After the release of the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy and Rapid Development of Cross-border E-commerce” by the General Office of the State Council in June 2015, the call for adjusting the tax policy for cross-border e-commerce has become increasingly louder. On April 8, 2016, the long-awaited new tax reform policy for cross-border e-commerce by the regulatory authorities finally came into effect. The tax-free policy for goods with a tax amount of less than 50 yuan was cancelled, and the “tax-free era” of cross-border e-commerce has since become a thing of the past. Even on May 25, the customs department issued a new document stating that the implementation of the new tax reform policy would be postponed for one year, but the tax rate adjustment would still be retained.
Although the regulatory authorities have made a series of policy adjustments in a short period of time, it is not difficult to find that the government is more inclined to guide the healthy and sustainable development of cross-border e-commerce. The overall adjustment of tax rates has not only reduced tax differences and effectively promoted a fairer import foreign trade market, but also further promoted the transformation and upgrading of the cross-border e-commerce industry.
The increase in tax rates has weakened the tax cost advantage of cross-border e-commerce, and the commodity prices of cross-border e-commerce platforms have risen to varying degrees, which has brought adverse effects on platform operators. However, compared with traditional trade, in the cross-border e-commerce model, the time it takes for goods to reach consumers is significantly shorter and the quality is more guaranteed. In essence, e-commerce, as an emerging business format, has formed complementary advantages with the traditional retail industry. When the platform operator gradually cultivates user consumption habits, price will not become a stumbling block that hinders the leapfrog development of cross-border e-commerce, a more convenient and efficient shopping model.
In several different models, the competition among various players in B2C platform-based cross-border e-commerce is particularly fierce. The product categories are relatively concentrated. The key to gaining an advantage is whether it can establish a stable cooperative relationship with more international brands. Of course, good results can also be achieved by looking for niche brands and independent designer self-made brands.
In essence, the C2C model belongs to the overseas buyer system. The scale of the purchasing team and the ability to control trendy products are the key to the development of the platform. However, after the implementation of the new tax reform policy on April 8, 2016, the adjustment of the tax rate has undoubtedly restricted the development of this model.
Self-operated cross-border e-commerce started relatively late, and the scale of operation platform development is relatively small. What is more serious is that its core product categories are those commodities that are prone to price wars. Usually, the self-operated model needs to establish a professional team responsible for purchasing around the world, which also provides a huge advantage for its control over product quality and logistics timeliness, and effectively improves the user’s shopping experience.
The self-operated model requires a large amount of capital investment in the early stage of development, which will create a great financing pressure for those entrepreneurs, and in the subsequent development process, it still needs to continue to raise funds to expand product categories. However, judging from the investment enthusiasm of investment and financing institutions, self-operated startups are also more likely to obtain support from investors.