According to the national standard “Logistics Terminology” (GB/T 18354–2006), logistics is defined as “the physical flow of goods from the supply point to the receiving point, which organically combines basic functions such as transportation, storage, loading and unloading, handling, packaging, flow processing, distribution, recycling, and information processing according to actual needs.” According to the path of goods from suppliers to consumers, a logistics chain is formed.
Cross-border logistics refers to an international commodity or exchange activity that moves goods (commodities) for the ultimate purpose of international commodity trading in order to overcome the spatial interval and time difference between production and consumption when production and consumption are carried out independently in two or more countries (or regions). Cross-border logistics involves the collection of goods, logistics within the exporting country, customs clearance in the exporting country, international logistics, customs clearance in the importing country, logistics in the importing country, etc. Its operation links involve order taking, receiving goods, warehousing, classification, coding, tallying, sorting, transshipment, packaging, labeling, loading and unloading, commodity inspection, international settlement, customs declaration, taxation, after-sales service, return and exchange logistics, etc. The entire logistics chain and operation links will involve multiple countries or regions and multiple logistics companies.
Compared with traditional domestic logistics, the most prominent feature of cross-border logistics is the addition of customs and commodity inspection in the exporting country (region) and customs and commodity inspection in the importing country (region). There are different standards, requirements and processes for customs clearance and commodity inspection in different countries (regions), and the whole process involves the comprehensive work of multiple departments such as customs, banks, industry and commerce, and taxation, which increases the complexity and risk of cross-border logistics.
From the perspective of cross-border e-commerce, cross-border e-commerce logistics refers to a business activity in which trading entities in different countries or regions reach a transaction and make payment settlement through an e-commerce platform, and then deliver goods through cross-border logistics to complete the transaction. Cross-border e-commerce logistics not only includes the collection, packaging, storage, and transportation, sorting, transshipment, and distribution of goods for cross-border spatial displacement, but also includes import and export customs and commodity inspection. There are many uncontrollable factors, so the process is very long. The delivery time of ordinary cross-border logistics is mostly 15 to 60 days, and even up to 90 days in some special countries or regions.
In addition, due to the long cross-border logistics routes, transportation bumps and collisions during transit, as well as irregular operations or violent sorting, many problems will be caused, such as loss of goods, damaged packaging, delayed delivery of parcels, and wrong delivery addresses. In addition, situations such as products being seized by customs, failing to pass aviation security inspections, delivery delays caused by force majeure such as strikes or wars and bad weather also occur from time to time, causing great losses to both buyers and sellers.