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As 2024 is halfway through, cross-border sellers have reviewed and posted their report cards for the first half of the year. Looking through the data for the first half of 2024, my country's positive foreign trade momentum has been further consolidated: According to customs statistics, in the first five months of this year, the total value of my country's import and export of goods reached 17.5 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%, and exports were 9.95 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.1%. Among them, as an important new form of business to promote foreign trade growth, cross-border e-commerce still maintains a high-speed growth trend. According to preliminary estimates, in the first quarter of 2024, the total import and export value of my country's cross-border e-commerce reached 577.6 billion yuan, an increase of 9.6%, and exports reached 448 billion yuan. However, as the saying goes: the cross-border e-commerce industry is diverse , and the joys and sorrows of sellers are not the same. During the past six months, some sellers have followed the market trend and achieved double growth in revenue and profit, showing off their impressive performance data on social platforms: one seller even completed last year's performance in just six months, with sales reaching more than five million US dollars. ▲ The picture comes from the seller’s disclosure However, many sellers are struggling and have not been able to achieve their expected performance growth targets. Survey data shows that in the first five months of this year, more than 60% of sellers reported a decline in revenue, and 40% of them even saw their revenue drop by more than 30%. From this point of view, although the overall growth of the cross-border e-commerce industry has recovered in 2024, the performance of sellers is still polarized. According to a survey, in the first five months of 2024, nearly 60% of sellers failed to reach their expected revenue and profit targets, and 23% of sellers' profits were lower than expected, and only 20% of sellers achieved both revenue and profit targets. In this regard, the following reasons are summarized as possible reasons for the performance in the first half of the year being lower than expected: 1. The global economy is growing steadily but still weak According to the latest report from the World Bank, the global economy will achieve stable growth for the first time in three years in 2024, reaching 2.6%, but it will still be weak compared with recent historical levels, and the growth level will be lower than before 2020 (around 3.1%). In addition, while raising its forecast for global economic growth in 2024, the IMF also warned that the outlook for global economic growth still faces downside risks such as rising prices, high interest rates, and geopolitical tensions. This also means that the cross-border e-commerce industry is still facing many uncertainties. 2. Rising operating costs of cross-border e-commerce platforms In the unpredictable market environment, e-commerce platforms have frequently come up with new strategies to maintain their competitiveness. The increase in operating costs has further affected the operating performance of cross-border sellers. Take Amazon as an example. In the first half of 2024, Amazon added a number of operating expenses, which affected the profits of many sellers. According to a survey, more than 80% of sellers reported that their profit margins dropped by more than 10% due to Amazon's new warehousing configuration, low inventory and other expenses. Among them, 30% of sellers' profit margins even dropped by more than 50%. 3. Industry barriers are rising amid intensified competition With the rapid development of the cross-border e-commerce industry, cross-border sellers have also ushered in a new round of reshuffle. In the eyes of many sellers, the fierce competition has become a key word in 2024: "The US site is extremely competitive. The unpopular categories in previous years have started to become popular this year, with all kinds of low prices + high CPC bombardment." "Both large and small sites are in a rush, and 2024 is bound to be a difficult year." In an environment where competition in the existing market is becoming increasingly fierce, the cross-border e-commerce industry has higher and higher requirements for cross-border sellers. In addition to financial strength, sellers also need to have better core strengths such as operations, marketing, and supply chain in order to build a solid barrier. There is no doubt that due to the complexity and length of the cross-border e-commerce chain, in addition to the above factors, there are many uncontrollable factors in the industry, such as rising freight costs and geopolitical conflicts, which are affecting the operations of cross-border sellers. Under this circumstance, cross-border sellers' business strategies and expectations for the second half of 2024 have also become conservative . According to a survey, more than 50% of sellers said they would not increase inventory in the second half of this year , of which 28% of sellers would keep their inventory unchanged and 29% would reduce their inventory. At the same time, about half of the sellers did not have high expectations for the peak season in the second half of the year, and only wanted to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and try not to lose money. However, under great pressure, there must be courage. With the arrival of July, another financial reporting season for the cross-border e-commerce industry has begun. Recently, a cross-border seller with outstanding performance has taken the lead in releasing its performance forecast for the first half of 2024. It is learned that on July 2, Shenzhen Damaidaotong Technology disclosed its 2024 semi-annual performance forecast. During the reporting period, Daotong Technology expects to achieve operating income of 1.83 billion yuan to 1.85 billion yuan , a year-on-year increase of 26.41% to 27.79%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent is expected to be 380 million yuan to 400 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 101.03% to 111.62% , and operating performance is expected to increase in the same direction. ▲ The picture comes from Daotong Technology’s performance forecast As for the reasons for the significant year-on-year growth in performance during the reporting period, Daotong Technology pointed out that it was mainly because the company fully tapped into the market in segmented fields and consolidated its advantages, while increasing the expansion of market channels for new energy business, continuously reducing costs, increasing efficiency and improving profitability. Judging from the business data, Daotong Technology's new energy charging pile business achieved operating income of 370 million to 380 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 80%. At the same time, cross-border giant Superstar Technology also recently released its 2024 semi-annual performance forecast . During the reporting period, Giant Star Technology's net profit is expected to be 1.091 billion yuan to 1.178 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25% to 35% , and its non-net profit is expected to be 1.133 billion yuan to 1.224 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25% to 35%. Operating performance is expected to increase in the same direction. ▲ The picture comes from Giant Star Technology’s performance forecast As for the reasons for the performance growth in this reporting period , Giant Star Technology pointed out that it was mainly due to: The company launched a large number of new products, which significantly increased its terminal market share; As inflation in Europe and the United States eases, demand for tools in the terminal market has recovered; As the company's revenue scale continues to grow, the company's profitability has improved significantly.
It is understood that Giant Star Technology mainly sells tools and has long been committed to the creation and development of its own brands. In the same period last year, the sales revenue of its brands such as WORKPRO, DURATECH, and EverBrite grew rapidly, and the sales revenue of its own brands was close to 50%. It is enough to infer that brand power is one of the main reasons for its steady profit growth. As the saying goes: choose a career to make a living, and wait for a chance of fortune to turn things around. Nowadays, industry competition is becoming increasingly fierce and low-price whirlpools are prevalent, but there is still no shortage of cross-border sellers who are making a lot of money. This also shows that if cross-border sellers want to achieve stable growth in performance, they need to deepen their core competitiveness , or proactively plan for innovation, or accumulate and build their own brand power to consolidate their ability to deal with uncertainty. In the first half of this year, have you achieved your expected performance growth targets? Welcome to discuss in the comments section~
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