2016 Ten Key Elements Of Cross-Border Exports

Recently, Huang Songping, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs of China, judged the trend of China's foreign trade in 2016 as follows: in 2015, foreign trade was depressed by external demand and commodity prices declined, and China's foreign trade situation in 2016 was difficult to improve.

On the contrary, China's Ministry of Commerce anticipate the entry of cross-border electricity suppliers in China in 2016.

The volume of trade will reach 6 trillion and 500 billion yuan in the next few years.

The proportion of China's import and export trade will increase to 20%, and the annual growth rate will exceed 30%.

Therefore, the deep pformation of China's traditional foreign trade is imminent, and cross border electricity suppliers should be the biggest engine of China's foreign trade growth in the future.

Traditional foreign trade operators often ask me how to pform from traditional foreign trade to cross-border electricity suppliers, and how to do cross-border business.

The author itself is a traditional manufacturing operator, doing cross-border electricity supplier for many years, I will share with you the experience of cross border electricity supplier from his own business.

Characteristics of traditional foreign trade manufacturing industry

After the 2015, many manufacturing enterprises that rely on traditional advantages and development have felt the pressure of operation, and the order of many enterprises is decreasing.

In some areas, the closure of manufacturing enterprises has occurred.

In addition to the overall recession of the world economy, the traditional business model of foreign trade needs upgrading.

In such a mobile Internet era, the purchasing behavior of purchasers has changed from traditional long, large quantity and large amount to cross border order patterns with multiple, small pactions and frequent pactions.

Moreover, this purchase mode will become the mainstream mode in the future.

And I think, as long as the traditional manufacturing enterprises change their ideas and conform to the trend of cross-border electricity providers, there are still many market opportunities, because traditional foreign trade manufacturing enterprises have natural advantages in doing cross-border business.

1. Traditional foreign trade manufacturing enterprises have relatively strong product R & D capability.

Traditional foreign trade enterprises have strong experience in research and development through OEM mode for many years. However, they are out of touch with foreign terminal retail market for a long time, and they do not have a strong sense of experience for the market and front-line consumers.

Traditional manufacturing enterprises can closely integrate with the terminal retail market through the new channel of cross-border electricity providers, and do more research, including product performance and customer experience. It is easy to break a product in cross border market and achieve very good market returns.

Two, the product price advantage is very obvious.

The long term OEM mode of traditional manufacturing enterprises is essentially the price, and Chinese suppliers are at the bottom of the value chain for a long time to earn meager profits.

Chinese manufacturing enterprises are most capable of producing goods of high quality and low price. Through the cross-border electricity supplier's export mode, if we choose the right market positioning, it is easy to earn a very substantial return in the cross-border market. The profit margins of general cross-border retail exports remain at 10 times the retail price of 5~.

In fact, since 2014, due to the promotion of national policies and the surge of market pactions across cross-border platforms, many traditional foreign trade enterprises have gone to the cross-border electricity supplier market.

As for the operation effect, each enterprise has its own real experience, and there are successful enterprises, but more traditional cross border road of foreign trade is still being explored.

The author believes that the traditional manufacturing enterprises need to pay attention to the following ten core points when they are doing cross-border business.

First, the choice of cross-border platforms.

The first step in the pition of traditional foreign trade enterprises to cross-border electricity providers is the choice of cross-border platforms.

At present, there are two common practices: self built websites and third party platforms.

I personally believe that the third party platform will be a good choice for ordinary foreign trade enterprises to enter the cross-border electricity export market just now.

Because the third party platform is better suited to the initial cross-border team, both in terms of operating costs and capital investment.

At present, the main cross-border export platforms are: Amazon, eBay, speed sell, WISH, Dunhuang net and so on.

Each platform has different characteristics, different market positioning and different advantages of product category. I suggest that when you choose the platform, you should do more market research on product target market, competition situation, competitors at home and abroad, product short board, product selling point, especially after sales service.

My personal suggestion is that companies with genuine export experience will choose the cross-border export platform such as Amazon and eBay to operate with westerners' thinking. Of course, the domestic express business and Dunhuang network are also doing well.

We should start with the characteristics of our products and enterprises.

Second, cross border team building

In fact, the traditional foreign trade enterprises are the first people to contact the electricity supplier in China. Many traditional enterprises have been developing the foreign trade order business through the B2B website for a long time. The foreign trade business team has always existed, and has accumulated rich experience in e-commerce sales.

In fact, the principles are interlinked, for the traditional foreign trade enterprises to do cross-border electric business pformation, the choice of previous trade B2B sales team to carry out systematic training can be competent.

For the operation of cross-border e-commerce platform, in fact, many forums now have very detailed introduction, such as the fast selling forum, the Dunhuang network forum, the traditional foreign trade B2B salesman carefully study the rules of the platform, and at the same time, combining their own enterprises and products to practice, it is very easy to get started.

In addition, the development of Amoy ecosystem market in China has been very perfect, and the talents of Taobao Tmall are also very mature.

Many traditional enterprises have long been involved in the domestic B2C operation and market development. The cross border gameplay is interlinked with many operational principles of the domestic Tmall system, basically for the needs of operators, supply chain, procurement, art, logistics, warehousing and other electronic business talents.

Because cross-border electricity supplier's trading mode is more customer online self ordering mode, cross-border electricity providers do not have a high level of English proficiency.

Traditional foreign trade enterprises can make cross border electricity providers through the talent pformation training of the original Taobao Tmall department. If there were no Tmall business talents, there are a lot of talents in the Department, and recruitment is also very easy.

The core of cross-border e-commerce is product innovation and truly satisfy the individual needs of customers. The principle of product operation and promotion is not difficult. Ordinary foreign trade salesmen can do well with their intentions.

Third, cross border commodity selection.

The first step in the success of cross-border e-commerce is product selection.

The right choice should be to understand the product advantages of the enterprises, understand the product target customers, understand the existing competitors, understand the profitability of the products and the post sale service of the products.

Cross border commodity selection is a very meticulous and rigorous market research work.

Generally speaking, we can choose cross border commodities according to the following points.

1, the profit margin of cross-border commodities

Although the profit margin of cross-border electricity market is far less than that of previous years, I think the profit margin of cross border products should remain at 30%-50%.

Because the core of business is profit, only sustained profits can bring sustainable development. The gross profit algorithm for cross border goods is basically the same: gross profit = retail price - product price - foreign logistics cost - other comprehensive costs. If the combined gross margin of products is below 30%, we recommend caution.

2, in line with international logistics and pport standards

For cross-border B2C, the choice of product category must depend on its suitability for international logistics and pportation.

Some large and fragile products are not suitable for cross-border international pportation.

3, less after-sale costs

For the current cross-border export business mode, it is very difficult for us to really operate after-sales service. When customers meet the needs of after-sales service, they usually sell the money to the seller, but such a frequency can not be too high. If the frequency is high, it means a huge market cost.

Therefore, when we choose the category of cross border e-commerce products, we should tend to those products with lower after-sale costs or basically no after-sales service.

4, the core is the choice of explosive products.

In fact, this idea is exactly the same as that of the domestic Taobao department. The explosive products are the core of a store's drainage and cash flow.

I personally think that the product of the shop does not need too much. The core is to make explosive products, and win the single product. The explosive products are also the foundation for the future cross-border e-commerce brand.

The selection strategy is to use data tools to investigate what is the hottest and fastest growing product in the industry. Through the market research of the single product, the market analysis of competitors, the consumption heat of the customers in the target market and other data analysis, the explosion is finally determined.

The selection of the payment is mainly to look at the following core data: the profitability of the product, the rate of click and conversion of the product, the customer value of the single product.

The best way to do this is to choose the best exploding fund, from stock stock, art design, operation promotion to visual angle design, and finally bring continuous profitability to the store through the explosion of money.

5, there should be no legal risk and compliance with platform rules.

The cross-border platform is not as extensive as the domestic Taobao, and has strict regulations on intellectual property rights and piracy violations. Meanwhile, Chinese sellers should be familiar with the rules of the major platforms and familiarize themselves with the principles and policies of cross-border platforms, so as to avoid causing losses to their battalions because of the problem of network regulation.

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Fourth, cross-border payment security.

The development of cross-border electricity providers has come to the stage of standardization and maturity now. There are three points for attention in cross-border payment under the new mode:

1, the collection of foreign exchange.

At present, cross-border electricity providers mainly receive credit card payment, PayPal and local payment.

We should combine the risk, the success rate of exchange settlement and the operation cost to choose the way of settlement of cross-border electricity suppliers.

2, customs declaration.

Nowadays, many cross-border export enterprises, especially small sellers, often do not export through formal customs declaration mode. Instead, they pass through express parcels, do not declare customs, and fund settlement is also an informal way, such as hitting personal cards directly.

Such a development model will encounter bottlenecks and legal risks in the future, and will also be harmful to the real growth of shops and enterprises.

3, settlement of exchange.

At present, there are two channels for cross-border electricity supplier's third party payment business in China: the cross-border electricity supplier's third party payment business pilot is an unlimited settlement, with a single sum of 50000 dollars, and second as a cross-border RMB business.

Fifth, cross border logistics, overseas warehouses and destination countries.

The biggest pain in cross-border e-commerce development is the high cost of international logistics.

A lot of overweight and super large products can't arrive safely and efficiently. After arriving at the destination country, international parts often need to pfer to many stations, which are very time-consuming and complex. Only when they arrive at consumers' hands, can they lose parts, pieces and breakages, which seriously affect the international shoppers' shopping experience.

Because the cross-border electric business line is long and the time period is long, ordinary sellers often encounter money problems when they encounter logistics problems.

Moreover, the consumer market in Europe and the United States is very mature, and online buyers have very demanding shopping experience.

If the logistics pain spot is not solved, it will eventually puzzle the development of China's cross-border electricity supplier.

There are mainly two ways to solve the pain problem of cross border Logistics:

1, the construction of overseas warehouses.

Chinese sellers first ship goods through containers to stores in the country of destination. When foreign customers place orders directly from local warehouses, they will be the best in terms of delivery time efficiency and customer experience.

Small and medium-sized sellers can choose a third party overseas warehouse which is in line with their actual situation. At present, the third party platforms have similar services, and cross border logistics enterprises are actively building overseas warehouses.

Although overseas warehouses need a certain amount of investment, they are better choices in the long run.

2. Localization of the destination country.

Take a case of our company to share it.

We bought an American company 2 years ago. We used to be our client. This customer has its own sales channels in the United States, including Google, eBay, Amazon and other channels, as well as its own operation team and warehousing.

Now, our model is to send 3 containers to the US warehouse every month. The online sales and post sale services are done by the American team, which is the most accurate in terms of customer experience and market positioning.

Of course, the operation of the destination country needs a very high capital and strength, but I think this should be the inevitable trend of the future development of cross-border electric business.

Sixth, marketing promotion of cross border shops.

There are several ways to promote the marketing of cross-border e-commerce outlets.

1, Google promotion;

2, the promotion of paid traffic within the platform, such as express through train.

3, social media promotes Facebook;

4, mail promotion;

5. Destination media promotion.

For ordinary entrepreneurs, the promotion of traditional Google is necessary, because European and American Internet search habits are still through search engines, and everyone used to do traditional trade B2B also often contacts with Google promotion, as long as looking for the right third party service agencies, operation is relatively simple.

Secondly, we can also take advantage of the platform itself's promotion methods, such as express through train and marketing alliance.

The characteristics of Ali's products are good service, which is very suitable for Chinese sellers.

And for the promotion of Facebook, I think the core is to persevere, share valuable and personalized content, and add more Facebook groups. For example, you can share a group of products to attract users interested in your products for discussion, so the interaction effect is very good.

Seventh, we must make the brand.

Everyone has gone through the development of Taobao, also witnessed the success of Tmall. For cross-border retail exports, I think Chinese suppliers must have the concept of brand.

Chinese suppliers have been doing OEM for a long time. They have a very deep accumulation for product research and development. Through cross border retail and through the Internet, they can get in touch with the last line buyers. Through the analysis of research data and consumer behavior habits, it is easy to make truly popular product explosions.

In fact, overseas consumers are more willing to pay a reasonable price, and buy products that are in line with personality and quality.

The establishment of brand can not only increase the profit margin of the product, but also increase the user's viscosity.

Of course, the process of brand building is not overnight, and more depends on the accumulation of household registration monuments. However, we should have such awareness and ultimately win by brand.

Eighth, make good use of the cross border e-commerce comprehensive test area.

For many large scale cross-border electricity supplier enterprises, whether cross border exports or cross-border imports, cross-border electricity supplier comprehensive experimentation area is the necessary choice.

Hangzhou cross-border electricity supplier experimentation area has been very successful, through policy support and customs clearance, many cross-border enterprises have been developed.

At the State Council meeting held in January 6, 2016, another batch of cross-border electricity supplier integrated experimentation area was approved successfully, with about 12 cities.

Ninth, the mobile terminal is the future trend of cross-border electricity supplier.

In 2015, speed sell, Dunhuang network and eBay were all on the mobile end, and what was most impressive was the growth of wish on the basis of mobile phones.

From 2014 to now, Wish has been at the top of the storm. From financing to disputes with Chinese sellers, it has been affecting everyone's nerves.

The development and success of Wish proved the huge blue ocean and strong vitality of the mobile terminal cross border electricity supplier market. We should do more mobile internet marketing and promotion.

Tenth, Amazon's breakout in China.

In 2015, the development of cross-border electricity providers in China was in full swing.

For the choice of cross-border platforms, I have always thought that Amazon is the best. Amazon is more concerned about the quality of products and supply chain capabilities, and Chinese suppliers to enter the Amazon is the most easy to do the amount.

In 2015, Amazon China's performance in the cross-border market was also excellent. Through overseas and global plans, cross-border import and cross-border exports, China's high quality products were sold overseas, but also brought good products to China's consumer market.

In January 12, 2016, Amazon China announced that the total amount of cross-border goods reached about 9000000. Therefore, I believe that Amazon's cross-border platform in 2016 should have a good performance.

China's foreign trade with crisis and Freshmen in 2016

At the end of 2015, I listened to a famous financial writer Wu Xiaobo's program. He described the 3 era of cross-border electricity providers. If China's foreign trade needs to be out of the woods in the next few years, "foreign trade + Internet" is the only and necessary choice.

The essence of cross-border electricity suppliers is not only to sell products through a platform, but foreign trade enterprises should contact the terminal consumers through the platform, and use big data to change the business mode of traditional foreign trade to design, produce and market products.

At the same time, Chinese suppliers should develop from simple supply products to providing services.

If the traditional mode of foreign trade B2B is similar to an exchange of information platform, we should pform the service and foreign trade mode of the supply chain through the Internet and cross-border electricity suppliers.

In 2016, China's foreign trade may experience many, but the real operation of "Internet +", the road of foreign trade is still full of hope and reverie.