Boots on the Ground: Shenzhen’s Logistics Hub Unveils 2025 E-commerce Trends with Justin Lin

In this episode, host Mike Michelini is on the ground in Shenzhen, China, visiting his investment company, Easy China Warehouse. Joined by his business partner and CEO, Justin Lin, they take a walking tour of the logistics hub, sharing real-time insights on global shipping, economic trends, and practical strategies for cross-border e-commerce.

• Justin’s VIP Page: https://vip.globalfromasia.com/network/justin-lin
• Easy China Warehouse: https://easychinawarehouse.com/
• Cross Border Summit 2025: https://2025.crossbordersummit.com/
• GFAVIP Community: https://gfavip.com/ 
  

Thank you Justin for being on the show, and thank you everybody for listening in.

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[00:00:00] Mike Michelini: Episode 470 of Global from Asia, boots on the ground in Shenzhen, China—the logistics hub of the world. We’re diving into the latest trends and insights on exporting from China to global markets.

[00:00:15] Lisa Yuson: Welcome to the Global from Asia Podcast, where the daunting process of running an international business is broken down into straight-up actionable advice. Welcome to Global from Asia, episode 470. I’m Lisa Yuson, your GFA community manager, and today Mike is in his element, on the ground in Shenzhen, China, visiting his investment company, Easy China Warehouse. He’s catching up with his business partner and CEO, Justin Lin.

[00:00:46] Mike Michelini: That’s right, Lisa! Shenzhen is the heartbeat of cross-border e-commerce, and I’m here hyper-networking at the Shenzhen SEO Conference, connecting with Amazon sellers and e-commerce pros from around the globe. It’s intense, and I love it.

[00:01:03] Lisa Yuson: You’re thriving out there, Mike. Today’s episode is special. You’re walking through the Fuyong District, the logistics center of China, with Justin Lin, talking real-time business insights. And for those watching on YouTube, you’re in for a treat with Mike’s new video gear showing more than just talking heads.

[00:01:21] Mike Michelini: Exactly. Audio listeners, don’t worry, we’ll paint the picture for you. Plus, Justin and I will both be at the Cross Border Summit 2025 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, November 3rd to 5th. So this is a great warmup. Stick around for our outro, where we’ll share more and answer a listener question.

[00:01:40] Lisa Yuson: Let’s hear from our GFA community. This week’s listener question comes from Sarah in Seattle: “How do you manage quality control with Chinese suppliers when you’re based overseas?” We’ll tackle that in the outro. For now, let’s dive into Episode 470.

[00:02:00] Mike Michelini: Before we dive in, join us at the Cross-Border Summit 2025, November 3rd to 5th in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Network with top eCommerce entrepreneurs, learn cutting-edge strategies, and grow your global business. Get your tickets at cross-bordersummit.com. Also, check out our GFAVIP membership for exclusive resources and community access at globalfromasia.com/vip. Hello. Hey Justin. Hey. So our partner, CEO at Easy China Warehouse, we’re here at the warehouse in Shenzhen, China. How you doing today?

[00:02:44] Justin Lin: I’m good. I’m good. Yeah. Welcome, welcome. I’m happy you’ve come again. Yeah, of course, man.

[00:02:50] Mike Michelini: Great to see business is doing well and you’ve been growing. We just had a nice lunch with some of our team, and it’s doing great.

[00:02:59] Justin Lin: You can tell from our warehouse, it’s full. It’s 100% full. So it’s jam-packed. Yeah. Since a lot of customers trust us, our business is getting better and better. So yeah.

[00:03:10] Mike Michelini: Awesome. So today we’re going to do a video podcast. This is, of course, we’re here at Easy China Warehouse, but we’re also in what part of Shenzhen?

[00:03:20] Justin Lin: Here is the Fuyong District. We call it the logistics center of China. Basically, if you need a Chinese shipping agent, almost all of them are here, in this area. It’s in Bao’an, in Shenzhen, yeah.

[00:03:32] Mike Michelini: Great. So let’s take a look. We’ll take you outside and show some of the spots. Let’s go take a walk around.

[00:03:36] Justin Lin: Let’s go.

[00:03:41] Mike Michelini: All right. Yeah. So, yeah, it’s a full warehouse. And over here…

[00:03:52] Justin Lin: The whole floor of this warehouse is full. You can see every dock when you come. Yeah, it’s full. We will prepare and send all this cargo out soon.

[00:04:02] Mike Michelini: Great. Yeah, it’s definitely jam-packed. We’re here in mid-September 2025, right? Yeah. So it’s great.

[00:04:09] Justin Lin: And also, you can see here, also full. Not just this floor, our first floor is also full. We also have a warehouse downstairs and it’s also full. Wow. So, yeah. Again, since our customers trust us and are helping us grow, we are also very happy to help you guys if you want your product to keep growing together. Yeah.

[00:04:36] Mike Michelini: Definitely. So, what’s the most popular service that people are doing? I use it for Amazon brands, FBA.

[00:04:47] Justin Lin: Now, the main one is still Amazon FBA and some like Walmart and some like Shopify. So, yeah. But Amazon is still about 60%. Some also do about 20% in B2B, traditional trading for the shipment.

[00:05:07] Mike Michelini: Okay. And then I think I sometimes get Taobao products.

[00:05:12] Justin Lin: Yes, some of our customers also order from Taobao, Pinduoduo, and 1688.com and then send to our warehouse. And then we will send to our customer. Yeah.

[00:05:25] Mike Michelini: Yep. Alright, so we’ll take a look downstairs. Around the neighborhood. Alright. Yeah. And these elevators…

[00:05:32] Justin Lin: Yeah, the cargo elevators.

[00:05:34] Mike Michelini: We’re in the cargo elevator. This is the real behind-the-scenes here. Seeing the real logistics center. And it’s hot. It’s hot. Yeah. It’s a hot day, but Shenzhen is hot a lot, right? South China. Let’s take a look. We’re going to go out the door. Open sesame. There we go. All right. So, this district is near the airport, right?

[00:06:06] Justin Lin: Yeah, it’s near, about a 10-minute drive to the airport. So yeah. And if you walk around, you can see the first floor here, all warehouse. The whole place is a warehouse.

[00:06:20] Mike Michelini: Everything is a warehouse. Products shipping all around the world. We talked about this in a previous show, the tariffs with Trump. What are your thoughts now, getting into September 2025? How’s the whole tariff thing going?

[00:06:40] Justin Lin: The whole tariff… We don’t see the tariffs raising the shipping costs recently. I think because the tariffs caused the U.S. cargo to go down. Not much compared to this time last year in September. The cargo should be a lot compared to this time, but now the cargo is still dropping down. The companies are not raising their prices. Normally, in close to Q4, they will raise the price for the shipping rate. So, yeah. I think the tariff effect only affects the cargo going to the U.S. But to other countries from China, like the EU, Japan, Australia, Canada, it’s still okay. Basically the same as last year. Yeah. And South Asia is going up, export data shows that.

[00:08:03] Mike Michelini: So shipping rates are going up?

[00:08:06] Justin Lin: No, the cargo… The rate basically stays the same, but the volume is going up.

[00:08:14] Mike Michelini: Oh, the amount, the volume is up, the money goes up. Got it. So, these are more warehouses, but these are always busier, right? These…

[00:08:24] Justin Lin: Yeah, this is the airport one, because they take the air freight. Every day the cargo comes here. You can see the machine, the truck loading. They will make sure the cargo size and then take it out, take it to the airport, and then catch the flight today.

[00:08:50] Mike Michelini: Got it. So it’s near the airports and then they… This truck just picked up?

[00:08:56] Justin Lin: They just dropped the cargo off. Because every day they will send the cargo to the airport at night. Not at the daytime. We pick up all the cargo from different areas and then send it here. We sort it, and then send all the cargo, like with the big bag, and then send to the airport at night. Normally, at night, there are a lot of trucks coming in, not like a big container loading. Because in the daytime, even for sea freight, we also receive the cargo in the daytime and then load the cargo to the container at night. Because the trucks are very big. If a lot of big trucks come to load the cargo, then the traffic will be nice. Start the whole, start the whole area. Also, it’s not a good time to be receiving cargo if we do it at day.

[00:10:11] Mike Michelini: Got it. We can walk? Yeah, sure. Which way? Yeah, down this road. All right. Let’s go this way. Interesting. So that’s why, because I think we have some people working with us at Easy China Warehouse who are working at SF at night, right? So a lot of the logistics work at night, you’re saying?

[00:10:35] Justin Lin: Yeah. At night, people will arrange the truck to come to the warehouse and load the cargo. And then you can see the whole supply chain here. Some only do air freight. Some only do sea freight. But like us, Easy China Warehouse, we are a one-stop solution. We not just provide sea freight and air freight, we provide for all different countries and all air freight, sea freight, FBA, and the small package shipping, D2C shipping. But for them, they only do one. We have a one-stop solution. Cool. And for our customers, because some of our customers don’t want to go to a different company, they go to this and make things more complicated. So we just provide one-stop solution and tell our customer it’s easy. We kind of had a… in here we had a community. Not just every company, we had a committee group and then we help each other. When there are some shipping issues, they will help us and we will help them. We support each other as a whole area partner in the whole logistic area.

[00:11:50] Mike Michelini: Yeah. There are a lot… I’ve seen also, like logistics fairs. You’ve been to the trade shows and other things.

[00:12:00] Justin Lin: Yeah, it will have that night in the airport for the trade show.

[00:12:06] Mike Michelini: Great. So I guess, back to the current trends in the market. You’re saying the shipping rates have not increased like usual because maybe the tariffs have discouraged the shipping companies from increasing the price too much.

[00:12:21] Justin Lin: Yeah. The companies are not raising the rate and the volume is not going up. So far, the rate to the U.S. is not like last year, it’s not significantly increasing. So now I think it’s a good time to ship. The price is okay. So, yeah.

[00:12:47] Mike Michelini: And how do you think the economy is, what you’re noticing here?

[00:12:51] Justin Lin: Yeah, I think, I think it is. After the COVID, now it’s getting better and better because even though the tariff affects the trading, the U.S. trading with China, people still need to spend money to buy stuff. Yeah. So even if the price rises up a bit, they still need to buy. The cargo is still not like during the COVID when there was a lot, but still getting better, I think.

[00:13:30] Mike Michelini: And then we were talking about it… I think some people know my brands and what I sell. I’m still mostly in the U.S. But you help me go to Japan and other markets. You’re seeing the opportunities now are still in the global market, right?

[00:13:52] Justin Lin: I think… I discuss a lot with our customers and they say the U.S. is not the best market anymore because of too much competition. The competition is very hard for them to make money. Even if they sell a lot, the net profit is not high. But I talk with other customers who are doing multiple countries, multiple markets, and from what they tell us…

[00:14:24] Mike Michelini: Got a fire truck coming in.

[00:14:27] Justin Lin: The fire truck will come basically every day because they need to check in case there’s a fire. They will check if you meet the fire requirements. They make sure everybody has some knowledge about fire protection.

[00:14:47] Mike Michelini: Especially in a warehouse, right?

[00:14:50] Justin Lin: Especially with a warehouse. The whole area is a warehouse. They have a fire station near here, so they can put it down very fast. They also check every day to make sure everyone’s protection is good. Back to the topic again…

[00:15:15] Mike Michelini: We’re talking about international markets, diversifying.

[00:15:20] Justin Lin: Yeah. If you ask people who do something in the U.S., UK, EU, and multiple countries… if you check with them, I believe most sellers will tell you one thing: the most profit they get is not from the U.S. anymore. I mean, the net profit, I’m not talking about sale. The sales are still really big in the U.S., but the net profit is maybe not as good as other countries like the EU, UK, and Japan. So, yeah, I would suggest people to send to other countries, like Japan, which also has a big population there, and the EU. So, if you need help, you can contact us. We know how to deal with that.

[00:16:32] Mike Michelini: Great. And shall we talk about the global economy? What do you see about it? Are people’s sales up or down based on what you see with the shipping? Let’s first talk global and also talk China, but let’s first talk global. What do you see from your perspective and data? How does it look to you?

[00:17:00] Justin Lin: From my perspective, I think the global cargo is still doing okay. I mean, if you compare to last year, it’s not as good. The volume is down, but still, I think it dropped a bit, maybe like 5 to 10%. But still, I think it’s doing okay, the economy. And also inside China after COVID, I think everything is back to normal now. I mean, even the China stock market went up. So, yeah. I think things will slowly, slowly get better.

[00:17:42] Mike Michelini: Which way? Yeah. This is cool. We’re doing a podcast walking around.

[00:17:50] Justin Lin: We can walk around. You can see the park there if you’re watching. And then we walk down there and you will see a lot of small shipping agents. They’re everywhere.

[00:18:02] Mike Michelini: Everywhere.

[00:18:04] Justin Lin: The whole village in this area, they’re all doing international shipping. Some only do the U.S. Some may only do Europe, the UK. Or some are doing South Asia. Small countries. Every country, as long as the government allows Chinese cargo to get into it, then you can find it here.

[00:18:41] Mike Michelini: Yeah, we’re going down. It looks more like the residential area if you’re watching the video.

[00:18:48] Justin Lin: Yeah. This is a street. This street is for the first street. And then go down, we’ll see more.

[00:19:00] Mike Michelini: The school here. They’re lined up. Oh, for school? They’re waiting for their kids.

[00:19:12] Justin Lin: Yeah. There’s a school here and security here to protect the kids and make sure they don’t get hit by a truck.

[00:19:24] Mike Michelini: Especially in a logistics center. Well, okay, we’re in the middle of the road now. Walking. Oh, kid peeing. I think I got it on camera. That was on video for those who saw it, a little kid peeing. An Easter egg for those who want to go back to that clip. Okay. So, if those listening or watching, we’re like kind of in the restaurant food area after the school. So, yeah, it’s like a full community. People live here and work here.

[00:20:12] Justin Lin: Yeah, it’s a big community. People live here, work here, school is here. It’s more easy, more convenient for people. That’s why China is so fast. Because everything is so close, and you don’t need to go a long way to buy your food. We can turn around there. Go walk later here and then turn around. We will also see some logistics companies.

[00:20:41] Mike Michelini: Yeah, let’s go find some. There are trucks passing us now. This is… I’m always trying new things. This is a cool podcast in the logistics center.

[00:20:53] Justin Lin: Yeah. You can see the cargo, even in the small car. There’s a truck there also carrying cargo, small vans and little buggies full of stuff.

[00:21:13] Mike Michelini: Go down this small road. There are some cars, but mostly bikes on this road.

[00:21:20] Justin Lin: This one is a bike store. And you can see, I think you can see this one also, the logistics company.

[00:21:30] Mike Michelini: Yeah, there are really small ones.

[00:21:34] Justin Lin: Yeah. The whole street, the whole area. You can see that. The small one. And every building, the first floor is doing logistics. This one is also logistic. That one also logistic. Even this one also logistic.

[00:21:55] Mike Michelini: So it’s like 4 p.m. now. You said the trucks are dropping off, maybe starting to change to the night. What time does the night pickup start?

[00:22:04] Justin Lin: It would be at night. Night after 8 p.m. Yeah, 8 p.m. Okay. You can see here, the whole street is a logistic area.

[00:22:15] Mike Michelini: They’re all doing the logistics. The small first-floor shops have lots of cartons and shipments inside of them.

[00:22:25] Justin Lin: Yeah. So, basically the whole area, there are big ones and there are small ones. The whole supply chain is here. Okay. So this one is also logistics?

[00:22:36] Mike Michelini: Yeah, it’s just everywhere. How many people do you think are inside? One or two, three people?

[00:22:42] Justin Lin: One or two people. Some of them are a couple, and they do logistics. So yeah, they just contact online and then send the cargo. But eventually, they will send the cargo to a big company like us, to our warehouse, and because we are big, we will collect their cargo and then we will load the container and do the final shipping.

[00:23:17] Mike Michelini: Got it. And so, https://www.google.com/search?q=easy-china-warehouse.com. We’re also preparing for the Cross Border Summit. It’s coming up in a month and a half.

[00:23:28] Justin Lin: Yeah. I will also be at the Cross Border Summit this year too. If you are interested in logistics, welcome to come. We can discuss the best solution for you based on your situation and make it faster, cheaper, and more reliable.

[00:23:50] Mike Michelini: Yeah, it’s been great. Like, we were having a meeting earlier and there are lots of different requirements for businesses. So collecting it, consolidating it, sending it to different places…

[00:24:00] Justin Lin: If you do online e-commerce, you definitely need a reliable logistics partner in China if your cargo is ordered from China. So, yeah, I believe we can help you.

[00:24:14] Mike Michelini: And our Cross Border Summit… you’ll be coming down to Thailand? It’s going to be a good time. November 4th and 5th are the core two days. Cross-bordersummit.com. I look forward to having you back, Justin, and doing some things together.

[00:24:32] Justin Lin: Yeah.

[00:24:35] Mike Michelini: This is a fun walk. We’re almost in a full loop back to the Easy China Warehouse. So that was the core village that we just saw. This guy is packaging up?

[00:24:50] Justin Lin: Yeah, he’s doing the… to South Asia there. From the branch. They are selling, they are shipping to South Asia. Southeast. Like Thailand, China, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines. Yeah.

[00:25:05] Mike Michelini: Got it. These buildings are kind of close together too.

[00:25:12] Justin Lin: Yeah. You can see basically every building is doing it. This one is also. Like, every building near here, they all do logistics. You cannot find another place in China like this, where every building is a logistics company.

[00:25:31] Mike Michelini: It is nuts. I feel like in the U.S. there’s Chinatown. Chinese people, they make communities or clusters of the services, restaurants, right? Like somebody joked, there’s a pigeon restaurant, lots of them in the same area. Because one started it and then another came, and another came. And there’s this area for pigeon eating.

[00:26:08] Justin Lin: Yeah. Because I think the good thing for this is that the whole supply chain will be easy for the supply chain. Right? I mean, if you’re talking about the supply chain, what does supply chain mean? Supply chain means you are easy to find the material production. That’s why China is so fast. If you want to make a sample in China, if you go to the right location, you can get a sample in like three to five days. It’s very fast. That’s why we call it the China speed.

[00:26:55] Mike Michelini: Yeah. China speed. Great. Alright. I think we’re good for now. Thanks for watching everybody. Let us know what you think and thanks for taking this discussion with us, Justin, and this walk around town. I’ve seen this guy walk in his dog. He seems really strong. But I think that’s because he’s a logistics… maybe lost some packages. Or he’s at the gym.

[00:27:26] Justin Lin: I think logistics gave him the body. I mean, he’s a really… this guy…

[00:27:35] Mike Michelini: He’s got no shirt. He’s walking his dog and he’s jacked. But I think it’s from his logistics exercise. Alright. Thanks everybody for watching. Thank you and good to see you all soon.

[00:27:54] Lisa Yuson: Bye-Bye. Wow, Mike, what a fantastic episode! I love how you’re out there with your new gear, capturing real-time insights at Easy China Warehouse. It really brings the Global from Asia mission to life—boots on the ground, sharing the good, bad, and ugly of cross-border business.

[00:28:16] Mike Michelini: Thanks, Lisa. Since we started Global from Asia in 2013, it’s been about delivering real-world insights. With new tech and podcast gear, we’re taking it to the next level, showing listeners and viewers what’s happening in places like Shenzhen. Walking through the warehouse with Justin was a blast, and it’s exciting to see Easy China Warehouse grow.

[00:28:41] Lisa Yuson: Speaking of growth, let’s talk about Easy China Warehouse and the Cross-Border Summit. How’s everything coming along and what’s the vibe in Shenzhen?

[00:28:50] Mike Michelini: You know, Lisa, I was chatting with some friends here in Shenzhen and they asked, “Mike, how do you juggle all this?” After 21 years of selling online, it’s about chipping away every day, consistent progress, no shortcuts. Easy China Warehouse is thriving under Justin’s leadership. He’s a rockstar CEO, laser-focused on clients, and we’ve seen significant growth since I joined about 18 months ago. As for the Cross Border Summit 2025, we’re gearing up for our seventh year. And we’ve got big announcements coming. Think AI, community ecosystems, and more.

[00:29:43] Lisa Yuson: That daily grind and passion really shine through, Mike. It’s inspiring to see how you’re building leaders and a global community. Let’s answer Sarah’s listener question from Seattle: “How do you manage quality control with Chinese suppliers when you’re based overseas?“

[00:30:03] Mike Michelini: Great question, Sarah. Managing quality control remotely is tough, but doable. First, build strong relationships with your suppliers. Use WeChat or regular video calls to stay connected. Second, hire a third-party inspection team in China, like V-Trust or AsiaInspection, to check products before they ship. Finally, set clear specs upfront. Send detailed product sheets and samples to avoid surprises. It’s about trust, but verify. Want more tips? Join our GFAVIP community at globalfromasia.com/vip.

[00:30:45] Lisa Yuson: Such practical advice, Mike. Sarah, let us know how it goes. Mike, any final thoughts?

[00:30:57] Mike Michelini: Just keep forging your own path, everyone. Entrepreneurship is a journey, and with AI and global opportunities, now’s the time to scale. Join us at the Cross-Border Summit in Chiang Mai, November 3rd to 5th, 2025 to connect and grow. See you there.

[00:31:18] Lisa Yuson: Absolutely. I’m pumped. Thanks for tuning in to Global from Asia. Let’s wrap it.

[00:31:27] Outro Bumper: To get more info about running an international business, please visit our website at www.globalfromasia.com. That’s www.globalfromasia.com. Also, be sure to subscribe to our iTunes feed. Thanks for tuning in.