Pioneer of cross-border e-commerce: from Dunhuang to the army of buyers
In 2004, the establishment of the comprehensive cross-border e-commerce platform “Dunhuang.com” was a milestone in the development of China’s cross-border e-commerce. It is precisely because of the pioneering innovation and evangelistic education popularization of Dunhuang that many Chinese export manufacturing business owners began to devote themselves to cross-border e-commerce.
On September 19, 2014, Dunhuang Network celebrated its tenth birthday, and a grand celebration was held at Beijing Century Theater. When a reporter asked why it was named “Dunhuang Net”, founder Wang Shutong explained that Dunhuang Net has established its mission of “promoting global trade and realizing entrepreneurial dreams” since its inception, and is determined to become the most important station on the Silk Road in the new era. , helping small and medium-sized enterprises buy and sell goods globally.
However, the wonderful vision of Dunhuang Network did not receive an immediate enthusiastic response from the market. In just six months after it was officially launched in 2004, Wang Shutong had exhausted 1 million yuan of investment. It was the most difficult period for Dunhuang.com. The website’s income could not cover its expenses. Many employees chose to leave, but Wang Shutong persisted.
By 2009, Dunhuang.com’s small online foreign trade volume reached US$2.5 billion. With the success of the Dunhuang Net business model, on April 26, 2010, Alibaba announced an investment of US$100 million to officially enter the small-amount online transaction market and launched its own cross-border trade platform – “AliExpress”. The launch of “AliExpress” marks that the Chinese market has begun to pay attention to and recognize the prospects of cross-border e-commerce, and it is also a strong competitor for Dunhuang.com.
At the same time, there is another force that cannot be ignored in the field of cross-border e-commerce – the army of buyers. These small and medium-sized businesses and distributors usually focus on a specific region or category and rely on third-party platforms to operate. Although their profit margins are gradually being compressed, they play an important role in guiding consumers and cultivating cross-border markets. Especially high-quality buyers who are active on Taobao, Yangquan, Jiemi and other platforms have a large number of loyal fans.
Through live streaming of goods scanning and other methods, buyers can make it easier for consumers to accept new products, thereby creating hot sales. At present, the influence of buyers in shaping hot products even exceeds that of traditional B2C platforms. However, due to the uneven quality of the buyer group, the credibility issue of the purchasing agency industry has always attracted much attention. Problems such as the inability to return or exchange goods, counterfeit sales, and false advertising are common. But on the other hand, the richness of product types and the speed of information update provided by buyers are unmatched by other channels.
Buyers rely on their personal charm to attract fans and rely on good relationships with brand counter sales staff to obtain exclusive resources. In order to ensure a stable supply of goods, some successful buyers have begun to form professional teams for operations. Although the cross-border e-commerce B2C model continues to develop, the buyer group under the C2C model still maintains strong vitality. Platforms represented by Yangquan have attracted many overseas certified buyers to join through innovative experiences such as mobile overseas shopping and live broadcast of goods scanning, becoming an important force in the field of cross-border e-commerce.