Current cross-border e-commerce development characteristics, problems and future trends

Cross-border e-commerce has undergone many evolutions in the past decade or so. Along with the changes in the global e-commerce environment, it has shown diversity and complexity. According to the latest industry observations, the development of cross-border e-commerce has several characteristics and problems that need to be solved.

1. New characteristics of cross-border e-commerce development

1. Diversity of participants
   In the past, cross-border e-commerce participants were mainly small and micro enterprises and individual merchants. However, since 2013, foreign trade companies, factories and brand merchants in traditional trade have gradually participated in it, promoting the industry to develop on a large scale.

2. The industrial chain is gradually improving
   With the integration of all aspects of the industry (such as marketing, customs clearance, logistics and payment), more and more companies are beginning to provide integrated services, making the industry chain clearer and more complete. This provides more resource support for cross-border e-commerce companies.

3. Branding operations
   In recent years, many companies have begun to transform into branded operations, especially large companies, gradually establishing their own platforms to enhance their competitiveness in the cross-border e-commerce market with brand value.

2. Problems in the development of cross-border e-commerce

1. Serious product homogeneity
   Up to now, the cross-border e-commerce industry is facing greater homogeneous competition, leading to intensified price wars. Especially in the field of hot-selling 3C products and accessories, many companies provide similar products, which reduces profit margins.

2. Branding not yet established
   Currently, many cross-border e-commerce products originate from small factories, which suffer from quality control problems and lagging brand building. Most companies have not yet completed brand development and are in urgent need of improving product brand awareness and quality standards.

3. Long delivery time and instability
   Cross-border e-commerce logistics involves multiple countries and policy differences, resulting in long and volatile logistics cycles. For example, packages shipped from China to the United States and Europe usually take 7 to 15 days, but in some cases, it may take longer, which is detrimental to the consumer purchasing experience.

4. Difficulty in customs clearance and foreign exchange settlement
   As cross-border transactions gradually develop into small batches, B2B and B2C companies face many difficulties in the customs clearance and foreign exchange settlement process. Although national policies provide convenience to B2C companies, small B2B companies still encounter many obstacles in customs clearance.

5. There is a huge talent gap in cross-border e-commerce
   There is a talent shortage in the cross-border e-commerce industry, especially in terms of language and market understanding. Talents who are able to cope with the characteristics and trading rules of multi-country markets are needed, but at this stage there are still few talents who can meet this requirement.

3. Future development trends of cross-border e-commerce

1. Mobile online shopping becomes mainstream
   China is quickly becoming the world’s largest online retail market, and consumers increasingly prefer shopping through mobile devices. This trend has injected new impetus into cross-border e-commerce.

2. Quality e-commerce drives the rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce
   Cross-border e-commerce, which used to be mainly low-quality and low-price, is gradually transforming into an e-commerce that focuses on quality. More and more Chinese brands (such as Huawei and Xiaomi) are entering the international market through cross-border e-commerce channels, which has improved the overall taste of the industry.

3. Pay attention to customer reviews and website content optimization
   When consumers make purchase decisions, they rely more on other people’s reviews and detailed product information, which prompts e-commerce platforms to continuously optimize content and interact with users to improve users’ pre-purchase experience.

To sum up, the cross-border e-commerce industry continues to evolve in many aspects. Although it faces many challenges, with the diversification of participating entities and the rapid development of the industry, more opportunities and innovations can be expected in the future.