(I) Innovative business model
The business model of Lightinthebox is characterized by connecting Chinese manufacturing factories on one end and foreign consumers on the other end, which subverts the traditional export model. This model omits all the intermediate links, such as: Chinese exporters, foreign importers, foreign wholesalers, and foreign retailers. It is worth noting that these links are precisely the links with the highest profits. Bypassing these two links means that the rich profits are pocketed.
All e-commerce is nothing more than three flows: information flow, capital flow, and logistics. Capital flow can be easily handled with PayPal (the world’s largest online payment tool). Logistics can be completed through socialized third-party logistics. Through the system developed by itself, innovative combinations can be made. Different products can be delivered to foreign consumers through different logistics forms, which is optimized and fast. In this regard, Lightinthebox is compared with Alibaba, which only solves the information flow, and DHgate.com, which does both information flow and capital flow. It has taken on all three flows since its birth. In addition, Lightinthebox has also developed a set of “leading and accurate online marketing technology” that can directly present marketing information to foreign consumers thousands of miles away and speaking different languages.
(II) Wide coverage
At present, unlike other foreign trade websites that only provide English versions, the website of Lightinthebox has 8 language versions, including English, French, Spanish, and Japanese, which truly realizes globalization. In addition, Lightinthebox completed the acquisition of Oku.com, an online e-commerce mall for young domestic consumers, in June 2010. This acquisition enabled Lightinthebox to open up the domestic trade market and truly realize global sales combining domestic and foreign trade. The mall has won a good reputation online by selling fashionable consumer products such as mobile phones and accessories, high-definition digital products, and electronic education with its distinctive services, which coincides with Lightinthebox’s business philosophy.
(III) World-class supply chain system
Lightinthebox is the leader of China’s cross-border e-commerce platform. It connects many manufacturing companies in China, the “world factory”, and has a powerful online supplier platform such as eBay. In terms of procurement, Lightinthebox directly connects with factories, eliminating many intermediate links, and most of the products are purchased by itself, with its own pricing power, and even customized products.
(IV) Online international bulk purchase and small wholesale
There is no minimum order quantity requirement on Lightinthebox. Customers can buy in bulk or conduct small wholesale operations. The main advantages of bulk purchase and small wholesale are: first, the customer base of bulk purchase and small wholesale is large, and the total sales volume will be unlimited; second, more and more buyers are unwilling to purchase in large quantities, because large orders mean more storage space and management costs, and the ability to update and replace products becomes stronger, and the sales cycle of a single product becomes increasingly difficult to plan. In addition, with convenient and fast logistics capabilities, more buyers are willing to make small, long-term purchases.
(V) Global and fast logistics capabilities
Lightinthebox has signed contracts with many express and logistics companies, which can meet the needs of global fast delivery, and generally deliver goods to customers in about 7 days. At the same time, when the one-time purchase amount reaches about US$80, Lightinthebox also provides free delivery service.
(VI) High-investment marketing strategy
In terms of marketing, Lightinthebox has gone through a process of transformation from the initial positioning of low-end products to the current branding through a high-investment marketing strategy. The proportion of overseas users of Lightinthebox who directly search for Lightinthebox to buy wedding dresses has exceeded 10%, and the traffic obtained by directly searching the brand name has exceeded 10%, which is mainly due to the brand effect brought by marketing investment. Moreover, due to its unique competitive advantage and cost-effectiveness in wedding dresses, it has been recognized by many overseas users and has a very high repurchase rate. When dealing with conversion rate issues, Lightinthebox will analyze and check customer service, inquiry volume and basic traffic issues, and then optimize and adjust the marketing content.
At the same time, search engine marketing is also a large-scale investment for Lightinthebox, but there will be more new marketing methods to supplement it. Because search engines can capture the customer base with the strongest willingness to buy, and the advantage of new media and social platforms is that even if users do not have a strong desire to buy, they can use this to establish word-of-mouth and trust.