General

After experiencing all the ups and downs in the first half of the year, the year-end peak season in the second half of the year is very important for cross-border e-commerce sellers.

At present, due to the raging delta strain of the mutant new crown virus in many overseas markets, the recovery process of the offline industrial economy has once again stalled, while the online economy is still growing. For example, the repeated epidemics in Europe and the United States have kept local consumers' online shopping demand high.

The year-end Q4 peak season is just around the corner. Combining the current situation of the first half of the year and overseas epidemics, how should sellers increase revenue and reduce expenditure?

465 billion US dollars! What are the potential explosions in the European market in the second half of the year?

According to eMarketer data, the scale of cross-border e-commerce transactions in 2020 will reach 12.7 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.95%, and the growth rate has hit a four-year high. It is estimated that in the next three years, the global e-commerce penetration rate will increase by about 1.5% annually, and by 2024, it will reach about 21.4%.

The outbreak of the global epidemic has led to the prosperity of the online economy, and has also led to a substantial increase in European e-commerce revenue. Statistics show that in 2020, European e-commerce revenue will reach 425.2 billion US dollars, an increase of 71 billion US dollars over the same period last year.

According to Finaria.it, the revenue of the European e-commerce market is expected to reach US$465 billion in 2021, which is 30% higher than before the outbreak. By 2025, the scale of European e-commerce is expected to reach nearly US$570 billion.

The growth of European e-commerce scale is inseparable from the outstanding performance of household appliances, health personal care and 3C digital products during the epidemic. The epidemic will repeat in 2021, and consumers' online shopping demand is still growing. What are the potential explosions that can be tapped in the European market in the second half of this year?

1. Pet supplies

European residents have a long-term life habit of keeping pets, and so far the number of pets and consumption scale in the local area have been at a relatively high level. Among them, pet-related products such as pet houses and pet beds are among the top pet products sales lists on cross-border e-commerce platforms. Among pets, searches for cats and dogs related products have increased significantly. With repeated epidemics, pets have been with overseas residents for longer.

2. Household items

After the outbreak, household products have become one of the "dark horse" categories in the cross-border e-commerce industry. During the epidemic, there was a strong demand for products related to the cleaning field, such as sweeping robots, which are common household items in European and American households. Therefore, the increase during the epidemic is huge. On the Amazon platform, the monthly sales volume of sweeping robots reached 21,177. In addition, storage boxes, dehumidifiers, cleanable mops, sofa pillowcases and other products are also worthy of consideration by sellers.

3. 3C Electronics

In the epidemic, home entertainment and office hours have increased. Products such as Bluetooth headsets, electronic conversion devices, wireless chargers, selfie sticks, Bluetooth speakers, and TV computer brackets are also the focus of Amazon's recommendation this year. Among them, computers and TV brackets are expected to achieve a major outbreak by the end of this year.

4. Sports goods

Despite being unable to engage in outdoor activities due to the epidemic, European and American consumers still choose to exercise in their own courtyards or indoors. Therefore, some small fitness equipment, such as dumbbells, foldable treadmills and other products, have sold very well. In addition, yoga pants, yoga mats, sports pants, and sports vests have also become best-selling items in 2020. According to the current epidemic situation, these products are still expected to be included in the hot sales list in the second half of the year.

Q4 The peak season is coming, how can sellers increase revenue and reduce expenditure?

The sudden outbreak of the epidemic in 2020 has caused severe damage to the global economy and has also put many small and medium-sized enterprises into trouble. Cross-border e-commerce breaks through the limitations and becomes an important way for many companies to double the trend. At the beginning of 2021, cross-border e-commerce sellers thought that the entire industry would still skyrocket, but they were "stucked" by cross-border logistics and platform policies one after another. Therefore, how to increase revenue and reduce expenditure in the second half of the year is particularly important. No matter whether it is from the source of the product, or multiple links such as operations, logistics, and financial management, they are broken one by one.

1. Open source: select potential hot models and stock up reasonably

Just as the potential explosions in the European market in the second half of 2021 mentioned above, sellers can refer to multiple parties before deploying, and filter out products with larger development space through data, which is the first step in open source.

Secondly, at the beginning of the year, the situation of port congestion, lack of containers, and limited storage capacity still exists so far, and the situation of cross-border logistics is relatively severe. Recently, platform policies have been tightened, and many brands have "fallen down" with a pile of inventory. Sellers are also reminded that in addition to compliant operations, they must also stock up reasonably.

2. Throttling: logistics and payment back-end efforts to increase profits

In special times, sellers’ cash flow planning should be more forward-looking. In terms of logistics, sellers should choose stable channels to ensure that the goods are shipped in time, so that they can prepare and manage inventory more reasonably; when the goods are shipped in time, they can be put on shelves and sold in time.

In terms of payment, the focus is on cash flow forecasting and payment cycle control. At the same time, reliable payment service providers are selected to ensure timely payment of funds, reduce fee rates, and increase profits.