According to the different contents of cross-border B2B e-commerce services, they can be divided into the following two types.
1. Information service platform
The information service platform mainly provides services such as transaction information release, information search and transaction matching, and transmits the product or service information of sellers such as suppliers or buyers to facilitate the completion of transactions between the two parties. Representative enterprises include Alibaba International Station, Global Sources Network, Made-in-China Network, etc.
The main profit methods of information service platforms include membership services and value-added services. Generally speaking, information service platforms charge a certain membership fee from exporters, allowing them to publish product and enterprise information on the platform, receive inquiries from importers, and make mutual quotations, etc. In addition, the platform provides value-added services to both importers and exporters, mainly including bidding ranking, pay-per-click and booth promotion services. Bidding ranking is the most mature profit model for information service platforms to provide value-added services. Sellers purchase keywords and buyers obtain high-value information for themselves through searches. However, the market for this profit model has been saturated. As a third-party platform for information services, it is transforming and developing a series of extended services such as financial services by taking advantage of the platform’s large amount of enterprise information.
2. Online trading platform
Online trading platform refers to a business operation model that realizes online transactions and online electronic payments between buyers and sellers based on network information technology in the Internet environment. Online trading platforms not only provide information display of enterprises, products, services, etc., but also can complete online search, consultation, comparison, ordering, payment, logistics, evaluation, etc. through the platform. The online trading platform model is gradually becoming the mainstream model in cross-border e-commerce. The most representative enterprise at present is Dunhuang.com.
The profit model of trading services is mainly to charge commission fees and display fees. The commission fee is a certain commission charged in proportion after the transaction without charging membership fees. The display fee is charged when uploading products, that is, as long as the product information is displayed, a fee is charged. At present, each platform mainly charges commission fees.
Division according to the direction of the transaction
Depending on the direction of the transaction, cross-border B2B e-commerce can be divided into the following two types.
1. Vertical B2B e-commerce
Vertical B2B e-commerce refers to a vertical market that targets only one industry or industry segment, such as the electronics market, automobile market, medical equipment market, steel market, chemical products market, etc.
2. Horizontal B2B e-commerce
Horizontal B2B e-commerce refers to a market that supplies goods or services that can be used by all industries, such as the office supplies market, computer, printing equipment market, etc.