Cross-border e-commerce is a new type of trade that combines e-commerce with traditional international trade. It has some different characteristics compared with traditional international trade and domestic e-commerce. Understanding these characteristics will help sellers deepen their understanding of cross-border e-commerce, so the following will specifically introduce the characteristics of cross-border e-commerce from two aspects: the comparison between cross-border e-commerce and traditional international trade and the comparison between cross-border e-commerce and domestic e-commerce.
1. Comparison between cross-border e-commerce and traditional international trade
Compared with traditional international trade, cross-border e-commerce has the characteristics of small batches, high frequency and high efficiency.
(1) Small batches
Different from traditional container-based large-scale transactions, cross-border e-commerce transactions have the characteristics of small batches. Because cross-border e-commerce enables a single seller and a single buyer to directly trade goods, and the buyer and seller may only trade one item, small batch transactions are a significant feature of cross-border e-commerce.
(2) High frequency
The convenience of the Internet and the development of wild logistics have provided convenience for the retail of road-based e-commerce. In addition, cross-border e-commerce skips all intermediate links and interacts with the market in real time, enabling buyers and sellers to trade anytime and anywhere, no longer limited by time and space. Therefore, the transaction frequency greatly exceeds that of traditional international trade.
(3) Efficiency
Traditional international trade is that sellers purchase goods in large quantities, and then distribute them through various distributors in multiple levels before they reach the hands of buyers. The entire transaction process has many links, long time and high cost. However, cross-border e-commerce can enable sellers and buyers in multiple countries to trade directly through the cross-border e-commerce platform. The entire transaction process has fewer links, shorter time and lower cost, which improves the efficiency of transactions and achieves overall efficiency.
2. Comparison between cross-border e-commerce and domestic e-commerce
Compared with domestic e-commerce, cross-border e-commerce has the characteristics of globalization and multilateralism.
(1) Globality
From the perspective of transaction scope, domestic e-commerce is mainly aimed at domestic sellers and buyers, while cross-border e-commerce is aimed at global buyers, which reflects the Internet’s ability to integrate global resources and the globalization characteristics of cross-border e-commerce.
(2) Multilateralism
From the perspective of the transaction process, the transaction process of domestic e-commerce mainly includes buyers and sellers, while cross-border e-commerce includes not only sellers and buyers, but also national departments such as entry and exit ports, inspection and quarantine, taxation, and foreign exchange management, reflecting the characteristics of multilateral coordination and concerted efforts.