Finnish visitors highlight China's highly integrated, AI-driven e-commerce

HELSINKI, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- A group of Finnish e-commerce professionals who recently visited China said they were struck by the sophistication, speed and deep digital integration of China's e-commerce ecosystem, Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reported on Wednesday.

The November trip was organized by Digital Commerce Finland (DCF) and Business Finland, according to the newspaper.

Mirva Sandstrom, digital commerce director at DCF, told Helsingin Sanomat that China's e-commerce differs from the traditional Finnish and European model of "searching for products and placing an order," as it is centered on social media and often integrates shopping, payment and delivery into a single platform-based experience, bringing significant efficiency gains.

The Finnish visitors were also impressed by the extensive use of artificial intelligence (AI) across China's e-commerce operations. Ville Simola, chief executive officer of DCF, said that during a visit to e-commerce giant Alibaba, the group was introduced to five or six different AI solutions.

"In many meetings, we expected that AI would come. But in China, it was completely taken for granted. Terms such as smart services and intelligent services were already used," Simola said.

The newspaper noted that AI is routinely applied in China in areas such as product recommendations, logistics and payments, and is treated as a standard capability rather than a novelty.

Speed is another defining feature of China's e-commerce, which impressed both Sandstrom and Simola. Rapid delivery services are widespread, with 30-minute delivery increasingly regarded as normal in some settings, supported by the deployment of robots and drones, the daily said.

Simola noted that China is the world's largest online retail market, adding that many Finnish companies are keen to enter China's vast market.