Cross-border e-commerce platforms are based on Internet technology and provide sellers and buyers with a place for online transactions and negotiations. They play a vital role in the development of cross-border e-commerce. Mastering the main types of cross-border e-commerce platforms and platform selection methods will help sellers correctly choose the cross-border e-commerce platform they want to operate, laying a solid foundation for the development of cross-border e-commerce business activities in the future.
Cross-border e-commerce platforms can be divided into two types at the national level: import cross-border e-commerce platforms and export cross-border e-commerce platforms. However, in the field of e-commerce, they are more classified according to the business model of e-commerce. According to the business model of e-commerce, road-boundary e-commerce platforms can be mainly divided into B2B road-boundary e-commerce platforms, B2C road-boundary e-commerce platforms, and C2C cross-border e-commerce platforms.
B2B cross-border e-commerce platform
B2B (Business-to-Business) cross-border e-commerce refers to an e-commerce transaction model in which enterprise sellers and enterprise buyers from different countries conduct commodity transactions, while B2B cross-border e-commerce platforms are platforms that conduct business operations based on the B2B cross-border e-commerce business model. Understanding this type of platform will help sellers engage in large-scale supply or procurement work between corporate sellers and corporate buyers. The following will explain this type of platform from two aspects: an overview of B2B cross-border e-commerce platforms and an introduction to mainstream B2B cross-border e-commerce platforms.
Overview of B2B cross-border e-commerce platforms
The following will introduce B2B cross-border e-commerce platforms from three aspects: the business model of B2B cross-border e-commerce platforms, the advantages of B2B cross-border e-commerce platforms, and the disadvantages of B2B cross-border e-commerce platforms.
(1) Business model of B2B cross-border e-commerce platforms
The business model of B2B cross-border e-commerce platforms mainly makes profits by charging membership fees, marketing promotion fees, and transaction commissions. The single transaction amount between corporate sellers and corporate buyers is large, and most orders require multiple conversations and negotiations to reach an agreement. After the agreement is reached, the order transactions between each other will be long-term and stable, and the B2B cross-border e-commerce platform provides extremely convenient conditions for corporate sellers and corporate buyers to search and publish information, negotiate, and pay.
● Chinese enterprise sellers first publish the relevant information of their products on the B2B cross-border e-commerce platform, mainly including pictures, prices, quantities, shipping addresses, etc.
● After the relevant information of the products is displayed and published on the B2B cross-border e-commerce platform, foreign enterprise buyers can search and view the product information through the platform;
● After the two parties complete the negotiation and payment through the B2B cross-border e-commerce platform, the Chinese enterprise sellers ship the products through cross-border logistics;
● After the foreign enterprise buyers receive the goods, the entire transaction process is completed.
(2) Advantages of B2B cross-border e-commerce platform
Compared with traditional international trade, B2B cross-border e-commerce platform can greatly reduce the seller’s sales costs. Enterprise sellers and enterprise buyers from different countries conduct transactions through B2B cross-border e-commerce platform, which can help enterprises realize real-time ordering and adjust the purchase quantity at any time, which not only greatly reduces manpower and material resources, but also greatly reduces inventory costs and turnover time.
(3) Disadvantages of B2B cross-border e-commerce platform
The main disadvantage of B2B cross-border e-commerce platform is that the seller’s profit margin is small. my country’s traditional international trade is mainly based on the transaction mode of large quantities of goods. With the emergence of cross-border e-commerce, it has gradually evolved into a B2B cross-border e-commerce model. However, with the development of cross-border e-commerce, a large number of domestic corporate sellers are flooded on the B2B cross-border e-commerce platform, and the competition is fierce, which has reduced the profit margin of enterprises that mainly focus on B2B cross-border e-commerce.