Export is one of the “troika” driving the sustainable development of my country’s economy. It occupies an important position in economic and social development. It is also an important way for my country to implement the “going global” strategy and enhance its international influence. With the arrival of a new round of information technology revolution represented by the Internet, my country’s foreign trade industry is also actively undergoing Internet transformation and upgrading, and exploring appropriate cross-border business application models.
The establishment of Alibaba in 1999 marked the connection between domestic suppliers and overseas buyers through the Internet, and became the first step in the Internet transformation of my country’s export trade and the exploration of cross-border e-commerce. In more than ten years of development, domestic cross-border business applications have gone through three main stages, from information services to online transactions to full industry chain services. ◆Cross-border e-commerce 1.0 stage (1999-2003) This stage started from the establishment of Alibaba in 1999 and lasted until the launch of Dunhuang Online in 2004. This is the initial exploratory stage of the development of cross-border e-commerce in my country. It mainly displays corporate information and products on third-party Internet platforms so that more overseas buyers can learn about domestic suppliers’ information and promote the increase in transaction volume. increase. Due to limitations of the level of Internet development and other factors, second-party Internet platforms in the 10th century of cross-border e-commerce mainly provide information display services and do not involve specific transaction links. The cross-border e-commerce model at this time can be summarized as a foreign trade information service model of online display and offline transactions. In essence, it only completes the information integration link of the entire cross-border e-commerce industry chain. Of course, this model has also derived some other information value-added services during the development process, such as bidding promotion, consulting services, etc. As for the profit model of the platform, it mainly charges a certain service fee from companies that need to display information. It is essentially an advertising revenue generation model. The most typical representative of the 10 stages of cross-border e-commerce is Alibaba, which was founded in 1999. It is one of the largest foreign trade information yellow pages platforms in China that serves small and medium-sized enterprises. It is committed to promoting small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises to truly go abroad and helping them obtain broader overseas markets. Global Sources Foreign Trade Network, established in Shenzhen in 1970, is also Asia’s earliest Internet platform involved in cross-border e-commerce information services. In addition, during this period, many Internet platforms for cross-border trade information services emerged, such as Made in China Network, South Korea’s EC21 Network, and Kellysearch. ◆20 stages of cross-border e-commerce (2004-2012) Marked by the launch of Dunhuang Net in 2004, domestic cross-border business applications have entered a new stage of development: various cross-border e-commerce platforms no longer simply provide information display and consultation Services have also gradually included offline transactions, payment, logistics and other links, truly realizing online transactions in cross-border trade. Therefore, compared with the initial stage, the 20th stage of cross-border e-commerce truly reflects the huge advantages of the e-commerce model: through the Internet platform, it not only realizes the information docking between buyers and sellers, but also further optimizes information, services, resources, etc. Integration effectively opens up all links of the cross-border trade value chain. The mainstream form of cross-border e-commerce at this stage is the B2B platform model, which directly connects buyers and sellers of foreign trade activities (small and medium-sized enterprise merchants) through the Internet platform to reduce intermediate links, shorten the industrial chain, and enable domestic suppliers to have more Strong bargaining power and greater benefits. At the same time, third-party platforms have also diversified revenue-generating channels at this stage: on the one hand, the “membership charging” model of the previous stage has been changed to the form of collecting transaction commissions; on the other hand, the platform website will also provide some value-added services Earn revenue, such as promoting corporate brands on the platform, providing third-party payment and logistics services for cross-border transactions, etc. ◆Cross-border e-commerce 3.0 stage (from 2013 to present) Domestic e-commerce has gradually matured after more than ten years of intensive cultivation. Similarly, cross-border e-commerce has continued to transform with the deepening of the development of the Internet and the maturity and improvement of the overall e-commerce format since 2013, entering the 30s era. After 2013, cross-border e-commerce has gradually shown the following characteristics: ★With the development and popularization of the e-commerce model, the main user groups of cross-border e-commerce have gradually transformed from weak grassroots entrepreneurs to Large factories, foreign trade companies and other groups with strong production design and management capabilities have transformed platform products from online merchants and second-hand sources to more competitive first-hand high-quality products. ★At this stage, the e-commerce model has shifted from C2C and B2C models to B2B and M2B models. The international market has been further broadened, and Class B buyers have formed a scale, which has promoted the rapid increase of medium and large transaction orders on the platform. ★More large-scale Internet service providers have joined, so that cross-border e-commerce 30 services have been fully optimized and upgraded. The platform has a more mature operating process and stronger carrying capacity, and the industrial chain of foreign trade activities has been fully transferred online. ★The number of mobile users is soaring, the demand for personalization, diversification and long-tail is increasing, the production model is more flexible and customized, the demand for agency operations is high, and the online and offline supporting service experience is constantly optimized and upgraded. ◆Main factors promoting the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce In just a dozen years, my country’s cross-border e-commerce has developed from the 10 stages of only information display to the 3.0 “big era” in which the entire industry chain services are online. The rapid development of cross-border e-commerce benefits not only from the government’s vigorous promotion and support, but also from the development and maturity of the overall e-commerce format. (1) Governments at all levels attach great importance to and support Foreign trade has always been an important engine for my country’s economic growth. Therefore, the central and local governments at all levels have always had a very positive and supportive attitude towards the development of the domestic cross-border business application industry and have not issued new relevant policies and regulations to provide a favorable policy and institutional environment for the development of cross-border business application. For example, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the “Notice on Further Promoting the Healthy and Rapid Development of E-Commerce” (Fagaiban Gaoji (2012) No. 226, Fagaiban Gaoji [2013] No. 894) for two consecutive years; in 2014, The General Administration of Customs has specially issued the “Announcement on Supervision Matters Concerning the Import and Export of Cross-border E-commerce Goods and Articles”. The introduction of these policies has standardized the order of the domestic cross-border e-commerce market and paved the way for the sustainable development of cross-border e-commerce. Provides institutional and policy guarantees. (2) The B2B e-commerce model has developed rapidly in the global trade market. In 2013, the scale of US B2B online transactions reached US$559 billion, which was much higher than the scale of B2C market transactions. At the same time, it was as high as 59%. of purchasers mainly purchase products through online channels: 27% of purchasers have an average online monthly purchase volume of US$0.5 million; 50% of suppliers are working hard to promote buyers to switch to online transactions to reduce circulation links and obtain more More profits and bargaining power. In the international market, the B2B model is being recognized and accepted by more and more companies, which has created a favorable market atmosphere for the development of cross-border e-commerce in my country. (3) The rapid development of mobile e-commerce. The development of smart phones and the maturity of wireless Internet technology have promoted the Internet from the PC era to the mobile Internet era with more efficient, convenient, and faster connections. The mobile Internet has cultivated users’ mobile, fragmented, and scenario-based consumption habits and optimized. People’s online shopping experience has also promoted the explosive growth of mobile e-commerce transactions. The rapid development of mobile e-commerce has provided strong support for the rapid arrival of the 30s era of cross-border e-commerce. Relevant data show that in 2013, global intelligence. The number of mobile phone users exceeded PC users for the first time: accounting for 22% of the total population; during Christmas in 2013, as many as 50% of users in the Amazon mall used mobile terminals for shopping: In 2014, the American price comparison website Price Grabber surveyed users on Thanksgiving Day Consumption behavior during the shopping season found that 50% of consumers will first conduct price comparisons online through their smartphones before making purchase decisions in shopping malls. In addition, a report from the “199IT Internet Data Center” shows that the scale of revenue generation from mobile Internet will increase in the future. The growth rate will exceed 300% in a few years, and it is expected to reach US$700 billion in 2017; most of the revenue will come from the mobile e-commerce market, whose size is expected to be US$516 billion.