Foreign trade service processes are complex and there are many middlemen. It is difficult for small, medium and micro enterprises to directly participate in foreign trade. This requires the establishment of a foreign trade “intermediate platform” to realize the standardization and scale of business processes through Internet technology. The State Council formally proposed the concept of “foreign trade comprehensive service enterprises” in the “Six Articles of the State on Foreign Trade”, indicating that the government for the first time clarified the status of foreign trade B2B service providers such as Yidutong and Guangxinda as service institutions and supported them in exporting for small and medium-sized private enterprises. Provide financing, customs clearance, tax refund and other services, but in the past they have been regarded as a single trading enterprise in terms of supervision.
Foreign trade comprehensive service enterprises refer to foreign trade enterprises that provide logistics, customs declaration, credit insurance, financing, foreign exchange collection, tax refund and other services for the export of domestic small and medium-sized production enterprises. The foreign trade comprehensive service platform mainly provides one-stop services for customs clearance, foreign exchange settlement and tax refund for export enterprises, and on this basis provides corresponding value-added services such as logistics and finance.
The essence of comprehensive foreign trade services is to connect the customs, inspection, taxation, exchange and other departments of trade regulatory agencies to form a facilitated “single window”. The government is willing to promote the development of comprehensive service enterprises that can provide intensive, one-stop services, integrate the scattered import and export resources of small and medium-sized enterprises into whole parts, simplify the complicated foreign trade processes, and change the risk structure and platform Comprehensively grasp the flow of information, logistics and capital, so that a trust system can be established so that entities participating in foreign trade can enjoy convenience while also receiving certain supervision.
The connection between B2B platforms and comprehensive foreign trade services may be the key to improving the closed loop of B2B business. It can, to a certain extent, encourage companies to keep subsequent actions on the platform after completing orders.
Similar to the early days of Yidatong, there are still many import and export agents and link outsourcing service providers in the market, such as China National Building Materials Yidan.com, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Yiliantong, Huimaotong, Wanshitong, Guangxinda , Free Trade Link and other comprehensive foreign trade service platforms, in addition to handling online transactions, they can also provide a series of offline solutions such as terminals, logistics, customs clearance, foreign exchange settlement, tax refunds, financing, credit guarantee, insurance, credit sales, foreign exchange hedging, and agency licenses. Solutions, such as cross-border BBC overseas warehouse export tax rebate and foreign exchange settlement and cash withdrawal.
Various platforms have transaction data and corporate credit records. In the future, financial institutions will cooperate more closely with them, and the voice of e-commerce platforms will gradually increase.
The core of foreign trade enterprises is customer resources, and traditional foreign trade does not necessarily rely entirely on platforms. Looking back at the lessons learned from B2C e-commerce, customer acquisition costs may not necessarily be a headache due to declining online shopping, dependence and low profits. Platform monopoly is not a good thing. A healthy market requires a competitive landscape in which a hundred schools of thought contend, both online and offline. It is necessary to establish a multi-platform mechanism for competition.
In addition, it is emphasized again that products with a high degree of standardization are easier to “go online”. Professional products or industrial-grade products, including many technical details or after-sales services, may not be significantly effective. For most foreign trade B2B, the process from inquiry to sales will take much longer than B2C. The maintenance of customer relationships, sales skills and professionalism are all elements of success. Among them, there are some differences between increasing store traffic, improving traffic conversion rate, and converting inquiries into sales, and B2C operations and marketing.
In addition, there are several trends to note. First, many companies use distribution to distribute goods on the entire network platform. B2B distribution has accounted for an important proportion of the traditional B2C export e-commerce business. Second, the rise of vertical and distribution B2B platforms in some industries deserves attention and research. By focusing on advantageous categories and focusing on the characteristics of their respective industries in products and services, professional barriers are formed. For example, Vendor Express was created by Amazon by converting third-party sellers into self-operated suppliers. A new platform has been launched through which merchants can sell products to Amazon, and Amazon Business is also recruiting merchants to settle in China to help Chinese companies enter the global commercial procurement market, achieve “quality made in China, and goods connect the world”, and also support manufacturing “Manufacturing +” project of large-scale enterprises.
The third is “B2B e-commerce platform + social model + big data + mobile commerce”. Inquiries can be obtained through these foreign trade platforms, but to find accurate foreign buyers, Facebook and Twitter must be added , Linkedin and other social media marketing and other emerging channels to contact and communicate with potential big customers. The rise of mobile procurement has forced enterprises to keep up with mobile solutions. Data shows that more than 50% of customers in the United States make order decisions from mobile devices, and 29% of online purchasing transactions come directly from mobile devices.