China 中国
New to the board (in research) — exactly one route researched so far: acquiring a mature e-commerce store
China enters this board with a single in-research entry: acquiring a mature e-commerce store (proposed cash-flow rank 50). Everything else — property, listed REITs, franchising, business acquisitions — has not yet been researched to this site's standard, and this page draws no conclusion on any of it; a country-level judgement waits for a second and third China entry.
Four grades
Identity & tax (in one line)
Identity and tax: neither buying nor opening a store confers any residency status; foreign individuals cannot directly run a domestic platform store and must first set up a mainland company as an enterprise merchant. On tax, platforms have reported seller income to the tax authority quarterly since October 2025 — domestic e-commerce is now fully transparent; small-scale VAT relief and the sole-proprietor income-tax halving run to end-2027.
This section is general information only — not immigration or tax advice. Program rules change frequently; before acting, rely on the official texts and a licensed adviser.
Key metrics
Why this country
China enters this board for the first time not because it was unimportant before, but because this site's rule is one route fully researched before one route is listed. This round completed exactly one entry to the full standard: acquiring a mature e-commerce store. Online retail sales of physical goods reached ¥13,092.3 billion in 2025, 26.1% of all retail sales (National Bureau of Statistics, verified) — the largest consumer market on this board — yet until now no entry route into it had been verified deeply enough to list.
Why e-commerce first: it is one of the few Chinese businesses where a median-operator distribution exists — two independent surveys pin the median seller net margin inside a 0–5% band — and since platform tax reporting began in 2025, seller income has an official paper trail for the first time, so acquisition diligence can be cross-verified for the first time. Both conditions had to hold for an entry to stand; sectors where they do not (property, REITs, franchises) stay off the board rather than being padded out with broker figures.
The restraint is stated plainly: the rest of China's opportunity landscape has not been researched to this site's standard, this page gives China no country-level verdict and no composite endorsement, and it will be upgraded to a full country page only when a second and third China entry land.
Entry routes
Primary (and currently the only researched) route: acquire a single home & daily-goods store operating for at least two years with annual GMV of ¥3M–10M, modelled on Taobao/Tmall. Cross-border import channels (Tmall Global, Douyin Global) are a different business and are not covered here.
Further China entries (listed REITs, business acquisitions, franchising) have not been researched yet; they will be mined to the same standard when there is a specific need.
Risks
- This page rests on a single in-research entry; country-level conclusions (openness, stability, exit environment) have not been formed — reading one entry's verdict as a verdict on China is this page's biggest misreading risk.
- Foreign-investor scope: domestic platform stores require a mainland entity, and profit repatriation and cross-border tax arrangements were not researched this round; every figure on this page is from a domestic operator's seat.
- Policy variables concentrate on platforms and tax: platform fee policy (especially Douyin's waivers) and the renewal of small-business reliefs expiring at end-2027 will directly rewrite the listed entry's P&L.
Ranked opportunities in this country
| Overall rank | Opportunity | Net return (primary metric) | Our take |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | China E-Commerce: Acquiring a Mature Store (Home & Daily Goods) In progress | 0–18% | Do, with conditions |