How to play cross-border e-commerce?

I have been doing cross-border e-commerce for several years, and I have not done very well. The threshold of cross-border e-commerce is getting higher and higher, and the cost of investment and time is getting higher and higher. The most important thing is that there are many pits in the actual operation, and I will get into trouble if I don't pay attention.

There are also many cross-border e-commerce companies around me. I see them packing and delivering goods every day, and the shipments are very large. I envy it.

Compared with domestic Taobao, cross-border e-commerce still has great profits. With good product selection and proper management, plus some luck, you can also make money quickly.

Nothing is absolute, it varies from person to person.

To do a good job in cross-border e-commerce, we must first choose a good e-commerce platform that is best for ourselves. Mainstream cross-border e-commerce platforms include AliExpress, Amazon, ebay and wish. It's best to start with AliExpress, which is suitable for beginners to operate, similar to Taobao's operation, but it needs to pay a category entry fee, generally 10 thousand a year, which requires enterprise or self-employed qualification, trademark and enterprise Alipay. Meet these requirements, you can open a shop, upload products and start selling.

Let's talk about Amazon, the hottest platform now. Many foreign businessmen swarmed in. People in China have opened a large proportion of stores on Amazon. The rules are strict, the entry threshold is high and there are many business knowledge points. It is not enough to say a word, but if it is done, it is the most convenient platform. FBA delivery, similar to JD. COM merchants, let jingdong logistics delivery.

You can also send it yourself, but you should pay attention to the timeliness of logistics.

Business is not good, and you are at risk of closing the store at any time.

The old cross-border e-commerce platform Ebay, wish focuses on mobile e-commerce, similar to the international version of Taobao, and the price is king. Paying a deposit of $2,000 is also a pit and it is easy to be fined. It is normal to see a well-managed seller pay thousands of tickets every day.

There are many other platforms, so I will not mention them one by one.

Cross-border e-commerce has profits, risks and investment risks, so into the pit needs to be cautious!

May barley!

I have 5 years of cross-border experience in operating cross-border e-commerce stores. Individuals have successfully run more than 30 stores.

I have also helped many friends to successfully build stores. A single store can achieve a maximum of 90,000 euros per month. I hope to help the landlord.

Look at the e-commerce platform first. At present, e-commerce platforms include Amazon, AliExpress, EBAY and WISH. It is recommended to consider Amazon. After all, it is the world's largest e-commerce platform, and Europe and North America have absolute advantages over Amazon.

So I suggest the landlord consider Amazon.

How much does it cost to do Amazon in the early stage?

As for the source of goods, look for it at 1688. When looking for it on 1688, you can check the company name of the store. If it is a business or department store, it is not recommended to buy it. Looking for XX manufacturers is generally a primary source.

Mode: upload the product of 1688 to Amazon Store, and then the customer places an order from 1688, which requires us to pay for the product in advance, and the freight from the previous home to Shenzhen Logistics Warehouse will be delivered from the previous home. The freight from Shenzhen to the customer is paid by the seller.

Shenzhen transshipment logistics warehouse is very easy to solve. I have one that I have been using all the time. The price is ok and the speed is fast. You need to give me a personal message.

Enterprise stores need: 1, enterprise business license 2, dual-currency credit card 3, legal person ID card.

Amazon doesn't charge a deposit, but only rents, 25 pounds in Europe and 39.9 dollars in North America.

Join in and open 3 stores and 3 business licenses, and handle it for yourself free of charge. Find someone to help you. The situation varies from place to place. So you need to invest. Not sure.

Total investment in 3 stores, business license (free) in 0 yuan.

The rent in Europe is only 25 pounds, and the total investment of the three companies is 75 pounds, equivalent to RMB, about 652.

Purchasing and logistics, a few thousand in the early stage is enough.

So 65,438+0,000 yuan a month to complete three stores.

Computer network cables and the like are not counted, and the landlord should know how much it costs.

Now that you have invested, let's see how much you can receive.

After the store is stable for three months, it can reach 2000 to 3000 euros a month. According to the lowest calculation, 2000 euros, if the profit 1000 euros, you can earn about 8000 RMB. At this time, the store is basically stable.

Three stores cost more than 20,000 RMB. Of course, the landlord invested for three months. In the first two months, it wasn't that all the orders couldn't be issued, but that there were fewer. The first month may be a few hundred euros, and the second month is about 65,438+0,000 euros.

Cross-border can be divided into import first or export first. Personally, based on the huge domestic consumer market, import business is more valuable.

From the channel, we should choose to do TB or TC.

Of course, the core is the choice of goods.

Since the formal implementation of the e-commerce law, the compliance of cross-border e-commerce has gradually begun to land, including three key directions: (1) prohibiting secondary sales; (2) It is forbidden for businesses to evade taxes; (3) Require real trade. For cross-border e-commerce across the country, in addition to a more competitive industry environment, it will also face a stricter regulatory environment.

Although cross-border e-commerce is welcoming the most stringent policy supervision stage in history. However, there are still a number of active cross-border e-commerce businesses, and their strategy is to use advertising+official WeChat account+WeChat trumpet+content+friends circle+WeChat group, which is a set of high-quality combination boxing.

Under the background of the New Deal, Youzan officially released cross-border e-commerce industry solutions, providing businesses with domestic and foreign subject authentication, cross-border settlement authentication, real-name purchase guarantee, trading platform construction, cross-border payment, warehousing and logistics, customs port docking and other services.

E-commerce is an emerging market entity developed under the contemporary Internet, and cross-border electronic commerce is a special branch.

Method step

1, build a team and use collective strength.

2. Knowing many marketing platforms, it is recommended to choose a third-party platform, which can better protect the interests of sellers.

3. Promote products in different ways to enhance popularity.

4, choose the right logistics company, taking into account the freight and service attitude.

Let me tell you something. First of all, the first thing is to prepare funds.

Needless to say, it is impossible to do business without preparing funds, but the amount of funds is still exquisite. Anyone who has done cross-border knows that cross-border hoarding is very risky. Once the goods are unsalable, the capital chain will be difficult to turn around, and hoarding requires a lot of upfront investment, which is not very recommended for individuals. What I'm doing now is a mode of not hoarding goods. Simply put, it is to move bricks, and there is no need to stock up in the early stage. Low risk, less investment, more suitable for novice sellers.

The second point is to choose the platform.

There are many cross-border e-commerce platforms now, but each has its own advantages and disadvantages. You can learn more about some platforms and then choose the one that suits you. According to my past experience, I will give you a brief analysis of several relatively large platforms.

I. eaby

Eaby is an established cross-border e-commerce platform with sites all over the United States and Europe. However, because it is a platform with long experience, many low-value products are controlled by big sellers in Shenzhen, which shows that it is not friendly to small sellers. Now many sellers are making large-sized goods in overseas warehouses. The cost of bulky goods is high, the logistics fee is also high, and the capital threshold is naturally high. Personally, I think it is not suitable for newcomers.

Two. Amazonas

Amazon can be described as a cross-border e-commerce platform that has been on fire in the past two years. Because of its large platform, registration does not require a deposit. Amazon's profits in this series of platforms can be said to be relatively high, but the rules are relatively strict. If you are not careful, you will step on the thunder. I accidentally lost my wife and lost my soldiers. A series of shops will make sellers have a headache.

I have tried many platforms myself, but I finally chose Amazon. Although the regulations are strict, as long as I avoid the minefield, there will be no big problem. Moreover, Amazon has great protection for sellers, and new products can get traffic when they are put on shelves, and only a large number of goods can be put on shelves. Do not need too much business, very suitable for novice sellers.

3 rd Dian logistics

Cross-border logistics is a big problem, after all, it is different from domestic logistics. Cross-border transportation costs a lot of money, so more than half of your sales will go to logistics providers, especially some platforms with small profits. It seems that orders keep coming in every day. Finally, you work hard, get up early and get greedy, all for logistics work. It's no use complaining. Cross-border e-commerce is inseparable from logistics. How to reduce freight and risk and choose the most cost-effective logistics channel among many logistics channels is a problem that needs careful consideration.

Cross-border logistics channels can be roughly divided into two types: international express delivery and small packages, such as UPS, FEDEX, TNT and DHL, as well as small packages of China Post, Singapore Post, Malaysia Post, Hong Kong, Netherlands and SF Express. If you want to ask what is the most widely used logistics channel in the cross-border e-commerce industry, it must be the international e-mail treasure of postal express.

And international logistics is expensive. If we can find a better channel in this respect, we can save a lot of money. At present, we are cooperating with Yuntu Logistics to take the mode of self-lifting, and basically do not need VAT.

The fourth point is the reward.

It is essential for us sellers to collect money. Moreover, the state has strict supervision over financial foreign exchange, and cross-border e-commerce has the characteristics of high frequency and small amount, which is not attractive to traditional banks, and most of them collect money through third-party tools. The settlement method of cross-border e-commerce platform is actually similar to Taobao in China. Customers need to pay the money to the platform before placing an order, and the platform will pay the money to the seller after the seller delivers the goods. The general platform does not make money every day, but twice a month, usually at the beginning and middle of the month. At present, our domestic cooperation platform is pingpong, which is basically the lowest in China.

As the name implies, cross-border e-commerce is a brand-new cross-border e-commerce model. It subverts the traditional e-commerce model and takes e-commerce out of the country. If you want to be a cross-border e-commerce, you don't need goods (you can buy it directly on Taobao). If you are self-employed, you need a cross-border logistics system. Although the requirements for self-operated funds are not high, the return is too small, and the profit of each commodity is reduced after passing the customs. You can also find an agent. They have a mature system and complete logistics channels. You only need to buy and send goods on Taobao, but you need to invest some money in the early stage, which is more than the self-operated early stage investment. In the long run, the profits will be much larger.

Cross-border e-commerce, mainly to determine the target first, first find foreign goods, you can find information through the foreign trade platform, mainly a complicated screening process, and then communicate with each other to find good goods, and then analyze. In foreign e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, you can do some e-commerce logistics first, or you can make domestic products, or you can combine various promotion and optimization methods. This requires a lot of foreign trade and import work to decompose, not to mention one by one, mainly.

What about cross-border e-commerce? This is a big topic. Every point can be discussed, such as foreign market, platform selection, store opening, product selection, operation, promotion and logistics. Every topic can't be explained clearly in 10 to 20 thousand words. Let's share our experience briefly.

First, distinguish foreign trade from cross-border e-commerce.

① Now most foreign trade is communicated through the Internet, which can be understood as foreign trade e-commerce; However, the whole foreign trade transaction process has not changed much from traditional foreign trade, including inquiry, quotation, ordering, production, transportation, chartering and booking, customs declaration and commodity inspection, and verification of foreign exchange settlement. Foreign trade e-commerce transactions are all offline.

(2) cross-border electronic commerce refers to the commercial activities in which different customs transaction subjects reach a transaction, make payment and settlement through e-commerce platform, and deliver goods through cross-border logistics to complete the transaction. Its sales model can be compared to "international Taobao", but the difference is that cross-border e-commerce is done directly online with the help of foreign platforms (such as Amazon and ebay, and so is our Tobox) or domestic sales platforms to foreign countries (Alibaba and AliExpress). 2B and 2C also differ in the unit price of customers. 2C orders are mostly small batches or even single pieces, while 2B customers' unit price is generally higher.

2. What cross-border e-commerce platforms are there? What can an individual do?

Cross-border e-commerce platforms can be divided into B2B, B2C, C2C, M2C and other different types, but they can be summarized into 2B and 2C.

12B platform: The mainstream platforms include Alibaba International Station, Amazon Business, Dunhuang Network, TradeKey, China Manufacturing Network, EC2 1, global sources, etc. The buyers and sellers of these platforms are basically enterprises, and their main fields are also different. Please choose according to your own needs.

22C platform: 2C platform has the same characteristics that buyers are basically individuals, and orders are mostly small batches or even single pieces; There are many types of sellers, including large and medium-sized enterprises or brands, small and micro enterprises and individuals, so if you want to do it yourself, these are more suitable. I have been making several mainstream platforms about this. Please continue reading.

Third, market choice.

Look at the market before choosing a product. Each market has its own characteristics, and the popular product categories are also different. What we are doing now is the European, American and Southeast Asian markets. Of course, there are also many powerful sellers who will deploy multiple markets, channels and platforms at the same time.

Fourth, choose products to open a shop.

It is recommended to open a shop with a company, just like a trademark. If it is an individual partnership, you can also register a company. After all, the cost is not high. A few years later, perhaps the cross-border e-commerce platform will require the seller to be a company! Registration will be more troublesome then.

Opening a store: the ingenious combination of third-party platform and self-built shopping mall

For sellers who have just set foot in cross-border e-commerce, it is recommended to choose a third-party platform with a certain volume first. These platforms have mature rules, which are based on the platform's long-term experience accumulation. First, they can best protect the interests of buyers, and then maintain fair competition to the greatest extent.

In addition, third-party platforms have high traffic, and natural traffic does not cost money. Of course, if you want to promote drainage and increase traffic, you must pay. But the disadvantage of third-party platforms is that the more you play, the greater your strategic hidden trouble. It's hard to say that one day, if you make a casual mistake, the platform will close your store, just like the official account of WeChat is blocked by WeChat.

If conditions permit, you can also build your own shopping mall, then these hidden dangers will not exist. But then again, the self-built mall is not for traffic, but for brand endorsement. Its meaning can never be simply understood as sales, because online means being in a state of promotion and information dissemination, so the first function is information dissemination and the second function is trading.

How to open stores on various platforms and how to build their own shopping malls here will not be described in detail. At a shallow level, it is a question of platform rules. The deeper level is the problem of operational strategy. It's hard to say it in one or two sentences, so this needs to be explored by yourself.

Choosing a product, choosing a product is always the first step of marketing. Of course, marketing serves the final sales, so choosing a product is the top priority of cross-border e-commerce!

Here are a few examples to illustrate the product selection ideas of each platform.

Amaon selection

When it comes to Amazon, the first thing that comes to mind is that it is suitable for branding, high gross profit and so on! There are also many people who have a low first impression of sales. So, in this environment, how should we sellers choose products?

(1) for sale

The remaining main energy should be put on the analysis of purchasing cost and the calculation of domestic logistics head-end, and we should always test such products around the sales price range of the market. As you know, in the case of the same TITEL, keywords, pages, pictures and local delivery, the only thing you can do is to see who has low operating expenses and who is competing for the strength of BUY BOX, except that the performance of each competing account is different. The purpose of choosing products is to sell them, which is actually the fundamental core of choosing products.

② Self-construction

There are more self-built products that are already recognized brands (or recognized fake brands). When choosing this kind of products, in addition to brand appeal; Title, keywords, description, pictures, pages, etc. I think I made it myself. In addition to account performance, high-quality logistics and cost performance, the core of product selection is the sales ability of this kind of product market. This kind of products are often non-standardized, subjective, niche market products, and there are relatively few high-margin competitors. In this way, we can develop in the market gap with little competition for specific user groups on the threshold of non-China purchasing thinking.

1. If you want to do cross-border e-commerce first, then you must make sure whether you are doing import business or export business. These two properties are different.

2. A clear business direction is determined, and then it is necessary to understand the whole business process and the funds needed under this process.

3. Do a good job in market research, understand relevant laws and regulations, and make clear the legitimacy of this business.

4. To be a cross-border e-commerce, it is best to find someone to cooperate with. It is difficult for a person to take care of too many aspects. It is just right to do resources with others and do all the links well.

5. Then determine the relevant product standards, market conditions, prices of domestic competitors, and determine the relevant transportation and sales methods.

Extended data:

China and cross-border electronic commerce are mainly divided into business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) trade modes.

Under the B2B mode, enterprises mainly use advertisements and information release, and the transaction and customs clearance processes are basically completed offline, which is still traditional trade in essence and has been included in the general trade statistics of customs.

Under the B2C model, China enterprises directly face foreign consumers and mainly sell personal consumer goods.