Cross-border headlines of the week | This year's net profit exceeded 2.2 billion, and Giant Star Technology became the cross-border profit king

TikTok's "refund only" policy is launched in Southeast Asia.

A tug of war is about to begin

Recently, some sellers reported that in order to simplify the return process and encourage more consumers to consume on the platform, the TikTok Shop platform plans to launch a refund without return function in the Southeast Asian market from January 8, 2025.

Specifically, the after-sales function of the TikTok Shop platform is not convenient enough at present. When consumers initiate a return and refund application, sellers need to review them one by one, and orders that decide to refund only must be processed one by one. However, starting from January 8, 2025, the platform will help merchants automatically agree to buyers' refund requests without returning the goods.

In addition, the platform emphasized that the refund without return function of TikTok Mall only applies to return and refund orders that meet the conditions, including but not limited to the order amount must be within the threshold range specified by the platform. Sellers can still review and process the return and refund applications for other orders by themselves. Moreover, the adjustment and update of the after-sales policy only applies to orders generated in the Southeast Asian cross-border market.

It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time that TikTok Shop has entered the refund-only market. As early as 2023, the platform launched a "refund without return" plan in the US market, and formulated three types of "refund without return" plans based on different situations, including the platform's refund without return policy, the merchant's independently configured refund without return exemption rules, and the merchant's refund without return function processed on an order-by-order basis.

Hand warmers have become a hot-selling item on Amazon US.

Monthly sales exceeded 110,000

With the arrival of cold winter, it is time for seasonal products to be hot-selling, especially products with heating functions such as heating blankets and hot water bottles, which have become popular items on the market.

Recently, a rechargeable hand warmer is hot-selling on Amazon US. Data shows that the product belongs to the UniHand brand, with sales exceeding 110,000 units in the past 30 days and sales reaching 3.32 million US dollars. With its outstanding performance, this product has ranked third on the BSR list of the "Camping HandWarmers" subcategory.

"A good blacksmith must have strong tools himself", the reason why UniHand hand warmer can stand out in the fiercely competitive Amazon US site is closely related to its highly competitive product advantages.

From the perspective of appearance design, it can fit the natural curve of the palm, making users feel comfortable even after long-term use. At the same time, the product also has an anti-slip design, which greatly improves the safety of the product. From the perspective of product performance, it uses an integrated intelligent AI temperature control chip and provides 3 levels of temperature gears to meet the different actual needs of users; it is equipped with a large 6000mAh battery capacity and is very practical.

To be honest, compared to ordinary hand warmers that only heat on one side and can only keep warm for a few hours and have to be thrown away after use, this rechargeable hand warmer has become a hot-selling product every winter due to its portability and long usage time.

The UAE e-commerce market is booming.

Retail sales to exceed $70.5 billion

The European and American markets have always been the mainstream markets for cross-border business, but with the entry of more and more players, competition in Europe and the United States has become more intense. As a result, some sellers have gradually shifted their focus and started searching for some emerging blue ocean markets with great potential.

Recently, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce predicted that the retail sales of the UAE e-commerce market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 6.6%, reaching US$70.5 billion by 2025. Among them, the compound annual growth rate of physical retail is expected to be 5.7%, while the compound annual growth rate of online retail is expected to be 14.8%.

In addition, the data also shows that UAE e-commerce will pay more attention to the integration of online and offline channels in the future. Currently, 87% of GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) consumers use both online and offline channels when shopping. In other words, UAE e-commerce platforms need to accelerate the integration of offline services and online shopping experiences to better meet the growing needs of consumers.

According to current information, Amazon intends to implement a new regulation for Coupon promotion tools.

According to reports from multiple sellers, Amazon's investment managers have reminded sellers that after January 16, 2025, Deals will capture the discounted price of Coupons, which means that Deals cannot be higher than the discounted price of T30 Coupons. The new rules will be implemented on all sites.

Specifically, after the policy changes, the discounted price of coupons in the 30 days before January 16, 2025 will affect the lowest price, and the flash sale price will be affected, especially for those sellers who have set up large coupons, the impact will be more significant.

This adjustment has doubled the pressure on many sellers. In the past, the discounted price of coupons was essentially a discount promotion, not a direct price reduction, and would not change the shopping cart price, so it would not affect the flash sale price. However, if the new regulations are implemented, sellers will have to be cautious about using coupons, especially large coupons. Flash sales (LD) and 7-day sales (7DD) both require that the discounted price must not be higher than 15% of the lowest transaction price in the past 30 days (inclusive).

This means that the coupon discount price will become the key factor in determining this lowest price.

This year's net profit exceeded 2.2 billion,

Giant Star Technology Becomes the King of Cross-Border Profits

Recently, Giant Star Technology disclosed its 2024 annual performance forecast. The report shows that the full-year net profit attributable to the parent company is expected to be 2.284 billion yuan to 2.537 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35% to 50%; the non-recurring net profit attributable to the parent company is expected to be 2.292 billion yuan to 2.546 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35% to 50%.

As for the reason for the company's profitability, Giant Star Technology attributed it to the recovery of North American tool consumption this year, the completion of the destocking process of the company's main customers, and the gradual matching of the company's orders with terminal sales. At the same time, the company has developed a large number of new product categories and obtained new customer orders. It is expected that the annual revenue will increase by more than 35% year-on-year, and the company's profits will also increase significantly.

It has to be said that the profitability of Giant Star Technology has always been obvious to all. From 2021 to 2023, the company's net profit attributable to the parent company was 1.27 billion yuan, 1.42 billion yuan, and 1.692 billion yuan, respectively, and the profit has been rising steadily. In the first three quarters of this year, Giant Star Technology achieved a net profit attributable to the parent company of 413 million yuan, 780 million yuan, and 742 million yuan, respectively, a year-on-year increase of 36.7%, 36.87%, and 17.05%.

This may not seem intuitive enough. If we compare it with the cross-border 3C blockbuster Anker Innovations, in the first half of this year, Giant Star Technology's revenue was 6.7 billion yuan, nearly 3 billion yuan less than Anker Innovations' 9.648 billion yuan, but its net profit was 1.194 billion yuan, more than 300 million yuan higher than Anker Innovations.

A husband and wife team started a business selling Chinese silk.

Annual income of 10 million US dollars

In 2010, Lily and her husband Mike founded Lilysilk. Since its establishment, Lilysilk has successfully made Chinese silk a hot-selling product overseas. Its products are exported to more than 150 countries around the world, and the brand's annual revenue is nearly 10 million US dollars.

From ancient times to the present, silk has been synonymous with high-end and luxury, but Lilysilk has taken a different approach. Although its first stop was France, the birthplace of luxury and fashion, it did not blindly pursue high price tags. Instead, it took high cost performance as its entry point and launched a series of silk pillowcases and bedding, using reasonable pricing to attract more consumers while also maintaining the high quality of its materials.

Lilysilk took the right path and gradually gained a foothold in the French market, opening the door to internationalization. Subsequently, the brand accelerated its layout and expanded its business to the UK, Germany and other places through third-party e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and eBay. Lilysilk also brought Chinese silk to more consumers by building its own independent brand website. At present, Lilysilk has established 14 official websites in the UK, France, Italy and other places, and has been recommended by internationally renowned magazines such as "VOGUE" and "ELLE" many times.

I no longer work for DJI.

He entered the blue ocean market and found a new way out

In the fiercely competitive cross-border e-commerce market, how can an emerging brand stand out in a short period of time and become the focus of the industry? Asmoke, an outdoor smart oven brand, has given its own answer.

Let’s first look at Asmoke’s outstanding performance in the market. Its first product was successfully launched on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform, and eventually raised $1.42 million. Subsequently, Asmoke launched a new smart pellet grill “Essential” on Kickstarter, which raised $230,000 on the first day. At the same time, Asmoke has also won the favor of capital, and has completed two rounds of financing so far.

According to the introduction, the founding team of Asmoke came from DJI, a well-known drone company, and has rich experience in technology research and development and market operations. After leaving DJI, the founder did not plunge into hard technology tracks such as energy storage and robots, but instead targeted the two major consumer categories of "eating" and "drinking", focusing on the outdoor grill market segment, especially the smart pellet grill, which has not yet been completely monopolized and still has room for innovation.

Pellet grills have not been on the market for long and are still in the process of continuous optimization and improvement, so many brands of products still have many demand pain points. The intelligent upgrade of traditional grills is precisely the advantage of the Asmoke team.

For example, Asmoke has developed a temperature control system to help novice users adjust the temperature, control the temperature, and choose different smart cooking modes based on the recipe. By focusing on intelligence and convenience, Asmoke's products are not only three times faster than traditional grills, but also can reduce the consumption of fruit wood pellets by 20%.

*The above information is compiled from online resources