Improving customs clearance bottleneck in the Chinese B2C import cross-border e-commerce: extending sampling methods by two stages

Abstract The rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce poses significant challenges to the labour-intensive customs clearance process. Physical inspection of contents remains a compulsory burden in the customs clearance process, even for modern customs clearance centres. This research aims to identify...

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Main Authors: Yi Zhao, ThaiYoung Kim, Beom-Seuk Hwang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2025-07-01
Series:Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05261-5
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author Yi Zhao
ThaiYoung Kim
Beom-Seuk Hwang
author_facet Yi Zhao
ThaiYoung Kim
Beom-Seuk Hwang
author_sort Yi Zhao
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce poses significant challenges to the labour-intensive customs clearance process. Physical inspection of contents remains a compulsory burden in the customs clearance process, even for modern customs clearance centres. This research aims to identify a sampling method for a global solution that satisfies stakeholders’ interests in cross-border e-commerce in terms of accuracy, promptness, and resilience. To accomplish this, operational data were collected from a customs clearance centre in southern China to perform a realistic simulation. Further, the performance of various sampling methods was simulated based on the current simple random sampling versus various two-stage sampling methods. Pallet handling utilises two-stage sampling methods to enhance efficiency in combination with an informative sample size. Thus, an appropriate two-stage sampling method ensures optimal performance, thereby overcoming the undesirable side effects of the sampling methods. The study found that TSS1 with a sampling probability proportional to pallet size was optimal in satisfying the contradictory interests of the stakeholders. This study provides a toolset to improve the efficiency of customs clearance by applying theoretical sampling techniques to the challenges encountered in customs clearance operations. Thus, it contributes to eliminating bottlenecks in customs clearance centres in countries worldwide, which can lead to the global success of cross-border e-commerce.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2662-9992
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
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series Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
spelling doaj-art-17934c0e4c0344b8bfbb258eae6a582f2025-08-20T04:01:24ZengSpringer NatureHumanities & Social Sciences Communications2662-99922025-07-0112111310.1057/s41599-025-05261-5Improving customs clearance bottleneck in the Chinese B2C import cross-border e-commerce: extending sampling methods by two stagesYi Zhao0ThaiYoung Kim1Beom-Seuk Hwang2Department of International Logistics, Chung-Ang UniversityDepartment of International Logistics, Chung-Ang UniversityDepartment of Applied Statistics, Chung-Ang UniversityAbstract The rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce poses significant challenges to the labour-intensive customs clearance process. Physical inspection of contents remains a compulsory burden in the customs clearance process, even for modern customs clearance centres. This research aims to identify a sampling method for a global solution that satisfies stakeholders’ interests in cross-border e-commerce in terms of accuracy, promptness, and resilience. To accomplish this, operational data were collected from a customs clearance centre in southern China to perform a realistic simulation. Further, the performance of various sampling methods was simulated based on the current simple random sampling versus various two-stage sampling methods. Pallet handling utilises two-stage sampling methods to enhance efficiency in combination with an informative sample size. Thus, an appropriate two-stage sampling method ensures optimal performance, thereby overcoming the undesirable side effects of the sampling methods. The study found that TSS1 with a sampling probability proportional to pallet size was optimal in satisfying the contradictory interests of the stakeholders. This study provides a toolset to improve the efficiency of customs clearance by applying theoretical sampling techniques to the challenges encountered in customs clearance operations. Thus, it contributes to eliminating bottlenecks in customs clearance centres in countries worldwide, which can lead to the global success of cross-border e-commerce.https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05261-5
spellingShingle Yi Zhao
ThaiYoung Kim
Beom-Seuk Hwang
Improving customs clearance bottleneck in the Chinese B2C import cross-border e-commerce: extending sampling methods by two stages
Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
title Improving customs clearance bottleneck in the Chinese B2C import cross-border e-commerce: extending sampling methods by two stages
title_full Improving customs clearance bottleneck in the Chinese B2C import cross-border e-commerce: extending sampling methods by two stages
title_fullStr Improving customs clearance bottleneck in the Chinese B2C import cross-border e-commerce: extending sampling methods by two stages
title_full_unstemmed Improving customs clearance bottleneck in the Chinese B2C import cross-border e-commerce: extending sampling methods by two stages
title_short Improving customs clearance bottleneck in the Chinese B2C import cross-border e-commerce: extending sampling methods by two stages
title_sort improving customs clearance bottleneck in the chinese b2c import cross border e commerce extending sampling methods by two stages
url https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05261-5
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AT thaiyoungkim improvingcustomsclearancebottleneckinthechineseb2cimportcrossborderecommerceextendingsamplingmethodsbytwostages
AT beomseukhwang improvingcustomsclearancebottleneckinthechineseb2cimportcrossborderecommerceextendingsamplingmethodsbytwostages