1. International Commercial Express
International commercial express mainly refers to the three giants UPS, Fedex, and DHL (TNT was acquired by Fedex, and the four major express companies became the three major express companies).
Advantages of international commercial express: fast speed, good service, low package loss rate, especially very convenient to send to developed countries in Europe and the United States. For example, using UPS to send a package from China to the United States, it can arrive within 48 hours at the fastest, and DHL to Europe can generally arrive within 3 working days.
Disadvantages of international commercial express: expensive, in addition to freight, there are other surcharges such as fuel costs and remote fees, and the rates vary greatly: compared with postal channels, customs clearance capabilities are poor. Generally, cross-border e-commerce sellers will only use it when customers strongly require timeliness, and will charge customers for freight.
2. Dedicated Line Logistics
Cross-border dedicated line logistics generally transports goods to foreign countries by air charter, and then delivers them domestically in the destination country through cooperative companies. It is a more popular logistics method. At present, the most commonly used logistics lines in the industry include the US line, the European line, the Australian line, the Russian line, etc.
Advantages of dedicated line logistics: It can concentrate and send goods to the destination in large quantities, and reduce costs through economies of scale. Therefore, the price is lower than commercial express delivery, the speed is faster than postal parcels, and the package loss rate is relatively low.
Disadvantages of dedicated line logistics: Compared with postal parcels, the freight is still much higher, and the collection range in China is relatively limited, and the coverage area needs to be expanded.
3. Overseas warehousing
Overseas warehousing service refers to a one-stop control and management service for sellers to carry out warehousing, sorting, packaging and delivery of goods at the sales destination. To be precise, overseas warehousing should include three parts: first-leg transportation, warehousing management and local distribution.
First-leg transportation: Chinese merchants transport goods to overseas warehouses by sea, air, land or combined transportation
Warehousing management: Chinese merchants use logistics information systems to remotely operate overseas warehousing goods and manage inventory in real time.
Local delivery: The overseas warehousing center delivers the goods to customers through local postal or express delivery according to the order information.
Advantages of the overseas warehousing model: It can reduce logistics costs. Shipping from the buyer’s country can shorten the order cycle, thus giving customers a better experience.
Disadvantages of the overseas warehousing model: It is easy to overstock, and is only suitable for hot-selling items with fast inventory turnover. It has high threshold requirements for sellers’ supply chain management, inventory management, and dynamic sales management.
4. Transnational business of domestic express delivery
With the increasing popularity of cross-border e-commerce, domestic express delivery has also begun to accelerate the layout of international business, mainly EMS, SF Express and “Four Links and One Delivery” (Shentong Express, Yuantong Express, Zhongtong Express, Best Express, Yunda Express). Due to its reliance on postal channels, EMS’s international business is relatively mature and can reach more than 60 countries around the world. SF Express has also opened express delivery services to the United States, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries.
Advantages of domestic express delivery: faster speed, lower cost than the three major international express giants, EMS has strong customs clearance capabilities in China.
Disadvantages of domestic express delivery: Since it is not focused on cross-border business, it is relatively lacking in experience, its ability to control the market needs to be improved, and its overseas market coverage is relatively limited.