Year-end thoughts: This year, our team of 8 has achieved sales of 40 million yuan, with a profit of about 4 million yuan. I have the following thoughts and would like to ask the experts for advice...

History always repeats itself. I have been doing cross-border business for 10 years and starting my own business for 6 years. I feel lost every year. The environment is getting worse and worse.

Sales in 2024 will be 4KW, and profit will be around 400. But it is very hard work. Currently there are 8 people. 1 warehouse + 5 operations + 1 artist + me. A total of 8 people. I am basically not in the front line of operation now. I am in a Buddhist state every day, and I don’t know what to do. But it is really difficult to do this year. It is even more difficult for me, a seller of goods. Now I have the following thoughts, and I would like to ask the masters for advice...

1. How to change the current distribution model. I can take out 100-200 yuan of funds to develop a boutique line. But I don’t have much experience in boutiques. How can I do 0-1? If I do it, which categories or categories can I do it? I also want to classify what I have done now and then study and find a model to make a brand line. I have this idea, but my cognition is limited and I don’t know how to do it.

2. Should we try to share the risk by running other platforms? This requires recruiting people and forming a team, but the core is still back to the product. The products I sell are very diverse. I don’t think there is any advantage. Now I deeply feel that the most important thing for e-commerce is the product and the supply chain.

3. I still have a growth plan for next year, but to be honest, I have no confidence at all. Although I have always been very Buddhist, I still feel a little anxious when I see that my friends around me are growing. I always comfort myself that it will be fine as long as I exceed the bank's fixed interest rate. The main reason is that I am now in my 30s, with elderly parents and young children, so I can only move up. I don't have enough sense of security.

4. I will introduce my general situation and the resources I can use. I hope you can give me some practical suggestions based on my situation. Resources: Overseas warehouses. There is no problem with the cooperation of British overseas warehouses. Direct connection, no middlemen, and then I rented several hundred square meters. .Shipping: I mostly ship out in containers myself, and occasionally I use a freight forwarder, so I can change the label from the first-leg booking + customs clearance + overseas warehouse storage. So my concentrated advantage is in the UK, and I only did business in the UK before.

My consideration is to make larger products: book the space for shipment by yourself, store in overseas warehouses, or cooperate with drop shipping. It is relatively flexible. (This is a product selection idea I came up with). Avoid small and medium-sized products. How big + heavy + throw goods.

The above is what I thought of, it is not very organized, please give me some suggestions. Thank you everyone.

let it be

Agree with: Hug Big Mushroom, Coco987, loyalaunt, PikaYeah, Luluquanke more »

1. I don’t know what kind of hard work you are talking about?

Our company's GMV and gross profit in 24 years are similar to yours. We are a boutique company, and 80% of our profits come from old products, but it is obviously declining compared with the previous two years . The profit of old products is already at the top, and we have to take out a part of it to develop new products, and most of the new products launched this year are difficult to sell.

Due to our own problems, we still have bank funds to back us up, and the financial pressure is very high. We haven't been involved in distribution for a long time, but I think it's also very hard to make our high-quality products.

If your hard work refers to profits, I think your profits are OK after looking around; if it refers to funds, then making high-quality products will not provide better relief; if it refers to manpower, then hire people to share the burden. However, in the current environment, I think it is still necessary to consider expanding the scale with caution.

2. Which category should I start with when switching to a boutique line?

Our old products were also introduced through distribution in the past few years. The success rate of products verified through distribution is still relatively high, but this method may not be suitable for the current situation, so we did not use the distribution method to launch new products. After you have been doing distribution for so long, you must have a preference for certain categories, or some products have obvious benefits, so you can directly start researching products in the corresponding categories.

3. Ideas about making big items:

I think it is quite difficult for you to run big items with 100-200 yuan of funds and no experience in the category. The requirements for opening big items are higher, and your funds do not have much room for testing products, so the success rate of opening products must be very high. If you don’t play well, your money and products will be wasted.

If you start a new business on a small scale, you will definitely not make any profit. Why does the profit of large-scale cargo seem to be high? It is because of the heavy capital pressure. If you do bulk cargo, the first leg will cost you twice as much as others, but you cannot beat the water in the last leg. If you don’t spend some money, you won’t see any splash.

If your idea is to sell the entire cabinet and reserve a healthy cash flow of 4 times that of a single product, 200 yuan of funds is not enough for you to open 4 products. Let’s go back to what I just said. For those of you who have not been exposed to it, the difficulty level is too high.

Treasure111

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie

Each model has its own advantages and disadvantages. Although the workload of distribution is large and tedious, the initial investment is small and the return is quick; the initial investment of high-quality products is large, and the return cycle is long; and you, the big brother, can earn 400 units a year by distributing the products, and the costs in all aspects, especially the personnel costs, are very low. It can be seen that you also have a lot of experience, at least in the distribution model, you have controlled each link very well.

I also agree with what the first boss said. We can move towards high-quality products, but we should not think about reaching the sky in one step. Instead, we should make a good plan and take one step at a time:

1. You don’t have to completely change the original distribution model. You can set aside some time and energy to re-establish a 2-3-person fine distribution/boutique team. You should look for products and categories from the original distribution categories that you are already very familiar with. You can improve the core products that sold well in the original distribution, or add some accessories and complementary products to implement the fine distribution model. You don’t have to put all your time and energy into this fine distribution team. You can spend 80% on this new team and 20% on the original distribution team.

2. If you do 1, it is not recommended to open a new platform. Maintain the original distribution model and start a new fine distribution or boutique model;

3. Hahaha, this is the anxiety of the bosses. I can understand it, but I can't experience it. However, there will always be people who do better than you in this world, and there will always be people who are not as good as you. First, be self-consistent, and then do it according to your own plan. Let him be strong, the breeze blows over the hills.

4. Large products have developed very well in recent years, and the threshold is high, so many people cannot enter the market. However, large products are a challenge to capital flow.

If you have enough funds, you also need to find someone who understands large items, and you also need to control the details of large items, including pictures, packaging, installation details, etc. Otherwise, returning one large item or damaging one item will be a huge loss. Fortunately, you still have overseas warehouse resources, so you can return the large items to your own overseas warehouse. There is also the problem of the last mile. The cost of large items FBA is more expensive than self-delivery. If you ship by yourself, it is more difficult to guarantee the timeliness.

In short, large items require high capital and strict control of details in all aspects. If you do not have a stable supply chain and capital chain, it is not recommended, for fear that you will not get any dividends but lose money. You must open up all links and control all details before entering the market.

Anonymous user

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie, PUzhang, Duole Xiaojingling, Handwritten Past, Xiaoningzi in Forest more »

I have very little experience with Amazon and I'm new here. After reading your question and then looking at everyone's replies, I found that everyone is just talking big and empty words. They are all the same issues you mentioned in your post, which are completely useless.

In fact, I think that as a boss, you should have some supply chain resources around you. At this time, I think you can talk to the factory. Some factories have their own R&D lines. You can talk to them and discuss cooperation. Slowly learn from their experience and then develop your own product line. Another thing is that if the factory is not good, you should actually go out more, because I find that although many conferences or seminars are useless and you can't learn anything from them, you may have new ideas from the perspective of developing personal connections.

Also, I am a brander and an independent website owner. You said you don’t know whether to use other platforms to share the risk. In fact, I think what you need to do most now is to determine the product, and then think about the platform. After determining the product, use other platforms as a supplement. You are a small team. Sometimes you can discuss as a team and maybe you will have new ideas. This is my opinion. After all, the product is king, and the brand should be your ultimate goal.

Have a cup of Long Island Z

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie

1. How to change the current distribution model, how to do 0-1...
It depends on your strategy, whether you want to shoulder the burden yourself or partner with others. There are only two ways to think: 1. Be awesome yourself, 2. Find an awesome person. If you think clearly, you will have a way.

2. Should we try to share the risk by establishing other platforms? I now deeply feel that the most important thing for e-commerce is the product and the supply chain.
My suggestion is not to use it for the time being. Distributing goods on multiple platforms is too trivial and has no advantages. Besides, it is already in a state of substantial profit. The saying "The most important thing for e-commerce is the product and the supply chain" is correct. The future advantages will all be in the supply chain. I don't mean simply product quality and product development, but the efficiency of the entire supply chain. Making high-quality products is actually refined distribution. There is no 100% successful product, and hot products are all tested.

3. I still have a growth plan for next year, but to be honest, I have no confidence at all. Although I have always been very Buddhist, I still feel a little anxious when I see that my friends around me are growing...
Maybe many people think that the OP is showing off. In fact, cross-border transactions can cause a lot of anxiety. Product complaints, infringement, link corruption, customs clearance inspections, any one of these is enough to give the boss a headache. The core of the growth plan depends on whether there are successful products, which is ultimately a supply chain issue.

4. I will introduce my general situation and the resources I can use. I hope you can give me some practical suggestions based on my situation...
The advantage here is the logistics advantage. You can increase the profit margin by reducing costs. Of course, you can make good use of this advantage, but it has no direct relationship with your desire to make high-quality products, because many people who have no advantages have also made high-quality products. This is just icing on the cake, not a necessary condition.

Finally, let me introduce myself. I have been in boutique business for two years. I have a team of 3 people, annual sales of 1,500, and a profit of 200. I am also very anxious. The traffic of the categories I work in is basically at the top, and other categories do not have product supply chain advantages. There are no extra stores to try other categories. I want to grow but I am not very confident in other categories. This is the real bottleneck period of small selling.

Yu Feifei

Agree with: Summer123LYM, Qingshuier, Chonger Flies Across the Pacific Ocean, The Deepest Affection in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Qingzheng Is Not Quiet More »

First, summarize your strengths:

1. I have been doing cross-border business for 10 years and starting my own business for 6 years. Experience is very important. Amazon has many pitfalls that need to be paid for. People who can summarize can already make money with experience.
   

2. After so many years of distribution, I have some understanding of the products. After all, I see some of them often and feel that they are good.
   

3. With funds and money, you can do a lot of things.
   

4. Experience in managing a company.
   

5. The advantages of logistics can reduce your first-mile costs.

   
   

How to create a boutique line? Personal suggestions

1. Most important advice: Don’t just dream, do it.

   
   

2. Starting with one product, we have rich experience in the platform. Currently, we are focusing on creating high-quality products and then deepening our brand.

   
   

3. Product line issues: You can summarize the products you have already made and think have potential and then delve deeper into them. After all, you have launched so many products and you have a certain understanding of them. Focus on building a brand product line, starting with one product, and you can have more if conditions allow. If you think the operation is good, you can delve deeper and launch more products of similar categories.

   
   

4. Operational issues: Focus on link building, pictures, A+, and listings. Be strict with yourself. In addition, do not make fake orders or involution. If you want to take the long-term route, you must be strict with yourself. If you don’t understand the operation, you can ask the operation to do it, and you can pay attention and learn at any time.

   
   

5. Keep doing the skills of making money by distributing goods, and keep doing things that can make money. Maybe I haven't said it very comprehensively, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

CHM2010AG

Making high-quality products is the trend. I think the OP can first select a few products from the existing distribution products and make them into high-quality products. At least the supply chain is relatively mature.

I don't see any relevant resources or experience from the original poster for large items. If you want to do it, I suggest you try it out by distributing pallets or shipping in small batches.

Then we have Lechuang distribution platform, overseas warehouses, and even supply chain financial services. Whether you need goods, logistics warehousing, or financial support, there are opportunities for cooperation haha

I am in charge of the supply chain finance sector. To put it simply, it means acting as an export agent + advance payment of purchase funds. Then we will handle the tax refund for free, and the tax refund amount will be returned in full. So if the tax refund rate is 13 basis points and the tax cost is not higher than 10 basis points, the tax difference can completely cover the advance payment fee.

In addition, suppliers also hope to have a healthier cash flow, so there is room for renegotiation.

For example:
A cross-border e-commerce company needs to purchase goods with a tax-inclusive price of 1 million yuan. It can cooperate with Lechuang and sign a purchase contract with the buyer in the name of Lechuang. Lechuang will advance the full amount of the tax-inclusive payment and export it to your company's offshore company. Lechuang will do the export tax refund on your behalf at 0 cost. Your company can get a 3-4 month account period with an interest rate of 2-3 points. After the expiration, your company's offshore company will return the money to Lechuang's domestic bank account, which is 1 million yuan - tax refund ≈ 880,000 US dollars + 20,000-30,000 US dollars for the advance payment cost.

Anonymous user

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie, You are also Qin Che, Chingyoo, Adam002, black2020

We have never made large items. We make small items, usually products under $20. From the perspective of my own category, your biggest advantage is that you are in Jinhua! !

What a unique advantage this is. How many sellers are doing business for Yiwu? Supply chain clusters, industrial clusters, and overall costs are relatively low.

If the profit is 400 for 4KW, the overall profit is about 10%, and the profit margin of small items is about 10-15%.
But if you distribute the goods, I don’t know whether you have FBA or FBM. If you have an overseas warehouse, it is likely that the goods will be shipped to the overseas warehouse and then shipped by the overseas warehouse.

In this way, the logistics cost will be lower, so it is more convenient to do large quantities of goods. There are logistics advantages.

You can start with fine-grained paving, choose a certain vertical sub-category, and ask a developer to help analyze it. I believe you must know someone in this field.

To run a boutique store is to launch 10-20 styles a month, sell them in small batches, and sell them out if they sell well. The most important thing is verticality, the overall store style, A+, and all styles should be subdivided and unified, don't make it a general store.

Secondly, you need to combine the supply chain near you. The closer you are to the factory, the stronger your control ability and the faster the communication. And some models require CPC to pay attention to avoid these, or you can also touch them if you are strong.

Third, you need to control your cash flow. The payback period is basically 1-2 years now. Don’t let the stable projects fail. The UK site can still make money with VAT. Otherwise, you can try opening multiple US sites. However, the US site is more volatile. Of course, the bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish.

yuyucy

Agree with: Strong Stone, Chingyoo, Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie, L's Travel Alone

I don’t think it’s necessary to care about whether or not to distribute the goods. The most important thing is to do a category well, do a product line well, and then do related product lines as well.

First, continue to sell the ones that sell well, maintain them well, and stop selling the ones that don’t sell well. If you want to build a brand, you need to consider a lot, such as product quality, operation, art design, and profit. Analyze the specific situation and specific categories.

I suggest you build your brand on Amazon first and then consider an independent website, so that the funds can be turned over more easily. It is best to have differentiation in product selection. If there is no differentiation, you can only rely on price competition. In short, focus on one category first. (Don’t criticize me if you think my answer is not good, thank you, I have a sensitive heart)

The person from the past

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie, I don't want to name it

If you really want to go for high-quality products, your 100-200 yuan expenditure may not be enough. First, you need to build a team. Second, you need to open a product line, not to mention the cost of trial and error.

I personally suggest that you start with some of your popular products that sell well and expand vertically to occupy the category line. Instead of directly creating a new category. Then the team can continue to improve it. I think the promotion department is necessary. Whether it is brand building or marketing, of course, do it step by step.

My friend's company spent nearly 2kw last year to get a top 10 position. This year, it should barely recover the cost. You also mentioned doing big items, think about it carefully, many home furnishings and electrical appliances are also in the market. Why not start with what you are good at?

Light Emitting Diodes • Shenzhen • 2024-12-14 14:47

A friend's company spent nearly 2kw last year to get a top 10 position - awesome, money-burning gameplay

i6 Professional Product Developer

Endorsed by: Open Society, Joyce22

Hello, OP. Your management and operation are already very impressive in the industry, especially in the distribution of products.

For the boutique route, the product is actually secondary. What is more important is whether the industry you choose is trending. The second is to choose the battle line that suits your current company stage. After the category is determined, it is the construction of the supply chain, which is also the most difficult. This determines the supply and quality of your products in the later stage, so reliable suppliers are crucial.

Finally, there is the competitiveness of the product. We need to repeatedly research and polish this category, find products that suit the needs of consumers at the current stage, conduct tentative entry in the early stages, look at the consumer groups and capabilities of competitors in this industry, and adapt operations to the way things work in this industry. When we understand the market environment, consumer feedback, and our understanding of the market, we can make targeted development investments, which can avoid many problems.

I hope this can help you. I have been focusing on car products and mobile phone peripheral brackets for 6 years and have developed several popular products. We can communicate about product development.

A wise man does not fall in love

It is true that Amazon will become more and more standardized in the future and needs to produce some high-quality products, but it should not blindly produce any high-quality products.

1. If you made 400 this year, then at least you have relatively good product performance. You can start from the existing products and categories to make high-quality products and promote the brand. First, your well-selling products have been verified by the market, second, you have a supply chain, and third, you can reduce risk costs. Achieve a certain share of the existing products and slowly open up new categories.

2. You need to be mentally prepared to make high-quality products. This is a long-term investment, and unlike general merchandising, you cannot see returns in the short term.

Anonymous user

Agree with: Open Society, Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie

It is good for the distribution business to have a profit of nearly 1 million per capita. As someone said in the post, there are probably some product lines that are the main profit; take them out and negotiate with the factory to make differentiation, and then hire one or two operators with high-quality product experience. You may spend some money on molds in the early stage.

If you decide to go the boutique route, you have to build up your brand from the beginning. To build up your brand you have to pay attention to store compliance. In addition to experience, I think it also requires planning. It is best to separate pure white hat and black technology.

No one knows me

Agree from: jeagerYY

The original poster has money, people, resources and ideas. You already have most of the conditions. Moreover, I feel that it is relatively easy to do business on Amazon by switching from general merchandise to boutique products. Pick out a few products with good general merchandise performance and either make some upgrades or optimizations, or try these products first. Boutique products are nothing more than product titles, five-point descriptions, and pictures. A+ products should be more refined, and then add some advertising techniques, combined with fake orders, and off-site. As long as the products are well selected, they will most likely succeed. If you have no experience in boutique products, you can hire an experienced one to save a lot of time. Doing boutique products does not mean that you have to give up the general merchandise model. Try combining the two models. You can try it first. You don't have to expand on a large scale all at once.

Eisenhower Wilson

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie

Push the top products that have performed well further up, develop products in the same series, and develop variants. The only thing you need to change among so many ideas is your thinking. Make a good operation plan. If you don't do this well, the profits in the future will be uncontrollable. You can try small steps first and then apply it to the entire product line.

Anonymous user

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie

The distribution of goods can reach 4000w, and there must be some products suitable for deep cultivation. Pick some categories that can start the volume and try new development. First try to make a link with monthly sales of 1000-3000+, which can be regarded as a successful run of the boutique. After that, you can copy the previous development, product selection, and promotion methods of the same category.

Barbados cub

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie

You can consider upgrading the existing model. 1. Go for the refined store. It is not a big challenge to your model. You can extend it to the precise long-tail market of US shipping. Just prepare 50 FBA test items for the first order. 2. Now there are low-price malls. Check if you have received a registration invitation by email. The first wave of people who do it still have bonuses. As for pure boutique, I don’t recommend it. The probability of success is low without experience, and it is not easy to copy. The profit may not be very high. If you have any ideas, you can contact me. Let’s communicate more.

Who are you to me

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie

Let me be more practical. I have also made 50 million in 24 years, but the net profit is not that high, only 8%. I think if you can make 40 million and make 10% profit by distributing goods, it is no problem. The problem is that if you don't operate well, you may be finished. Even if you have a good foundation, experience, and can choose products from your own side, the key point is whether you can continue to invest in high-quality products and hold a lot of funds. This is what needs to be considered.

If the boss's vision and decision-making are wrong, boutiques don't have so much trial and error experience, so I think you must think about whether there are enough advantages in the subsequent supply chain. In addition, in terms of confidence, if you can't create a boutique, creating another boutique will cost you a lot of self-confidence.

CHM2010AG • Zhejiang • 1 hour ago

You are awesome, bro. We at Lege have overseas warehouses, advance payment and purchasing services. Maybe we can have a chance to cooperate with you.

Cross the Forgotten River

Agree with: Chingyoo

1. You are most likely engaged in non-standard distribution of goods, so it is difficult to directly transform them into high-quality products, because this is a business model that suits you.

2. You want to change, but you have no experience in large-scale standard products. You look down on small markets and feel that you cannot take over large markets. Overall, you feel uncomfortable.

3. If you can think of large items, you will most likely go in the direction of non-standard large items, because this is in line with your cognition. You feel that you must occupy a scarce barrier threshold, and it may be relatively easy to do, because it is not much different from distributing goods. You have evaluated the risks and benefits, and with the resources around you, you think it is a good direction.

Anonymous user

My consideration: For larger products: book and ship by yourself, store in overseas warehouses, or cooperate with drop shipping. Relatively flexible. (This is a product selection idea I came up with). Avoid small and medium-sized products. How big + heavy + throw away...

This idea can help you avoid many of your peers. I personally agree with your direction. Also, you have your own overseas warehouse, which are all advantages!

With funds, ideas, warehouses and people , there is no reason not to do it!

Anonymous user

If you want to do it, then do it. If you don’t understand boutique, then find a boutique developer and see if he has familiar categories and suitable suppliers. I have seen many bosses start recruiting operators as the first step, and then they all lose money. It is better to do market research and calculate the approximate investment funds first.

There will definitely be some detours in the beginning, but quality products will definitely be the trend of the future. I can only say that you should look at how others on the platform do branding and product iteration. I think that using multiple platforms does not share the pressure, but rather creates more messes. It is better to play with Amazon and play more carefully. Your own resources are also suitable. Find someone to help you check the quality. If it is suitable, just invest directly. There are too many lines to do with 100-200.

Gulu Gulubao

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie

The poster is excellent. After reading it, I feel that he is far ahead of many people. If you only think about growth, you will definitely be anxious. As long as you don't decline, you will be victorious. The general environment causes many people to be anxious for a long time. This is very exhausting. Let me say something off topic that has nothing to do with Amazon. It is better to grasp the present and maintain stability.

Anonymous user

Agree with: JosephGan, Ling Yuqian, Green Background with Black Stripes, eirdox, Quasimodo more »

I believe that almost no one who comes to comment/forum can earn 4 million yuan a year, so there is no point in asking. Can I, an operator who earns 5 thousand yuan a month, give you advice? You might as well ask your operator directly, they know best! Believe in them!

Fighting Buddha

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie

You can try to create high-quality products, but the prerequisite is to find some entrepreneurs who share the same ideas as you and raise funds together to do it.

Go for a business with a large market, high repurchase rate and replicability, preferably one that is technology-based. You can refer to the Shaoyin bone conduction headphones!

Tension

Agree with: Jerryhz, Chen Chen Chen Chen, One Person in the Jianghu, Jianghu One Person, Jiangxing345, wj786312098 more »

If you can achieve 4KW by distributing goods, I don’t believe you can’t pick out one or two fine products from these miscellaneous goods. Copying is the easiest way to make money.

Anonymous user

Endorsed by: Open Society

There is not much advice, because no one has your level of understanding. All the advice given is based on their own understanding. If you want to progress to a higher level, you can either go out and learn, get to know different circles, and improve your understanding, then you won't be confused.

Qigong for 30 years

Agree with: Xiaobai Xiaobai Rookie

Fine products still need to return to the product supply chain. If you don't have this aspect, I suggest you continue to expand your distribution, or you can distribute your products in targeted vertical categories. When the order volume is large, you can consider building your own small workshop and the profit will increase immediately.