(i) Producers (Manufacturers)
Producers occupy a basic position in the cross-border e-commerce industry chain. Producers provide products and export goods to foreign countries directly or indirectly through traders in the form of cross-border e-commerce. Cross-border e-commerce provides a broad market space for producers, which helps them expand overseas business, explore new business channels, and build global brands.
Compared with traders, producers have lower prices, more controllable supply chain systems, and more reliable product quality. Therefore, while cooperating with traders, more and more producers tend to attach importance to self-operated cross-border e-commerce, and major cross-border e-commerce third-party platforms also pay more attention to attracting producers to settle in, such as providing separate settlement channels and operation guidance, or providing traffic tilting support, etc.
(ii) Import and export traders
Traders play a very important role in the cross-border e-commerce industry chain. At present, the number of cross-border e-commerce traders far exceeds that of producers, and they are very active. Due to the relatively low threshold of cross-border e-commerce, many small and medium-sized traders (sellers) have emerged in large numbers, such as husband-and-wife stores and teams of 3 to 5 people. With the development of the industry and the intervention of capital, famous cross-border e-commerce enterprises such as Lantingjieshi, Aoji E-commerce, Youkeshu, Jiazhilian, and Saiwei E-commerce have emerged, with annual sales of hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, and listed on NASDAQ, the domestic A-share main board and the New Third Board.
Compared with manufacturers, traders are more flexible, sell a wider variety of products, and can integrate more supply chains. At the same time, powerful traders are gradually developing towards the combination of industry and trade, and gradually increasing their competitiveness through independent design, outsourcing processing, OEM production and other methods. However, with the increasing competition in cross-border e-commerce, the dividends are gradually decreasing, the profit margins of small and medium-sized traders are getting lower and lower, and the survival pressure is significantly increased.
(III) Consumers (buyers or customers)
With the popularization of e-commerce, the change of consumption concepts and the continuous improvement of international economic and trade relations, consumers in various countries are more and more receptive to products from other countries, and are more and more accepting of the trade method of purchasing products from other countries through the Internet. Therefore, it can be predicted that economic and trade exchanges between countries will be further strengthened with the continuous development of cross-border e-commerce. In turn, this will also promote the further development of cross-border e-commerce, and the world market of cross-border e-commerce will continue to expand.
(IV) Cross-border e-commerce and domestic e-commerce platforms
Cross-border e-commerce platforms include third-party intermediary and self-built types, which play a key role in the cross-border e-commerce industry chain. Enterprises or sellers from various countries publish enterprise and product information through various cross-border e-commerce platforms, conduct global network publicity, find customers around the world, and even directly reach transactions online to realize online transfer of funds. Cross-border e-commerce platforms have greatly reduced the cost of international operations of enterprises compared with traditional methods and greatly improved efficiency.
Buyers can find suitable suppliers and countless products from other countries (regions) around the world through cross-border e-commerce platforms, which has expanded the range of consumer choices and enriched their consumption experience.
Domestic e-commerce platforms also play an important role in the cross-border e-commerce industry chain. For example, traders in exporting countries use domestic e-commerce platforms for online procurement, and traders in importing countries use domestic e-commerce platforms to sell goods to consumers or end users, so they are also an indispensable link in the cross-border e-commerce industry chain.
(V) Third-party cross-border service companies
There are a large number of third-party service companies in the cross-border e-commerce industry chain.