"Hugo: 2024 Q3 Cross-border E-commerce Industry Report" mainly provides a comprehensive analysis of the cross-border e-commerce industry in the third quarter of 2024 from three aspects: industry status, domestic e-commerce transformation trends, and enterprise observation, offering practitioners rich data and in-depth insights.
1. Current Status of the Cross-border E-commerce Industry
- Seller Operating Conditions
- Revenue and Profit: Influenced by mid-year promotions and declining sea freight rates, cross-border sellers saw improvements in revenue and profit in Q3 2024, with 50% of sellers experiencing revenue growth and 56% seeing profit increases.
- Promotion Participation: Over 60% of sellers participated in autumn promotions, such as Amazon Prime Day Autumn Sale, with various objectives including early traffic acquisition, inventory clearance, and increased exposure.
- Channel Expansion: Amazon, Temu, and TikTok Shop are the three major channels for sellers to expand their markets. Amazon remains a channel for stable revenue growth, and many sellers are opening new sites on these platforms.
- Market Layout: Sellers are focusing on expanding into new markets such as Southeast Asia, Latin America, Japan, and South Korea. For example, Temu launched its Thailand site, and TikTok Shop relaxed entry requirements to attract new sellers.
- Category Expansion: Apparel, home, sports & outdoor, and hardware are key directions for future seller expansion. These categories are experiencing rapid market growth and have broad prospects.
- Changes in Cross-border Platforms
- Amazon: Cancelled excess inventory storage fees, updated five-point description requirements, adjusted image selection and display rules, and expanded commercial liability insurance coverage.
- TikTok Shop: Southeast Asia site updated multi-store rules, changes in new store assessment period rules for the US cross-border market, and new return policy implemented for Southeast Asia sites.
- Temu: Launched Thailand site, opened market to European sellers, and violations in cross-border shipping may be unblocked if regulations are followed.
- Cross-border E-commerce Logistics Status: Sea freight prices on Europe and America routes have declined, the freight forwarding industry continues to reshuffle, and small and medium freight forwarders face financial pressure and lack of customer resources, but overall revenue has increased.
2. Domestic E-commerce Transformation Trends
- Reasons for Transformation: Domestic e-commerce is facing intense competition, user growth is slowing, promotional effects are weakening, and seller profitability is declining. 55% of surveyed sellers are transforming to cross-border e-commerce due to falling profits in the domestic market.
- Main Entities of Transformation: MCN agencies and celebrities are accelerating their overseas expansion, such as San Zhi Yang and Dongfang Zhenxuan, which are laying out overseas business but facing challenges such as cultural differences.
- Overseas Market Selection: Europe, America, and Southeast Asia are popular destinations for going abroad, with 60% of sellers prioritizing the European and American markets, and 13% prioritizing Southeast Asia.
- Revenue and Profit Expectations: Over 60% of cross-border brand sellers expect overseas revenue growth, and over 50% expect profit growth. Companies such as Dongfang Shuye and Henglin Co., Ltd. have achieved good results after transformation.
- Industrial Belt Opportunities: The integration of cross-border e-commerce and industrial belts brings new opportunities. China's cross-border e-commerce import and export is growing rapidly, and the "cross-border e-commerce + industrial belt" model is driving traditional industries to go abroad, such as the sock industry in Datang Town, Zhuji.
3. Cross-border E-commerce Enterprise Observation
- Operation Strategies: Different stages require different advertising approaches. During the new product period, focus budget on core keyword rankings; during the growth period, expand category keywords.
- Transformation Challenges and Suggestions: Domestic e-commerce transforming to cross-border faces issues such as insufficient understanding of overseas markets, high operating costs, and taxation. It is recommended to become familiar with overseas markets, optimize the supply chain, and reduce costs.
