(I) Excessive dependence on industry and policy
In the early days, cross-border e-commerce had relatively few product categories, which made the platform more affected by the industry and policies, which was not conducive to the healthy operation of cross-border e-commerce platforms. Taking Qingdao as an example, Qingdao’s cross-border e-commerce overseas sources of goods are mainly South Korea, and its “first order” of direct purchase imports by seaborne cross-border e-commerce came from South Korea. However, affected by the “THAAD incident”, the domestic demand for South Korean products has declined, which directly affected the operating performance of Qingdao’s cross-border e-commerce platform. The most typical event of policy impact is the adjustment of the tax policy on cross-border e-commerce retail imports by three ministries: In April 2016, the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Administration of Taxation decided to implement the cross-border e-commerce retail import tax policy, and simultaneously adjusted the luggage tax policy, which greatly affected the bonded import model implemented by the cross-border e-commerce park and caused a great impact on cross-border e-commerce in various places.
(II) Lack of strict industry regulations
Since the birth of cross-border e-commerce, the problem of counterfeit goods has plagued the development of cross-border e-commerce and affected its image. The problem of counterfeit goods highlights the problems of cross-border e-commerce in industry regulations, such as the lack of product import certification and full tracking system. At present, domestic cross-border e-commerce companies mostly adopt the model of “bonded import + overseas direct purchase” to ensure the reliability of product sources. However, there are many problems with “overseas direct purchase”, such as the easy mixing of counterfeit goods in the circulation process, the mixed supply of small and medium-sized cross-border e-commerce platforms, and some even take risks in the investment promotion channels and commodity circulation process.
(III) Local platform operation lacks competitiveness
Due to the stimulation of policy dividends, cross-border e-commerce is called the last “blue ocean” of e-commerce, attracting a large number of companies to enter. In addition to the original e-commerce giants, many logistics and express delivery companies, traditional trading companies, and even cross-border e-commerce parks have established cross-border e-commerce platforms and actively invested in operations. However, these newly built platforms face great operational problems. First, there is a misunderstanding of “focusing on construction and neglecting operation”. The platform system is difficult to develop. Many cross-border e-commerce companies have invested a lot of money, but have ignored the operation of the system, and are obviously insufficient in the reserve of operational talents. Second, there is a lack of customer accumulation and low website traffic. Since the platform is a newly established platform, the cost of acquiring customers is extremely high, and the website is not active. Third, the product structure is unreasonable and it is difficult to meet the comprehensive shopping needs of consumers. Since the sources of goods of many cross-border e-commerce platforms have obvious regional characteristics, it greatly affects the platform usage rate of consumers.
(IV) Logistics and industrial chain need to be further improved
Cross-border e-commerce orders are mainly retail, with small amounts, small volumes and high frequencies. They are generally not transported by traditional container shipping methods, but by international parcels and international express delivery, which cannot have the advantages of low freight and high speed; B2C foreign trade enterprises can generate economies of scale and reduce transportation costs by consolidating goods, but management is difficult; third-party logistics can allow cross-border e-commerce platforms to focus on their main business; overseas warehousing models can effectively increase speed, but the cost is relatively high.
(V) Lack of cross-border e-commerce professionals
As an emerging foreign trade method, cross-border e-commerce involves knowledge of e-commerce and international trade, and has high requirements for practitioners. Since the Ministry of Education has not yet set up a cross-border e-commerce major, the lack of talent has become one of the major problems facing cross-border e-commerce in various places. According to data from the China E-Commerce Research Center, at present, cross-border e-commerce companies tend to recruit personnel majoring in international trade (70.1%); although there are a large number of graduates in international trade every year, 85.9% of companies still believe that there is a shortage of cross-border e-commerce talents.
(VI) Uneven levels of informatization
The difference in the degree of informatization between regions has led to differences in the development of cross-border e-commerce in different regions of my country. Compared with eastern cities such as Guangzhou and Shanghai, the level of informatization in the central and western regions is relatively low. Even in areas where cross-border e-commerce is more developed, there are differences between different companies. The uneven level of informatization between different companies can easily lead to a break in the company’s informatization chain. With the increasing number of e-commerce companies in cross-border e-commerce parks in various places, various information flows such as the types of products in the exit area, warehousing, logistics, etc. must be supported by a strong informatization platform. The low level of informatization has seriously hindered the construction and promotion of the full-process informatization system.