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In 2024, with the iteration and update of the industry, cross-border practitioners as a whole are facing both operational pressure and development momentum : on the one hand, due to factors such as changes in platform policies and unstable economic recovery momentum, there are many uncertainties in the industry; on the other hand, the rise of semi-hosting, live streaming e-commerce and other trends are also injecting new momentum into the industry. As the market undergoes great changes, what changes have occurred in the cross-border industry in the first half of the year? In the second half of the year, how can cross-border e-commerce practitioners cope with challenges and seize opportunities ? At this critical period of the year, through in-depth research in the cross-border industry over the past six months, we have finally completed this "Cross-border E-commerce Research Report for the First Half of 2024", which contains the current status of the cross-border e-commerce industry and development trends in the second half of the year, in order to help cross-border practitioners review their operating conditions in the first half of the year and find the best direction for going overseas. ▲ Follow the [Cross-border e-commerce] public account and reply to the backstage “ 2024H1 ” to receive it for free Review the performance of cross-border sellers; interpret the policy changes of the four major platforms; Gain insights into the six major e-commerce market trends; analyze the latest development trends in the industry. The full report is 37 pages long. The following are some selected contents: In the first half of 2024, as the global economy continues to grow steadily but remains weak, overseas consumers' shopping spending has become more conservative . Although the growth momentum of the cross-border e-commerce industry has recovered, it is still lower than the growth targets expected by many sellers.
According to a survey, in the first five months of 2024, nearly 60% of sellers failed to achieve expected revenue and profit targets, 23% of sellers’ profits were lower than expected, and 20% of sellers achieved both revenue and profit targets. Among them, more than 60% of sellers reported that their revenue showed a downward trend in the first five months of 2024, among which 40% of sellers' revenue even decreased by more than 30%, and only 19% of sellers' revenue increased by more than 30% year-on-year. Judging from the performance of the promotion , according to Momentum Commerce's survey data, during Amazon's first spring promotion (March 20-25), sales on the US site doubled the 2.9% increase of the previous month, but the number of transactions was still far from the transaction level of the second half of the year's promotion. As for the platform promotion in the second half of 2024, sellers are generally optimistic. According to a survey, more than 70% of sellers decided to participate in the platform promotion in the second half of 2024, and only 16% of sellers were skeptical about the traffic effect brought by the event. In addition, from the perspective of workplace recruitment , with the slow recovery of the global economy and the industry entering the fast lane of development, cross-border e-commerce companies have seen a significant increase in their recruitment demand for talents in multiple positions, but overall salary and benefits remain stable. To trace the root cause, on the one hand, the global economic environment in 2024 will become more complex and severe, and cross-border sellers still have the need to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and are becoming more cautious in spending on human resource management costs; on the other hand, in the highly competitive market, with the change in development routes and the expansion of sales channels, cross-border companies are paying more and more attention to the precise recruitment and training of talents. Looking at the first quarter financial reports of 2024, the revenue of most e-commerce platforms has increased: Walmart and Amazon continue to lead the US e-commerce market, Shopee firmly sits at the top of the Southeast Asian e-commerce market, and Meikeduo performs strongly in the Latin American market, with total revenue increasing by 36% year-on-year... Amazon , which has attracted the most attention, has made a number of adjustments in the first half of 2024, adding new fees such as warehousing configuration fees, return processing fees, and low-volume inventory fees , which have had a significant impact on sellers' operating strategies and logistics costs. Survey data shows that 30% of the sellers surveyed saw their profit margins drop by more than 50% after the new fees took effect. At the same time, China's four little dragons continue to soar overseas, and some cross-border platforms are trying to achieve strong growth in overseas markets by combining "semi-trust" and "full trust" . Among them, Temu launched semi-hosted full-category investment promotion at the beginning of 2024. The first batch of covered sites included nine major markets including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand; SHEIN and Alibaba International Station also announced the launch of semi-hosted services, further promoting the development of this trend. In addition, in May 2024, TikTok launched a targeted investment promotion plan in five countries, including Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Ireland, marking TikTok's further deepening and expansion in the European market. Digital Commerce 360 data shows that driven by the wave of digitalization, the US e-commerce market hit a record high in the first quarter, with e-commerce sales accounting for 22.2% of total sales in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 8.5% year-on-year. It is worth mentioning that behind the steadily growing e-commerce sales, the competition between old e-commerce giants led by Amazon and eBay and Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms led by Temu, SHEIN, and TikTok Shop has entered a fierce stage. With the popularity of Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Temu and AliExpress in the Japanese and Korean markets, the influence of Chinese e-commerce is growing day by day. According to the data from Statistics Korea, the total amount of online cross-border transactions in South Korea has reached 1.65 trillion won (about 1.213 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 9.4% year-on-year, setting a record high in the first quarter. Among them, the sales of platforms such as Temu and AliExpress increased by 54% compared with the same period last year, accounting for 57% of the total amount of online cross-border transactions of Korean consumers. However, this rapid growth has also attracted the attention of the Japanese and South Korean governments. In order to ensure consumer rights and data security, South Korea's data protection regulator has launched an investigation into platforms such as AliExpress. More market trends in the report In the first half of 2024, following the full-hosting model, the semi-hosting wave quickly swept the cross-border e-commerce industry. In January, AliExpress was the first to fully launch the semi-hosting model; in February, Alibaba International Station announced the launch of a semi-hosting model in the B2B field; in March, Temu followed suit and launched a semi-hosting model on the US site; in May, SHEIN also set the United States as its first semi-hosting site. From the seller's perspective , the semi-hosting model gives sellers more flexibility and initiative, allowing sellers with suitable conditions to take the initiative and conduct differentiated operations, but it also brings pressures other than product creation, such as operations and logistics fulfillment. For the platform , the essence of semi-hosting is that the cross-border e-commerce platform combines its own capabilities and makes improvements based on the full-hosting model. By anchoring cross-border sellers who have not joined or are not suitable for the full-hosting model, the platform can reduce its operating pressure by leveraging its strengths and making up for its weaknesses. Survey data shows that as of June 2024, about 40% of sellers have started to deploy semi-hosted business, and 18% of sellers are considering deploying semi-hosted business. It is foreseeable that in the future, full and semi-hosted business will become the mainstream trend of the four little dragons going overseas. In addition, in the first half of 2024, the trend of live streaming sales is blowing towards the global e-commerce market.- On the one hand, in addition to TikTok Shop, which has rapidly risen with its huge traffic base, major cross-border e-commerce platforms have also increased their investment in live e-commerce;
- On the other hand, as the traffic of the domestic live-streaming e-commerce market gradually reaches its peak, many of the country’s top live-streaming anchors have also begun to join the overseas live-streaming sales craze, such as TikTok celebrities Crazy Xiao Yangge and Oriental Selection.
Although live streaming e-commerce still faces many barriers in markets such as Europe and the United States, as user consumption habits change, the future upsurge in the "cross-border e-commerce + live streaming" model may inject new impetus into the cross-border e-commerce industry. This report was completed by the reporting team through questionnaires and interviews with thousands of cross-border practitioners. It is supported by data and based on the principle of objectivity. It conducts in-depth research on the "Current Situation, Changes and Future of the Cross-border E-commerce Industry" and is committed to reviewing the operating conditions in the first half of the year for cross-border sellers and pointing out the direction for overseas expansion in the second half of the year. Since 2022, the reporting team has produced multiple industry and market insight reports for sub-sectors such as [cross-border e-commerce industry], [DTC brand going overseas], [Amazon category operation], and [e-commerce market research], which have attracted great attention and forwarding in the industry and received praise from many cross-border professionals. (For cooperation on the report content, please contact: happy) To view more report contents, please scan the QR code below Reply "2024H1" to download the full version for free
We would like to thank the following partners for their strong support for this report (in no particular order): DNY123 Southeast Asia Seller Navigation, Seller Elf, Oulu, Xiaguangshe, Lianyu Logistics, Tuiyibang, Lianlian International , Lingxing ERP, Allegro , and White Whale International.
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