The direct delivery platform model is also known as the “Dropshipping model”. E-commerce platforms that adopt this operating model convey consumer demand information to manufacturers or wholesale operators, who are then responsible for delivering the corresponding goods to consumers.
Because the supply of goods is completed by manufacturers, wholesalers or brand owners, the direct delivery platform implements the B2C model. To some extent, this is a third-party B2C model. The part of the commodity sales price that is higher than the wholesale price is obtained by the platform.
Advantages: There is in-depth development in the cross-border supply of products, and this field has broad development space. Platforms that adopt this operating model have established stable cooperative relationships with overseas suppliers to provide guarantees for product supply. In addition, e-commerce platforms will ensure the transportation of products by independently establishing and operating a cross-border logistics system, or by joining hands with third-party international logistics companies in overseas countries. The former is represented by Yangmatou, and the latter is represented by Tmall International.
Disadvantages: In the early stage of development, there were relatively few merchants entering the platform, lacking a sufficient user base; the scale of capital consumption in the exploration stage was large; some domestic companies pretended to be overseas brands and used their mastery of the platform model to enter the platform through improper means.
Typical representatives: Shanghai Free Trade Zone Cross-border Communication, Yifan Haigou.com, Tmall International Platform, Dolphin Village, Yangmatou, etc.
Today, Tmall International has carried out market development all over the world, and in the long-term development process, it has formed good interactive relations with official agencies in many countries, such as France, Italy, and Australia. The official departments of these countries encourage local companies to cooperate with the Tmall International platform so that the platform has more suppliers. In addition, in 2014, Alibaba, to which the Tmall International platform belongs, reached a deal with Singapore Post for US$249 million to buy more than 10% of its shares, providing a guarantee for the logistics of the platform.
At the same time, Alibaba actively joined hands with national logistics companies. So far, including Brazil Post, China Post and Australia Post, have established good interactive relations with Alibaba. Today, Tmall Global e-commerce platform has signed contracts with multiple e-commerce pilot cities, and in future development, it may adopt more bonded import models.
Yomao, established in 2009, is one of the representatives of the direct shipping model. Statistics show that Yangmatou achieved a revenue scale of 200 million yuan in 2013. By 2015, thousands of overseas suppliers had reached cooperation with Yangmatou. In order to ensure the transportation of goods, the company has established international logistics transit stations in many overseas regions. Not only that, it has also joined hands with international airlines to achieve cross-border commodity transportation through air transportation.
In addition, Yangmatou has gradually expanded the scope of its overseas purchasing business to enrich its product variety and attract more consumers. Starting from the third quarter of 2014, the platform no longer charges stationing fees to merchants. The overseas shopping application “Sweeping Artifact” launched by Yangmatou has further increased the user scale of the platform. In July 2014, the Yangmatou platform also joined hands with No. 1 Store to provide consumers with overseas direct mail group buying services, namely the “Global Group” project.
From a macro perspective, the direct delivery model is the basic operating mode of Yangmatou. At the same time, the platform increases its user scale through overseas purchasing. After the relevant policies are relaxed, Yangmatou will take the bonded import model as one of its key strategies, and its business planning will be more reasonable.
Kuoguotong also adopts the direct delivery platform model, which is invested, built and operated by Shanghai Oriental Payment Co., Ltd. in the Free Trade Zone. According to the plan of Kuaiguotong, they will provide platform services for merchants in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone who adopt the bonded import model. Today, there are not many merchants on the platform, and the product variety is relatively small.
In addition, several cross-border e-commerce pilot cities have successively launched the operation of independent cross-border shopping platforms. Such platforms were born with policy support. At present, it is impossible to accurately speculate on the development trend of such platforms.