Not many imported cross-border e-commerce platforms can be considered comprehensive platforms, but they occupy a large share of the market. Tmall International was launched in 2014 and has successively introduced hundreds of overseas stores and thousands of overseas brands. Compared with Taobao Global Shopping, Tmall Global requires M2C merchants to have overseas retail qualifications. It currently covers more than 20 large supermarkets such as Costco in the United States, Sainsburys in the United Kingdom, AEON in Japan, Metro in Germany, Woolworths in Australia, and Dia in Spain.
The direction of Tmall’s international strategy is “brand, distribution, big trade”, exploring multiple solutions such as global direct supply, overseas direct sales, and omni-channel distribution, so that the cross-border import platform model can serve as a global merchant The first channel to enter the Chinese market, and gradually establish a global supply center within the Alibaba system that can support retail, distribution, omni-channel, mass sales, FMCG, and bulk wholesale. In terms of cross-border logistics, Tmall has accumulated huge bonded warehouse resources through cooperation with free trade zones and major cross-border pilot cities, and has established overseas warehouses in Europe and the United States.
In addition to the trading platform, there is also the operation platform “Tmall Overseas Direct Store”. Merchants send products to Tmall warehouse, and Tmall is fully responsible for all operations, delivery and all after-sales services. , merchants are very willing to cooperate with them, they have greater autonomy than pure suppliers, and they can also get support from Tmall.
The disadvantage of entering a large platform is that Tmall Global and JD Global Shopping, the two major “traffic entrances”, have exclusive policies, and you will inevitably be controlled by others. Alibaba and JD.com have opened up all commodities, traffic, logistics and other resources, and the ecosystem has been grafted and extended, and cross-border has also been included in this online business system.
Taobao Global Shopping has covered nearly more than 100 countries. After the explosive growth of overseas shopping, millions of overseas products are on sale, and it has entered the stage of “everything is available”. Yangquan was only launched in 2011. It has C2C individual buyers and merchants M2C. Its characteristic is that it built its own cross-border logistics system relatively early. It has 10 distribution and transshipment centers around the world, covering the mainstream overseas shopping market, upstream and The international section is completed by Beihai International Express. After the goods arrive in China, the cooperative express will complete the delivery.
As a platform model, the focus is on pre-sale traffic and investment, helping overseas retailers sell directly to Chinese consumers. The model is light and has accumulated funds, and its main purpose is to increase transaction volume. The overseas purchases of Dolphin Village, JD.com and Suning belong to “self-operation + investment promotion”. Self-operation is the mainstay and the platform is supplementary. They give full play to the inherent advantages of their supply chain and capital chain, and at the same time make up for the lack of international commodity resources through global investment promotion.
Self-operation is the traffic creator, and third parties are profit contributors. In terms of brand investment, it is necessary to balance scale and quality. The number of “big B” is limited and it is difficult to introduce. Although there are many “small B”, it is difficult for the platform to control their quality, and it needs to intervene in logistics and after-sales service to a certain extent. .
For overseas direct purchase sales, Vipshop is a beautiful “wonder” in the e-commerce field. It is not that the platform is better than the platform. Special sales are very consistent with the characteristics of overseas shopping. The source of goods is usually uncertain, and the goods are sold out and come back again when the goods are better. Vipshop Overseas Select has built its own cross-border exclusive warehouse and knows how to explore excellent overseas products, covering various categories such as cosmetics, clothing, bags, maternal and infant products. Special sales are easy to generate repurchase rates, and there are new and fresh products every day.
The biggest difference between it and self-operated B2C is that the supplier presses goods. Self-operated B2C all buys first and sells later. Special sales are to maximize the use of cash flow “receive early and pay later”. This is the cross-border business. One of the core values of the special sales model. Due to the large volume and sufficient profit margins, there are many imitators in the industry, but not many have learned. This requires strong overseas supply and supply chain control. Without the lowest discount, it is difficult to start.