What will Amazonians regret in 2024?

Time flies, and it is the last day of 2024 in a blink of an eye.

For people in cross-border business, after a whole year of ups and downs, if you use a keyword to describe the cross-border e-commerce industry in 2024, perhaps everyone’s answer will be different: it may be internal circulation, it may be a price war, or it may be semi-hosting, multi-channel, and branding.

2024 is a year of uncertainty and opportunities. Cross-border sellers are struggling in the turmoil and seizing opportunities in the changes. Newcomers are pouring in and old ones are leaving, but there are still a large number of sellers sticking to this battlefield, waiting for 2025 to start a new journey.

Looking back at 2024, the overseas environment has become increasingly complex and changeable, and the cross-border industry has ushered in a new round of reshuffle. In this year, the semi-hosting model came out, and the four little dragons that went overseas accelerated the global e-commerce wave; in this year, Amazon actively sought change, constantly innovating from platform algorithms to business models; in this year, the competition among cross-border sellers has escalated again, and countless people have been beaten up in the crowded low-price track...

In the turbulent industry environment, some sellers seized the opportunity to stand out, while others suffered setbacks and fell into a series of predicaments such as account suspension, losses, failed new products, and declining revenue.

Because of this, when reviewing and summarizing this whole year of ups and downs, many sellers are filled with emotion: What are the regrets of Amazon people in 2024?

Different sellers have their own answers to this question.

"If I could go back to 2024, would the ending of that store be different?"

Cross-border transactions are like going through a catastrophe, and account review is the biggest catastrophe that sellers have to endure, which is both exhausting and heartbreaking. Since the beginning of the year, Amazon’s risk control policies have become increasingly strict, with wave after wave of account bans.

• In February, we strengthened the review of new account fraud and upgraded the UK site FHDDS

• From March to May, multiple rounds of variant violation cleanup operations were launched

• July: Regulate VC accounts

• In August, we started inventory authenticity review, strengthened CPC review and rectified multiple categories.

• October, sudden tax review

In this wave of account blocking, both large and small, many sellers' stores have encountered multiple hardships, repeatedly submitting information, verification and review, multiple appeals... They have experienced a series of twists and turns such as account blocking, product removal, failure of hot products, and frozen funds.

"The regret of 24 years is that I shut down a set of accounts and was cheated by the overseas warehouse, losing about 100,000 yuan."

"The most regrettable thing is that I was promoted to Best Seller, and the momentum was just right. I had a lot of goods in stock, but I couldn't withdraw the money or move the goods."

Faced with the platform's iron fist of account blocking and the heavy hammer of compliance, many sellers regrettably missed the best time to increase orders, or even the opportunity to further expand sales.

"Give me another chance, maybe I can launch a new product."

In 2023, Amazon's algorithm ushered in a major change: the COSMO algorithm was introduced on the basis of the A9 algorithm. Driven by the new algorithm logic, the platform's traffic distribution rules quietly changed, resulting in a large-scale loss of keywords, a sharp drop in listing rankings, a sharp drop in traffic, and fluctuating product sales.

Changes in algorithm models have put forward higher requirements for sellers' operational strategies. At the same time, platform traffic costs are becoming more and more expensive, and advertising costs are rising. Under the pressure of both sides, the survival rate of sellers' new products is getting lower and lower, and the risks of launching new products are increasing. Many potential products die in the incubation stage.

“The regret is that I feel I have been lucky this year, but because new people keep joining, there have been no new products for a long time, which is a pity that we have been relying on old products.”

At the same time, on the one hand, the 28 effect of the platform has become more and more significant, with 90% of the traffic flowing to the top sellers; on the other hand, more and more new sellers are squeezing the market space of various purposes. Faced with a limited market pie, many sellers are trapped in the dilemma of insufficient competitiveness and overcapacity. The traffic of old products has fallen again and again, and the inventory has been accumulated for a long time, and finally they have to be cleared at low prices.

"If there hadn't been a price war, our performance would have probably just reached the passing line."

Low-price internal circulation has become the most popular keyword in the cross-border industry in 2024.

From the platform perspective, the four small dragons headed by Temu are accelerating their overseas expansion, relying on their supply chain advantages to wield the ultimate cost-effective weapon, and continue to impact the e-commerce landscape that Amazon has long dominated. Faced with the relentless pressure from the four small dragons, Amazon is brewing a series of measures to counter it, launching a low-price mall to start a fierce competition on the price side.

The close combat among multiple platforms has also forced the price war among sellers to intensify, and they have to snatch limited orders from the "tiger's mouth" by offering low prices.

"My boss gave me a product that is almost out of fashion. I have lost 150,000 yuan so far. I can't sell it at a low price. I don't make enough 150,000 yuan a year."

Under the fierce internal competition, Black Friday has become a game of increasing volume but not profits. Some people clear their inventory at low prices, while others lose money to grab orders, but the common point is that the profit margin is difficult to move forward.

In such an environment, a large number of sellers failed to meet their performance targets at the beginning of the year: the survey found that more than 50% of cross-border sellers' revenue and profits fell short of expectations in 2024. Among them, 66% of cross-border sellers expected a year-on-year decline in net profit in 2024, and 32% of sellers expected a decline of more than 50%.

"If I had to do it again, I would never join that company."

In 2024, the cross-border job market will also see an accelerated reshuffle. As of December 8, 2024, the number of registered cross-border e-commerce companies in my country has reached 7,990, setting a new record for the year. As the number of cross-border companies continues to rise, the demand for Amazon operations positions is also on the rise.

But at the same time, due to rising operating costs and shifts in the industry's value chain, more and more companies are implementing a strategy of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and are becoming more precise in recruiting talent. As a result, Amazon's operating salary levels have shown a depreciating trend: since April this year, salaries for Guangzhou operations have been declining, with declines of 5.3%, 3%, and 2.98% from May to July, respectively. By July, the average monthly salary had fallen below 7,000.

Moreover, chaos in the cross-border workplace still occurs frequently. Affected by the industry downturn and the decline in company performance, many Amazon operators have encountered many unfair treatments, including unreasonable commissions, random deductions in performance, and being abandoned after their work is done.

In summarizing 2024, one seller was filled with regrets: "In 2023, I led the team to achieve a sales volume of over 100 million yuan, and both sales and profits reached new highs. Just when I was looking forward to 2024, my boss inexplicably took back all my power. Then came the reduction of commissions and performance deductions. If I failed to meet the performance targets, I would be deducted money. Unreasonable performance targets, unreasonable performance appraisals, and unreasonable work arrangements filled my entire 2024."

"At the beginning of 2024, when performance hit a new high, we received six consecutive salary cuts, and the commission salary structure was repeatedly adjusted downward. I never thought that the donkey would be used up so quickly."

Some sellers even experienced layoffs and tasted the ups and downs of the workplace: "I was laid off at the beginning of 2024, and I couldn't find a job after I resigned."

In 2024, the cross-border industry will undergo more changes, and the cross-border workplace will also face a more brutal environment. Some people will seize the olive branch, while others will be eliminated.

The countdown to 2025 has begun. Looking back at the past year, what are the regrets in the hearts of Amazonians? Feel free to leave a message in the comment section~