Cross-border headlines of the week | A 600 million seller collapsed, once invested by Lei Jun

Epic strike breaks out at multiple Amazon warehouses

According to reports, since Amazon did not sit down at the negotiating table, Amazon's US employee union and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) announced that they would jointly launch "the largest strike against Amazon in US history" on Christmas Eve.

Grab the second-hand business in Belgium

Amazon launches resale service

Recently, Amazon launched the "Amazon Used" second-hand goods service on the Belgian site, allowing sellers to sell second-hand and returned goods at a discount . Consumers who want to buy second-hand goods can view the information of the relevant goods. The product status includes brand new, like new, very good, good, and acceptable. The specific information is determined by the seller.

In fact, this second-hand resale service has existed for a long time. Amazon has previously launched it in many European markets such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Consumers can not only purchase second-hand goods on the platform, but also repair, replace and recycle old goods.

Looking back at Amazon’s layout in the second-hand market, it is also very foresighted. In 2015, Amazon smelled the business opportunities in the second-hand market early and launched a pilot project to allow Amazon users to sell their second-hand items. Later, it launched the “Amazon Renewed” plan targeting consumer electronics products and launched the “Amazon Almost New” page on the Brazilian site to continue expanding its second-hand business.

In August this year, Amazon went even further and launched its upgraded resale platform "Amazon Resale" . The upgraded version further refined the classification of second-hand goods. The platform will conduct strict quality checks before the goods are put on the shelves and classify them according to the product status.

TEMU becomes the fifth largest e-commerce platform in Brazil

Market share reached 3.6%

According to the latest report from research firm Conversion on December 19, in November this year, TEMU had over 107 million hits in Brazil, with a market share of 3.6%. Since entering the Brazilian market in May this year, in just six months, TEMU has surpassed Olx, SHEIN, AliExpress and Maganize Luiza, and has rapidly grown into the fifth largest e-commerce platform in Brazil. The top four are Meikeduo (12.2%), Shopee (8%), Amazon (7.7%) and Samsung (3.7%), and SHEIN and AliExpress rank eighth and ninth respectively. The top ten e-commerce platforms together account for 50.2% of the Brazilian e-commerce market.

From the analysis of traffic change trends, in November, the number of visits to Brazilian e-commerce increased by 10.5% compared with October, the number of web page visits increased by 11%, and the number of application visits increased by 8.8%, showing a booming development trend. In terms of traffic sources, mobile access has dominated the Brazilian e-commerce market. In the past 12 months (as of November), the total number of clicks on Brazilian e-commerce websites and applications reached 32 billion times, with mobile terminals accounting for 76%, which has a significant advantage. In further segmentation, mobile traffic accounted for 54.8%, desktop traffic accounted for 23.5%, and application traffic accounted for 21.7%. There are obvious differences in the proportion of mobile and application visits among different categories.

In terms of hot-selling categories, categories such as jewelry and watches (+39%), sports (+29.4%), and cosmetics (+28.4%) achieved significant growth in visits due to the strong promotion of Black Friday. The electronic and electrical appliance categories also maintained a certain growth momentum, while education, books and stationery (-6.7%) and children's products (-2.9%) showed a downward trend .

Pinduoduo TEMU takes first place again

Sweeping across the United States

After more than two years of launch, the overseas version of Pinduoduo, Temu, was ranked first on the iOS app download list by Americans and became a favorite of young Americans.

On Monday, Apple released the App Store's annual app and game rankings, and Temu once again became the most popular free app in the United States. This is the second time Temu has topped the list.

Relying on low prices and "full hosting" strategy, Temu has made a name for itself in the United States. According to data released by SimilarWeb in October, Temu successfully surpassed eBay and became the second most visited e-commerce website in the world, second only to Amazon, just two years after its launch.

In addition, according to Sensor Tower data, the number of Temu APP users ranked third among major e-commerce platforms in August, reaching 91% of Amazon's user base.

It is understood that during 2023, Temu's marketing costs in the United States for every order over US$39 will be approximately US$5.

Goldman Sachs estimates also show that Temu loses about $6 on each order in the United States, and as much as $18 in other markets.

This year, Temu invested 150 million yuan in advertising during the Super Bowl, which of course received very good results. By now, the overseas version of Pinduoduo has spread all over the world.

Mexico's tariff policy has changed:

16% VAT will be added next year

Recently, the Mexican Tax Administration (SAT) released a new tax policy. From January 1 next year, all foreign companies selling products through e-commerce platforms will have to pay a 16% value-added tax (VAT), with exceptions for certain commodities, such as food and books.

Specifically, according to the Mexican Overseas Resident System, any foreign company that uses warehousing services in Mexico, that is, ships from Mexico, must register for VAT, such as cross-border sellers using Amazon FBA. If the operating company does not have an entity in Mexico, it must designate a local agent to register and apply for a VAT number (RFC).

At present, some mainstream cross-border platforms doing business in Mexico have issued corresponding tax rules. Amazon said that sellers using FBA must upload a valid RFC number to use the service normally, while other sellers are not affected and do not need to provide an RFC number . However, for sellers who provide an RFC number, the platform will withhold 16% of the VAT on their behalf, and for sellers who do not provide an RFC number, the platform will withhold 20% of the income tax and 16% of the VAT on their behalf.

hein's rules are relatively flexible. For sellers who do not provide RFC numbers, the platform will withhold taxes; for sellers who provide RFC numbers, the platform will not withhold taxes, but the sellers will pay taxes directly to SAT during the declaration process.

Temu's rules are relatively strict. Any seller selling to Mexico must provide a valid RFC number . The platform will verify the seller's tax registration based on the inventory shipment. If the verification fails, the inventory will be invalid and shipment will be stopped. Thereafter, the platform will re-verify the RFC registration every month.

It is worth noting that even if the platform withholds taxes, sellers are required to submit VAT returns to the SAT every month to ensure that the seller’s tax situation is normal.

Trump meets with TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi

Said to have a good impression of Tik

According to multiple media reports on December 16, people familiar with the matter revealed that U.S. President-elect Trump met with TikTok CEO Chow Shou-chih at Mar-a-Lago on the 16th local time.

“We’ll take a look at TikTok,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago earlier on Monday. “I have a favorable opinion of the app because I won the election with young people by 34 points. Some people think TikTok played a role in that.”

On December 17, Beijing time, TikTok applied for an emergency injunction from the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking the court to block the "sell or ban" law. On the same day, TikTok issued a statement calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to continue to uphold its consistent position in U.S. freedom of speech cases, strictly review the law and determine that it violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

According to the law, TikTok may be banned in the United States on January 19. The documents show that TikTok and ByteDance called on the Supreme Court to rule on their application before January 6 next year.

It is worth noting that Trump tried to ban TikTok during his last term in 2020, but was blocked by the court. This year, he changed his position.

In a recent interview with US media, Trump said that he would work hard to protect TikTok and prevent other companies from becoming larger monopolists.

Nearly 5,000 orders were sold in one day.

This bathroom gadget is going viral on TikTok

As young consumers gradually become the main force of shopping, changes in their lifestyles and values ​​are also affecting the development of the market. Some previously neglected and emerging categories are beginning to become new favorites of consumers.

Recently, according to FastMoss data, the sales of a mini Bluetooth shower speaker on TikTok skyrocketed, and it topped the TikTok US sales list . Its sales were far ahead in the mobile phone and digital product categories. On December 11 alone, the product sold 4,929 units. The total sales volume has reached 149,800, and the total GMV has exceeded 1.6 million.

In detail, this mini Bluetooth shower speaker was launched on TikTok's US market around April this year, priced at $9.99. Its features are just like its name, and it can be used in the bathroom: it has an IPX4 waterproof rating and is not afraid of water when used in the shower, and can be attached to the wall of the bathroom. In addition, the product also comes with an LED music atmosphere light, which can take good care of consumers' vision.

The 600 million sales collapsed, and Lei Jun once invested in it

According to reports, recently, ROIDMI, an Amazon seller headquartered in Wuxi, released a "Notice of Termination of ROIDMI Brand Operations" on its official account, stating that "due to changes in the market environment and adjustments to the company's business strategy", ROIDMI had to terminate brand operations.

Specifically, ROIDMI pointed out that the brand will ensure that it ends operations on January 15, 2025. During this period, the company will continue to provide corresponding after-sales services to ROIDMI product users. However, once the brand operation ends, after-sales services such as product repairs, returns and exchanges will no longer be provided. Therefore, ROIDMI recommends that consumers with after-sales needs contact the customer service team in a timely manner.

As one of the earliest entrants into the field of smart cleaning appliances, Wuxi Roidmi was valued and invested by Shunwei Capital, founded by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, when it was founded in 2015. The success of the company's angel round, Rre-A round and A round of financing in 2016 and 2017 were also closely related to Lei Jun.

With huge capital support, ROIDMI quickly gained a foothold in the market within just a few years after its establishment. Its products are sold to 65 countries around the world, including the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan, and are sold in tens of thousands of offline electrical appliance retail stores. The prospectus of Xingdesheng Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. shows that in 2022, Wuxi ROIDMI achieved operating income of nearly 600 million yuan.