For cross-border novice sellers, choosing an operating model is the biggest hurdle in front of them. In short, there are several operating models for cross-border e-commerce at present. Let’s take a closer look.
1. Under the platform model. E-commerce third-party business introduces the platform, adopts a light capital model, provides commodity services, and the income is mainly commissions. The quality of third-party merchants varies.
2. Self-operated + platform model. It adopts a model of partial self-operation and partial merchant settlement. It has strong supply chain management capabilities. Popular products use the self-operated model. Non-standard products can introduce merchants, and SKUs are rich; genuine products, establish a stable relationship with the brand, open up the product circulation link, and focus on the asset model.
3. Flash purchase model. Adopting a low-price rush purchase strategy, relying on the accumulated flash purchase experience and user stickiness, the product replacement speed is fast, the freshness and customer repeat purchase rate are high, bringing sufficient profit space, and the discount is large, and the customer repurchase probability is high. However, its logistics costs are high and the entry threshold is low, and the competition between merchants is fierce.
4. Offline transformation to O2O. Relying on offline stores and resource advantages, we will lay out online platforms to form an O2O closed loop, and form synergy with physical stores, experienced procurement teams and online platforms. However, the online traffic diversion ability is relatively lacking, and it is necessary to cultivate customer stickiness for a long time.
5. Buyer system + overseas direct mail platform model. The platform introduces overseas professional buyers to provide goods and services, relying on its own official international logistics transportation to ensure that the goods come from overseas and are sealed and safe throughout the process. The number of buyers is huge, the goods are diverse, and 100% come from overseas. At the same time, international logistics thresholds have been established to ensure the timeliness of transportation, and the platform application experience needs to be improved.
6. Vertical self-operated platform. It has a high degree of specialization, mainly in specific fields, and has a variety of supply chain models, including procurement, bonded, and direct mail. The single category has a high degree of segmentation, and a large amount of financial support is required in the early stage.
7. Self-operated model. Merchants purchase goods from suppliers and sell them to customers. One-stop shopping has low gross profit margins and few categories to choose from.
8. Shopping guide rebate platform model. By editing overseas e-commerce information, the purpose of shadow flow is achieved, and then the orders are aggregated to overseas e-commerce. Quickly understand the front-end needs of consumers, the speed of drainage is fast, the technical threshold is low, the competition is fierce, and it is difficult to form a scale.
9. C2C purchasing model. After the customer places an order, overseas individual buyers or merchants purchase from the local area through international logistics distribution, and the cash flow is relatively large. SKU is expanded through a large number of buyers, the management cost is bureaucracy, the source of goods cannot be controlled, and the income is only commissions and service fees.
The above 9 are more common operating models. Novice sellers need to have a general understanding of the platform’s operating model before entering the platform, and choose a suitable operating method based on their own advantages, so as to gain an advantage in the competition.