Cross-border e-commerce brands are usually good at full-network marketing. The so-called full network means that there are multiple marketing channels, and each channel contributes traffic to the brand. It is advocated to apply the traffic pool thinking to continuously precipitate traffic, then each channel will have a traffic pool. The brand traffic pool layout includes the official flagship store of the cross-border e-commerce platform, the brand’s official account/homepage on social media (such as Facebook), the official self-media/micro mall, and the brand’s own independent website/App. These traffic pools have their own characteristics, so is there a priority? Can they be integrated? Which one is more suitable for IPization? As mentioned earlier, for cross-border e-commerce companies, the purpose is not traffic, but monetization, so traffic must be integrated to monetize, and the question is how to integrate. Generally speaking, because each channel is subject to rules and constraints, the best integration direction is the brand’s own independent website/App, which is the most controllable traffic pool and is truly private. At present, the popular Anker, Shein, etc. have completed the traffic integration process of their own independent websites/Apps. Relatively speaking, Anker’s independent station traffic accounts for more than half, but in the environment where mobile traffic is dominant, Shen’s App traffic integration seems to be better.
However, most cross-border e-commerce companies cannot support the construction and promotion of their own independent station mall/App. Anker and SheIn are benchmarks and are worth learning from for cross-border e-commerce companies. It is recommended to reasonably select a main traffic pool according to the brand development stage to integrate traffic from various channels. A possible development process is as follows. (1) Use the official flagship store of the cross-border e-commerce platform as the main traffic pool. In the early stage of brand building, the official flagship store of the cross-border e-commerce platform can be used as the destination for traffic. This does not mean that only platform marketing is done. Traffic from channels such as EDM, exhibitions, and social media outside the site can be completely directed to online stores. The advantage of doing this is that it is easy to realize quickly, but the interaction between the e-commerce platform and users is not good enough, and it is difficult to perform complex traffic operations. At this time, the operation of private domain traffic mainly relies on CRM software and is realized through email subscription. At present, most B2B merchants on Alibaba International Station are at this stage, and the road to brand I is still long.
(2) Use the official social media account/homepage as the main traffic pool. When the social media homepage/account has accumulated enough fans, the main traffic pool can be transferred to social media. The strong interactivity of social media is very conducive to private domain traffic operation, and traffic accumulation is more convenient. The social media traffic pool and CRM software traffic pool can be layered, that is, social media accumulates users, and CRM software accumulates customers. At this stage, brand companies have generally built a membership system, and it is time to strengthen membership operations. E-commerce platforms mainly undertake the function of traffic monetization and are just a system for product and order management. At present, some leading merchants on Alibaba International Station have begun to transform in this way. The marketing cost of e-commerce platforms is reduced, but the transaction data of the platform does not decrease. This is the result of customer accumulation.
(3) Use official self-media/micro-e-commerce as the main traffic pool. The breakthrough at this stage is to use the interface provided by social media to open a self-owned mall, which has both media and e-commerce attributes. This breakthrough may not seem big, but it is a turning point. Since then, the e-commerce closed loop has been completed in the company’s own mall, freeing itself from the constraints of third-party e-commerce platforms, but it has posed new challenges to supply chain management and mall management. The social media that the mall relies on is only an entrance to traffic. In addition, there is not much difference between it and the self-built independent station mall/App. At present, there are not many cross-border e-commerce companies that can achieve this level, but they must be relatively influential brands, otherwise the official self-media/micro-e-commerce cannot become the main traffic pool (the proportion of traffic and sales is less than that of the e-commerce platform flagship store).
(4) The brand’s own independent station mall/App is the main traffic pool. At this point, the brand influence is large enough, the traffic and sales of the independent station mall App have an absolute advantage, and the traffic of the entire network marketing, including offline traffic, can be diverted to the main traffic pool. The above process is a brand development path recommended by observing the development of the cross-border e-commerce industry in recent years, but it is not the only path. In practice, the stages of brand development are not so clear-cut. The following points need to be noted here. (1) Even if you reach the fourth stage, you must do a good job of e-commerce platform stores or social e-commerce. The advanced development stage is backward compatible.
(2) The above four stages do not have to be taken step by step, and can be developed in leaps and bounds. Especially for traditional strong brands, digital transformation can start directly from the fourth stage. The four stages do not necessarily have to appear in the order mentioned above. Starting from the micro mall, or not doing e-commerce monetization first, starting from social media brand marketing are all feasible.
(3) Traffic can be divided into online and offline, and the main traffic pool should be digital. In short, this is only a possible traffic integration path, which reminds us that we should consciously cultivate the main traffic pool when implementing a multi-traffic pool strategy. However, some companies do not select a main traffic pool, but develop multiple traffic pools at the same time, and only conduct traffic diversion operations in scenarios that require integration, such as live e-commerce. This situation is also feasible. Cross-border e-commerce companies should find a traffic integration method and hosting location that suits them based on their own characteristics.