This article analyzes a relatively rare no-source model – the Southeast Asian cross-border e-commerce five-source merchant model. In the normal cross-border e-commerce operation scenario, merchants only operate stores after they have a source of goods, but there is a type of no-source merchants who can “learn without a teacher” and achieve amazing performance without a source of goods. This model is called the “Southeast Asian cross-border e-commerce no-source store group model”.
These sellers generally choose small and beautiful cross-border e-commerce platforms as their footholds, that is, emerging cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Shopee. They do not choose Amazon and eBay because the entry threshold is relatively high, while small and beautiful companies such as Shopee are more friendly and have a relatively good market share and market appeal in Southeast Asia.
This no-source model generally works like this: sellers only need to cooperate with domestic distributors or Yiwu small malls. As long as overseas stores have orders, they will package the logistics information to these small malls and ship them. In this way, cross-border e-commerce sellers can operate cross-border e-commerce without a source of goods, and there is another advantage to doing so – no need to hold goods. Basically, if there is an order, then an order is sent, so cross-border e-commerce sellers do not need to rent warehouses.
Under normal circumstances, it is these groups of people who carry out the no-source distribution model: small and medium-sized sellers. These sellers have a very long understanding of the cross-border e-commerce model, and have even been operating on Amazon for many years, but as the competitive pressure from mainstream e-commerce companies has exceeded imagination, many old sellers have begun to find their own way out, and Shopee happened to appear. Some sellers can even monopolize the tail share of a certain category of wood. They can firmly grasp the consumers in the region by creating dozens of stores.
In short, this Southeast Asian cross-border e-commerce no-source merchant model has gradually become normalized. As more and more people know about this business, many people have begun to move out of the no-source model and gradually turn to boutique operations. But no-source is very suitable for small and medium-sized sellers, especially those who don’t like to stock up.