Although brand enterprises operating overseas warehouses have many advantages and dividends for the development of cross-border e-commerce, there are also many risks and limitations in the current practice of brand enterprises operating overseas warehouses.
First of all, the investment in overseas warehouses is too large for a company. Mr. Lin is the head of a cross-border e-commerce company in Ningbo. The products they operate are clothing. They currently rent an overseas warehouse in New Jersey, USA. The area of the warehouse is about 6,000 square meters, and the monthly rent exceeds 10,000 US dollars. He has 15 such overseas warehouses in the United States.
Secondly, the labor cost and comprehensive operating cost of the home country are also very large. The labor cost in the United States is very high. Mr. Lin believes that the construction of overseas warehouses must be carried out by brand enterprises with financial strength, but not all brand enterprises have such strength to participate in the construction of overseas warehouses, because the construction of overseas warehouses requires more professional data analysis, comprehensive commodity analysis, and accurate market risk prediction. It cannot blindly follow the trend and invest irrationally.
Risk of unsalable products in overseas warehouses of brand enterprises
Another risk of overseas warehouses is the risk of unsalable products. A friend of mine is a famous clothing accessories manufacturer in Ningbo. Through the model of pre-stocking in overseas warehouses, he prepared more than 30 million yuan of goods in overseas warehouses in the United States. In the end, only 2 of the more than 30 products became popular, and most of the products were seriously unsalable. Once the overseas warehouse is unsalable, it has to be transported back to China again, which means it is imported, and the operation cost is very high. This risk of overseas warehouses deserves the attention of the majority of brand cross-border e-commerce companies.