You seem to have a misunderstanding of how the trade worked. In terms of actual Chinese product that made it all the way to Europe, it was mostly porcelain, which is much easier to store for long distances and could be sold for very high premiums. However, the Europeans bought other things with a short storage life, but not because they intended to bring these goods to Europe. Instead, there was a massive thriving trade throughout South and Southeast Asia that was a great source of profit for the European traders.

For instance, take copper. Copper was highly in demand in both China and India, but neither country had much copper. The Europeans had some copper, but it wasn't very profitable to lug such a heavy cargo across long distances. However, they were able to source copper from Japan. So a substantial portion of European trade involved buying copper from Japan and shipping it to China and India. China used the copper to make coinage, but India used it to make brass. Brass also requires zinc metal to make. So the Europeans would then buy zinc from China and ship it to India. Or they might bring it to a trading port or factory (ex. Batavia for the Dutch) and sell it there to other traders, or to package it with other goods to ship as a unified package. They could then use it to buy things like spices and dye from India which could then be sold in Europe at high prices. All-in-all, rather than a simple point A to point B shipping route, trade was a dynamic ecosystem in which dominance was VERY profitable.