How cross-border e-commerce companies can improve their competitiveness through overseas warehouse construction and localized operations

Cross-border e-commerce is undergoing a profound change, and more and more companies are beginning to focus on customer experience, brand services and supply chain efficiency. Among them, overseas warehouse construction and localized operations have become key strategies to enhance competitiveness. This article will explore the application and effectiveness of these strategies based on specific cases.

Overseas warehouse strategies and practices of brand companies

Case 1: Successful transformation of an import and export company in Ningbo

Mr. Lu from an import and export company in Ningbo is a senior foreign trade person, and his company mainly deals in holiday gifts. In 2015, Mr. Lu began to try cross-border e-commerce overseas warehouse operations and has now established five overseas warehouses in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and other places. Through overseas warehouses, Mr. Lu is able to deliver goods to target markets in advance in batches and quantities, thereby better responding to changes in market demand. In addition, he also established overseas companies to provide local customers with a series of value-added services including batch procurement, batch extraction, and credit sales. This series of measures enabled Mr. Lu to maintain a strong growth momentum despite the general downturn in foreign trade in 2016.

Case 2: Zhejiang Chengkai Industry and Trade Co., Ltd.’s growth against the trend

Zhejiang Chengkai Industry and Trade Co., Ltd. is also a well-known foreign trade enterprise in Ningbo. Faced with the shrinking of the traditional foreign trade market, the company decisively turned to cross-border e-commerce and achieved an annual growth rate of more than 40% through the construction of overseas warehouses. The secret of its success lies in reducing overseas market promotion costs and enhancing customer stickiness through overseas warehouses. At the same time, overseas warehouses also allow the company to have more autonomy in terms of supply, operations, sales services, etc., improving the price competitiveness of its products. .

Practice of localized operation of cross-border e-commerce

Case 3: Localization exploration of ordinary small and medium-sized cross-border e-commerce companies

For ordinary small and medium-sized cross-border e-commerce companies, achieving localized operations is not out of reach. Here are the specific steps:

1. Building a domestic cross-border e-commerce team: It is crucial to select talents with language advantages and experience in the destination country. Especially for emerging markets (such as Russia), talents with minority languages ​​are particularly important.

2. Registering overseas companies and trademarks: It not only helps to apply for e-commerce platform accounts, but also enhances brand credibility. The registration process is relatively simple and inexpensive.

3. Find suitable “B” type partners: Make use of existing overseas customer resources and adopt a cooperation sharing model, allowing local partners to be responsible for sales, while the domestic team focuses on supply and logistics arrangements.

4. Improving the customer service system: covering multiple aspects such as online customer service, transaction communication and after-sales support. Small and medium-sized enterprises may consider using “flying lines” or outsourcing to overseas service companies.

5. Selection of payment methods: Ensure that the payment process conforms to local consumer habits and preferences to increase conversion rates.

Case 4: Successful transformation of traditional foreign trade enterprises

After a series of adjustments, a traditional foreign trade company decided to cooperate with a gift buyer in the United States that was on the verge of bankruptcy to jointly explore the American market. By acquiring and controlling the buyer, the company not only gained the other party’s rich experience in market analysis, e-commerce operations and warehousing, but also successfully entered the US market. Today, the business ships several containers of goods to the United States each month for online sales.

Conclusion

Whether it is a large brand enterprise or a small and medium-sized cross-border e-commerce company, it can significantly improve its market competitiveness through overseas warehouse construction and localized operations. From the successful cases of an import and export company in Ningbo to Zhejiang Chengkai Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., we can see that overseas warehouses not only help reduce costs and improve efficiency, but also bring more market opportunities to enterprises. For small and medium-sized enterprises, reasonable planning and gradual implementation of localization strategies are also feasible. With the advancement of technology and the deepening of international cooperation, cross-border e-commerce will usher in broader development prospects.