Let’s talk about B2B first, because from the perspective of development trends and policy orientations, this may become the new mainstream of cross-border e-commerce and the business model that has the largest and most extensive impact on the trade economy. According to statistics, the transaction scale of China’s B2B e-commerce market reached 118 trillion yuan in 2015. Cross-border e-commerce accounted for about 17% of foreign trade imports and exports, 90% of which were B2B models, and the cross-border retail part only accounted for foreign trade imports and exports. about 3%.
The author speculates that cross-border e-commerce does not account for that much of the overall foreign trade, and the magnitude of traditional trade is still the absolute majority. At the same time, B2B online procurement is gradually becoming a mainstream trend in global procurement. According to industry estimates, the B2B market size in the United States will reach US$9.4 trillion in 2020, while the B2C market size will be approximately US$3.8 trillion. The core of traditional B2B business lies in the enterprises at both ends rather than the network platform and C-end. The relative transaction characteristics are “low frequency and high amount”. The key to the success of this model is efficient matching and security.
The difficulties in efficient matching stem from the complexity of demand. B2B product categories are complex and customized, the demand matching and business undertaking cycle is long, and the regional distribution, identity type, experience and ability of buyers and sellers are intensified. of this complexity. B2B credit issues are more prominent. It is difficult to establish cross-border trust, the chain is long, and funds are occupied. Systematic breakthroughs are needed in terms of security (credit, quality, capital, logistics). Focusing on the development of cross-border e-commerce B2B is in line with my country’s needs for stable growth and structural adjustment of foreign trade. It is also conducive to reducing regulatory costs and improving customs clearance efficiency.
The reasons why foreign consumers choose cross-border procurement are simply because they cannot purchase products in their own country or to save procurement costs and look for a richer range of products to choose from. For traditional foreign trade orders, enterprises have to complete a series of operations such as market research, sample design, participation in exhibitions, inquiry and quotation, contract review, product improvement, ship chartering and space booking, document preparation and foreign exchange settlement, financing financing and after-sales service. They need to coordinate A team composed of professionals in various fields (foreign trade and foreign languages, international business law, document preparation and settlement, financial accounting, risk control and auditing, warehousing and logistics, exhibition design and system services, etc.), so B2B industrial products of a certain scale and complexity will not be Replaced by online platforms.
However, we have to admit that traditional foreign trade B2B information services have been saturated, and offline exhibitions are declining year by year, especially consumer goods, which are being impacted by B2C and losing their vitality. Cross-border e-commerce B2C has begun to “shopping”, which is what traditional foreign trade is afraid of and resists, and is also a problem for them when they want to transform online.