The development of cross-border e-commerce is in full swing. Cross-border e-commerce industrial parks have been established in various places, and various cross-border e-commerce summits are also in the ascendant. It can be seen that cross-border e-commerce has entered a period of rapid development, and export cross-border e-commerce is a blue ocean market. In recent years, the state and local governments have regarded cross-border e-commerce as a new growth point for foreign trade, and have introduced a series of favorable policies related to cross-border e-commerce. Therefore, many companies have also actively “touched the Internet” and transformed from traditional foreign trade to cross-border e-commerce.
1. Definition of cross-border e-commerce
Cross-border e-commerce is the abbreviation of cross-border trade e-commerce. It is a more advanced form in the development of e-commerce. It refers to the transaction subjects (manufacturing enterprises, trading enterprises, individuals, etc.) in different countries or regions. Through the Internet and e-commerce platforms, payment settlement is achieved through online payment media and cross-border logistics delivers goods. An international commercial activity. Cross-border trade e-commerce generally includes overseas market development, import and export customs clearance, international currency settlement, international freight forwarding, cargo insurance claims, etc.
2. Characteristics of cross-border e-commerce
Cross-border e-commerce is a product of the Internet era. Compared with traditional export trade, cross-border e-commerce will enable merchants to directly face merchants and consumers in more than 200 countries and regions around the world. The market potential is huge and the imagination space is broad.
Compared with domestic e-commerce, cross-border e-commerce is more complicated. It involves more links, takes a long time to complete transactions, and contains uncontrollable risks. This requires business leaders and related practitioners of cross-border e-commerce to improve their skills to prevent and avoid unnecessary losses.
The main export models of cross-border e-commerce include business to business (B2B), business to individual (B2C), individual to individual (C2C), manufacturer to individual (M2C), etc. It can be seen that the business model of cross-border e-commerce is more flexible and diverse, and is more suitable for new foreign trade orders with multiple batches, small batches, multiple levels, differentiation and personalization.
When cross-border e-commerce first emerged, its main participants were small and micro enterprises, individual merchants and online merchants. After 2013, many foreign trade companies, traditional factories and brand owners also participated in it, and cross-border e-commerce began to gradually move towards specialization and scale.
Under the background of the “Belt and Road Initiative”, relevant policy dividends are constantly being released, and cross-border e-commerce is expected to form a huge economic ecological chain, driving the transformation and upgrading of domestic manufacturing, foreign trade, transportation and other industries.
At present, the active areas of cross-border e-commerce in my country are mainly mature markets such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. It is advancing to emerging markets with strong consumer demand such as Russia, Brazil, and India. There are also some Chinese cross-border merchants in Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.