Although the mature markets dominated by Europe and the United States are growing at a slightly slower rate, their huge base still ensures that the two markets contribute more than 30% of the new market transaction volume. It is estimated that by 2020, they will still be the second and third largest cross-border 2C e-commerce markets in the world. The United States is not only an important market for cross-border B2C e-commerce, but also the most important source of goods for global cross-border B2C e-commerce. In many countries, the United States is the number one source of products for consumers in cross-border shopping.
It can be seen from PayPal’s latest report that the cross-border potential of the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France and other countries is still very large. Cross-border shopping is far less than domestic shopping. Turkey, India, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe and other places It is also worth exploring, and Japan seems to be surprisingly conservative. When looking at the current status and potential of a region’s cross-border e-commerce market, there are several aspects to consider.
The first is market space. Cross-border online retail relies on a huge overseas target customer base. In layman’s terms, it must have a sufficient population base to constitute “consumption.” Whether it is an emerging market or a developed country, consumer demand is the first consideration. The United States is the largest market. This is determined by its developed consumer society. Before e-commerce, store retail in the United States was also very good. The supply of niche products and convenient logistics through cross-border channels met a wider range of consumer needs. . Consumers in sparsely populated economies also have cross-border demand, but it is difficult to achieve economies of scale.
The second is the local industrial structure. An imbalance in the industrial structure will create a strong demand for imported consumer goods, such as Latin America and the Middle East that rely on the export of resources and primary products, small developed countries that mainly focus on the service industry, and former Central and Eastern European countries with relatively underdeveloped consumer goods industries under the Soviet system. The unavailability of daily necessities creates strong and sustained market demand. At the same time, the relatively weak offline retail industry in these emerging markets also leaves broad space for the development of cross-border B2C e-commerce in these areas.
The third is infrastructure conditions. In all emerging markets, problems such as logistics, payment, and customs clearance are prominent. Many consumers in underdeveloped areas do not have credit cards. The reliability of transportation, the timeliness of customs clearance, and the speed of distribution Timeliness is difficult to guarantee. It is no exaggeration to say that a piece of clothing may have changed seasons before it was delivered to a Brazilian buyer. Fortunately, the development of mobile technology and the popularity of smartphones have, to a certain extent, made up for the digital divide caused by lagging Internet development in underdeveloped areas. Consumers in India, ASEAN, South America and other places have begun to use the mobile Internet to directly obtain goods.
The fourth is institutional facilitation. Although emerging markets have great potential, the challenges of market “irregularities” are more difficult to deal with than developed markets, and there is still a big gap in market supervision and legal regulations. The North American Free Trade Area NAFTA and the EU Digital Single Market (Single Digital Market) are very conducive to the development of cross-border e-commerce. However, setting up overseas warehouses in emerging markets is a recognized risk issue in the industry.
In addition, attention should also be paid to utilizing the diversity of language and culture. Multilingual online stores are necessary. According to research, Lanting Jishi online store is available in 27 languages, and it attaches great importance to the market breakthrough of small languages. AliExpress, Dalong.com, etc. have been deeply exploring the Russian market in the past two years, while Aoji E-commerce initially focused on the small language market and The German-language website is the leading one, and other small-language independent websites coolicool and efox-shop series have more than 15 language sub-stations. Taking the Aukey brand as an example, it ranks first in the domestic and foreign trade B2C industry in the “small blue oceans” of France, Italy, and Spain. .