How to master cross-border online shopping? There are still three obstacles

In the business world, the powerful ones are in a high position and have a far-reaching reputation. Even a huge army cannot stop them. Today, cross-border e-commerce players seem to be such "powerful ones".

On "Black Friday" on the other side of the ocean, cross-border consumption by domestic users through Alipay increased by 2 times year-on-year. On overseas online shopping platforms, the number of orders from Chinese users even increased by 100 times compared to usual days. Consumers voted with the money in their hands, declaring whose "comparative advantage" in the field of foreign trade occupied their "mental thinking."

On the other hand, Miaya, which started out as a diaper company for Kao, has raised funds twice in one year, and recently received $60 million in its C round, accelerating its layout in cross-border online shopping for mothers and babies. Shanghai's Yangmatou has also risen rapidly, knocking traditional "Haitao (personal overseas shopping, purchasing and forwarding)" to the ground, and playing with cross-border B2C e-commerce. Large platforms such as Tmall Global and Amazon have devoted all their efforts to this...

Yes, all commercial competition is about occupying user habits, and cross-border online shopping has already grabbed its own position, but behind all the prosperity, the future of players is not smooth sailing, and they still have to overcome three major obstacles.

First, the interest structure is uncertain.

For example, a COACH bag sells for 3,000 yuan in general domestic channels, but on a certain cross-border online shopping platform, its price is less than 2,000 yuan. Consumers will naturally choose the latter, which puts domestic channel dealers under pressure, and the pressure is inevitably passed on to the COACH brand.

After all, with goods being diverted through different channels, overseas suppliers are making a lot of money and cross-border online shopping platforms are expanding in scale. However, the cost is that other domestic channels are gradually declining. COACH headquarters has to comprehensively consider the rearrangement of channels, and a new battle is inevitable.

Offend the old channel dealers? Don’t dare; give up the channels that increase sales? Don’t want to; therefore, they are tortured by desire and pattern, just like the traditional domestic enterprises that switch to e-commerce - uncomfortable.

At this point, cross-border online shopping platforms are nothing more than bargaining chips for brand owners’ interests and tools for political struggles. Brand owners have too much power to decide life and death. Without formal authorization, even if they take some gray paths, it is difficult for them to make major breakthroughs. This constraint will be more obvious in the sub-sectors.

Therefore, the qualifications, resources, and connections of cross-border players have become the "place of life and death, the way of survival and destruction". If they are not careful, they will be doomed. But the reality is so cruel, and only a few can survive the fittest.

Second, customs duties and taxes are uncertain.

On August 1, Announcement No. 56 and 57 issued by the General Administration of Customs, namely, "Announcement on the Supervision of Import and Export Goods and Articles in Cross-border E-commerce Trade" and "Announcement on the Addition of Customs Supervision Method Codes" were officially implemented. Enterprises that realize cross-border transactions through e-commerce trading platforms will become "regular troops".

Previously, the General Administration of Customs has also successively issued a number of specific policies on cross-border e-commerce, including the establishment of a "bonded zone" in 2013; approval of seven cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to pilot cross-border e-commerce imports; and a clear definition of the "bonded import" model...

But in reality, after corruption and smuggling cases occurred in Shenzhen Customs, the entry and exit procedures in the entire South China region became more cumbersome and the requirements were extremely strict. The backlog of goods sometimes even exceeded one week. Fortunately, it gradually returned to normal.

If unfortunately this happens during the "Black Friday" peak season, on a cross-border online shopping platform, the payment has been made, the goods are blocked from entering the customs, and the number of returned orders increases sharply, how many players can really deal with it calmly?

Moreover, in addition to customs, the specific implementation policies of the bonded areas are changeable, which makes many cross-border online shopping players exhausted. A practitioner once told Xiao Haozi: It is normal for policies to change every two or three months. For example, imported milk powder can enter the bonded area at the beginning, but not long after, it is notified to return the goods because the bonded area cannot sell milk powder...

In addition, the two "Swords of Damocles" of the Taxation Administration and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine have not been removed, and the specific policies related to cross-border online shopping have not been released. After all, under the bonded model, whether the tax collection is too much or too little is still a matter of public opinion. The bottom line of commodity inspection supervision needs further discussion.

What is scary is that there are some "pig-like teammates" who exaggerate their trading volumes in various links, misleading the tax authorities to make more misjudgments. In the future, the word "tax" will be the top priority, and profit targets can only be placed in the more distant future. Cross-border players may still have to face the dilemma: "Today is cruel, tomorrow is even crueler, the day after tomorrow is beautiful, but most people die tomorrow night."

Third, logistics experience still needs a big test

Even before the Black Friday shopping spree, all cross-border online shopping platforms had made very thorough preparations, but the logistics experience was still far from good. Many buyers found that the goods had not been shipped even after a week of payment.

After all, most overseas sellers have not yet adapted to the madness of Chinese consumers or taken into account the interests of local consumer groups. Faced with the surging and fragmented Chinese orders, their cross-border logistics information level and service quality are still difficult to adapt.

In addition, the cross-border online shopping logistics chain is long and the process is complicated. It involves overseas logistics, customs clearance, cross-border logistics entry, domestic logistics, express delivery and other links. It can only be completed through cooperation of multiple logistics companies and service providers. Their efficiency varies greatly, and their management levels are uneven. It is difficult to keep pace with each other, and it is extremely difficult to open up the entire value chain.

In contrast, although the four major international express giants have a complete global network and super-high delivery speed, the freight charges are extremely high. Obviously, this is "a burden that most cross-border online shopping platforms cannot bear."

At present, some industry insiders even say that if you want to buy an iPhone 6 online from overseas during the Spring Festival this year, the iPhone 6S will be released soon by the time you get it. It is not uncommon to have to wait until March for popular products.

Indeed, cross-border logistics has unique professional thresholds and operating procedures. It takes time to achieve success. Cross-border online shopping players must have relevant business resources, information technology, data analysis, and rapid iteration operations to avoid being eliminated in this increasingly competitive field.

Statistics show that in recent years, cross-border online shopping has grown by more than 75% annually, and the number of “overseas shoppers” in mainland China reached 18 million in 2013. It is estimated that by 2018, the number of “overseas shoppers” in China will reach 35.6 million, and the relevant market size will reach 1 trillion yuan.

Undoubtedly, a new era has begun. Just like the ring in The Lord of the Rings, everyone wants to wear it, everyone wants to stand at the forefront of the times, but too many of the trendsetters of the times are swallowed up by the times... Before heroes follow the trend, they still have to look at the three mountains in front of them and estimate themselves. Don't "want to be a pioneer, but become a martyr". After all, the upper position belongs to the capable.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.