2025 Cross-Border Worship Supplies Report: Joss Paper Sales Surge 300% Annually—What Business Opportunities Lie Behind?
03 Dec 2025
The latest data report from Amazon's global seller backend has excited the entire cross-border worship supplies track—global sales of "ancestor money" related products reached 200 million US dollars in 2024, a 300% surge compared to the previous year. The segmented markets show even greater vitality: the North American market ranks first with a 42% share, the European market becomes the biggest dark horse with a 58% year-on-year growth rate, and the Southeast Asian market continues to expand with a 15% penetration rate. When joss paper printed with "Heaven and Earth Bank" moves from Chinatown stores to the bestseller lists of mainstream overseas e-commerce platforms, three undeniable business logics lie behind this growth spurt, and new business opportunities in customization and localization have emerged.
The first driving force is the "rigid demand base" built by 50 million overseas Chinese. The latest demographic statistics from the United Nations show that the number of overseas Chinese worldwide has exceeded 50 million, of which overseas Chinese in North America and Europe account for more than 60%. This group has stable traditional needs for Qingming tomb-sweeping and death anniversary worship, and the compliance and convenience upgrades of cross-border worship supplies have completely activated the market. "I used to ask relatives and friends to bring joss paper from China, which was not only easy to be detained but also always missed the worship date," revealed Mr. Lin, a Chinese e-commerce practitioner in Los Angeles. "Now, with compliant certified cross-border sets, I can receive them within 48 hours after placing an order. The monthly group purchase volume in the Chinese community where I live alone exceeds 2,000 sets." One of our core strategies after focusing on this track for 3 years is to anchor rigid demand—through FBA logistics certification, we have laid out 6 warehousing centers in North America and Europe to achieve "local delivery on the same day". In 2024 alone, we served more than 80,000 Chinese families with a repurchase rate of 45%.
The second growth engine is the explosion of local consumption driven by "cultural curiosity". The "ancestor money challenge" topic on TikTok has exceeded 1 billion views, and videos of Gen Z bloggers "experiencing Eastern worship" have an average of over 100,000 likes. In the video "Burning Ancestor Money for the First Time" by 19-year-old British blogger Lila, she wrote blessings to her grandmother on joss paper with a gold marker, with the caption "This is a cross-cultural longing ritual", triggering 200,000 local users to follow suit and purchase. Data shows that the proportion of our local non-Chinese customers soared from 12% to 38% in 2024. They prefer localized styles printed with local symbols—European customers prefer Gothic church patterns, North American customers favor designs combining the Statue of Liberty and Chinatown, and Southeast Asian customers have a soft spot for lotus pattern styles. In response to this demand, we launched 12 localized series, among which the "European Landmark Set" became a hit within 3 months of its launch, with monthly sales exceeding 5,000 orders.
The most commercially promising is the rise of customization demand. "Customize joss paper printed with chessboard patterns for my chess-loving grandfather" "Want to print the family crest on the paper money"—the number of customized consultation on the backend increased by 5 times a year, driving the proportion of our customized orders from 15% to 35%. The order from Canadian customer Mark is very representative. He requested to print his grandfather's portrait and the signboard of the coffee shop he ran during his lifetime on joss paper, and also attached a handwritten message: "Grandpa, I still remember the smell of the coffee shop." To adapt to the customization trend, we have built an "online visual customization system" where users can independently upload patterns and add text, and receive goods in as fast as 72 hours. What's more noteworthy is the customized segmented scenarios. The themed products we launched such as "Underworld Chess Room" and "Global Travel Set" have a 20% higher premium than ordinary models due to accurately matching the hobbies of the deceased, but they are still in short supply.
Looking forward to 2025, business opportunities in the cross-border worship supplies market are still expanding. Environmental protection materials have become a new trend. We have developed degradable bamboo pulp joss paper, which has passed the EU ROHS certification and occupied 30% of the high-end market immediately after its launch; smart worship peripherals have emerged, and sets matched with electronic worship lamps and multilingual blessing recording pens have exceeded 10,000 orders during the pre-sale period. But a more core insight is that the essence of this wave of business opportunities is the "commercialization of emotional needs"—whether it is the traditional persistence of Chinese people or the cultural experience of local users, the core is the demand for "expression of longing". Whoever can continuously and accurately match this demand will continue to seize the opportunity in this track with 300% annual growth.
Interactive Topic: Which niche market in cross-border ritual supplies do you看好? Pet spirit money, digital worship, or cross-cultural customization? Share below
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