering from China to Italy once but found international shipping expensive, particularly when buying from multiple sellers.
Charl Albertyn is a 34-year-old South African who has lived in China since 2014. Through his company, Hofmeyr Consulting, he organizes trips for international visitors, while his work with Lumiverse Media LLC focuses on Chinese business, technology, food and consumer culture.
Albertyn said his perception of Chinese brands had changed considerably over the years. He has witnessed Chinese companies grow stronger, not only in manufacturing, but also in design, technology, branding and consumer experience.
"I don't think price is necessarily the most important attraction anymore," he said.
"Chinese products can be attractive because of their quality, design, variety and technological innovation, but perhaps most importantly because they increasingly offer something that is distinctly Chinese."
He sees this as part of a broader shift in China's global image.
"After living here for more than a decade, that is probably the biggest change I have seen: China has moved from being perceived primarily as the world's factory to increasingly being recognized as a source of brands, products, experiences and ideas in its own right," said Albertyn.
Editor：Zhou Jinmiao
