U.S. cross-border e-commerce B2C market analysis in the second quarter of 2020
Online outbreak: e-commerce sales increased by 49% in April
According to the Digital Economy Index report released by Adobe, in April, U.S. e-commerce sales jumped 49%. Specifically, daily online grocery sales increased by 110%, book sales doubled, and electronic product sales also increased by 58%. These figures indicate that U.S. e-commerce has experienced a “Black Friday”-like sales boom.
In addition, according to foreign media reports, U.S. retail sales in May increased by 1.4% year-on-year, a significant improvement compared with the 5.4% decline in April. Although physical stores are gradually reopening, American consumers still prefer to shop online. In response, Frank Poore, CEO of e-commerce software provider CommerceHub, noted that while retail spending overall has been trending downward since February, e-commerce has seen “massive” growth. Its retail customers reported that online ordering increased by more than 100% between April 1 and May 31 compared with the same period last year, a rate that is “close to peak demand during the holiday season.”
Physical impact: 2,294 retail stores closed down
Retail sales data released by the United States on May 15 showed that the monthly rate of retail sales in the United States in April this year was -16.4%, far lower than the expected -12%, setting the largest single-month decline since 1992. The epidemic The impact on U.S. retail is worse than imagined. JCPenney, a long-established department store in the United States with a history of 118 years, officially submitted a bankruptcy application on May 15, local time, becoming the fourth American department store giant to declare bankruptcy within a month. Previously, three department stores including J.Crew, Neiman Marcus and Stage Stores had also declared bankruptcy. According to data from Coresight’s retail store database, as of May 15, 2,294 retail stores have closed in the United States so far this year.
However, the epidemic has also prompted the retail industry to gradually move toward digitalization, and many traditional retailers have accelerated the construction of e-commerce businesses. For example, on June 15, Walmart and Shopify announced that approximately 1,200 sellers using Shopify will be able to sell on Walmart’s US online mall by the end of the year. Je? Clementz, vice president of Walmart Marketplace business, said that this integration will allow Shopify sellers to seamlessly list their products on Walmart.com, which will also allow Walmart customers to browse more products.
According to eMarketer data in May 2020, comparing the market shares of major companies in the U.S. e-commerce field, Amazon topped the list with a market share of 38.0%, while Walmart and eBay ranked second and fourth with 5.8% and 4.5% respectively. three. Walmart’s e-commerce sales are expected to grow by more than 35% by 2020, accounting for 5.8% of the U.S. e-commerce market.
The export volume of 3D printers has skyrocketed, with merchants selling one every 8 seconds
During the epidemic in Europe and the United States, China’s 3D printer exports surged. According to data from AliExpress, sales of 3D printers on the platform doubled during the epidemic compared with last year. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics also shows that China’s 3D printing equipment production increased by 87.7% year-on-year in the first quarter, and this growth rate further climbed to 344.7% in April.
An important reason why 3D printing sales are so popular is that 3D printing provides new possibilities for solving global supply chain problems. During the epidemic, the serious shortage of epidemic prevention materials faced by Europe and the United States and other countries can also be solved by relying on 3D printers. 3D printers are used to print anti-epidemic materials such as masks, face shields, goggles, ventilators and even isolation wards. Wang Mingqiang, general manager of AliExpress, said: “The global supply chain is mainly based on traditional offline channels. During the epidemic, a large number of overseas factories were closed and offline circulation channels were restricted. However, online cross-border channels are smooth, so many People buy 3D printers on AliExpress to print masks, car parts, and even aircraft parts.”