E-commerce logistics is based on the rigid pull of platform transactions. The unavoidable problem is that the information transparency dominated by e-commerce platforms, the information retrieval costs paid by buyers are passed on to sellers. Logistics has lost the opportunity to face customers directly and has become a logistics supplier of e-commerce platforms. Moreover, e-commerce platforms can stand at the top of the ecological chain and overlook the entire industry. Data such as price, time limit, traffic and operation nodes are in the hands of e-commerce platforms. The process of e-commerce platforms optimizing the layout of logistics channels through intelligent analysis of data is the process of reshaping and changing the logistics pattern of “the gods in different positions”. They begin to screen logistics options for customers. Each route in the figure introduces several logistics service providers with specific advantages to participate in the competition, and the survival of the fittest, while logistics providers can only look to the top. Of course, with the emergence of cross-border e-commerce platforms in emerging markets and market segments, big sellers build their own websites and offline retailers participate in the war, the traffic of cross-border e-commerce platforms is still relatively scattered, and there are not many high-quality logistics products left for the platforms to integrate in large quantities for the routes in the market segments.
Another type of purely independent logistics platform integrates the products and services of various cross-border logistics companies, integrates resources through online SaaS cloud platforms, connects to various cross-border platforms, e-commerce and logistics systems, and provides one-stop full-process online logistics services such as channel price comparison, order placement, payment, insurance, tracking, settlement, etc. for small and medium-sized cross-border customers, and provides online delivery comparison for cross-border logistics packages. But the reality is that some non-core links in logistics are still very scattered, and a large number of small and medium-sized freight forwarders rely on the market of scattered shippers to work for large logistics companies and carriers. To become a platform-based enterprise, it is necessary to do it directly or set standards for others to do it. “Heavy vs. light” is not a standard, but to select relatively standardized business scenarios, connect with shippers above and channels below. In fact, these platforms have output functional value similar to 3PL, integrating various resources and solutions through “data” to achieve intensiveness.
Those outsiders who entered the online logistics industry were eager for quick success, hoping to subvert the logistics industry through decentralization and an App program, or to gain investment by increasing traffic. However, because they did not provide the service guarantees that the original intermediate layer could provide, they were connected but not connected, and eventually disappeared. In fact, to enter the offline transaction process of cross-border logistics, it is still necessary to build a connection system for offline services, such as operations, customer service and data teams. Self-built networks are prone to become money-burning black holes, because platforms are not simple service agents or information intermediaries, but some focus on providing technical support to channel merchants; some mainly use offline freight forwarding channels, and there are a large number of customized services for cross-border air/sea transportation; some integrate cargo volume to negotiate prices with airlines or overseas agents. Their parcel business is highly standardized, and they cooperate with third-party companies to pick up goods, tally goods, and declare customs.