Cross-border headlines of the week | Amazon sellers are ecstatic, finally ushering in this good news...

Amazon takes action to reduce return rates, cross-border sellers are ecstatic

Recently, there is news that Amazon is testing a new feature that will allow consumers to contact sellers through online chat or phone before purchasing. Simply put, before consumers make a purchase, both parties can contact each other directly through phone or chat. This new plan can increase the seller's contact with consumers in the pre-sale stage and help sellers reduce returns.

This feature has many advantages, including sufficient pre-sales communication to reduce post-sales disputes, and allows sellers to more intuitively understand consumer needs and optimize products and services. In addition, active communication with consumers can also help brands establish a good brand image in the minds of consumers and enhance their brand loyalty.

Objectively speaking, this new feature is very beneficial to sellers, especially for sellers with high return rates such as clothing. Advance communication can reduce return and exchange problems caused by size and style discrepancies, which is conducive to better development and growth of sellers.

It is worth noting that according to relevant information, this function is not applicable to all products and sellers. Newly registered sellers, illegal sellers, and sellers participating in specific projects or programs cannot currently use this function.

TikTok Shop is accelerating its expansion.

Two new European sites opened

TikTok, which has encountered obstacles in the US market, has turned around and accelerated its expansion in the European market.

Recently, TikTok officially announced that it will open the TikTok Shop Ireland site this week , providing new features such as live shopping, shared bikes, and affiliate programs to approximately 2.2 million Irish users per month.

Image source: newsroom.tiktok

The day before the official announcement of the Irish site, the TikTok Shop Spanish site was quietly launched on December 9. This is the first European market for TikTok Shop outside the UK.

According to World Population Review, TikTok currently has about 20 million Spanish users, which is an upper-middle level in the European market. Although TikTok has not yet made an official announcement about the Spanish site, some sellers have revealed that they have already started selling on the platform. However, as of now, the Spanish site adopts an invitation-based model , and not all Spanish sellers can apply to open a store immediately.

With the launch of two European sites, it is clear that TikTok has the intention to further expand its e-commerce footprint in Europe. This may also mean that the future expansion of TikTok Shop will focus on the European market.

Amazon launches new drone

To deliver goods to 500 million customers

Recently, Amazon announced that its latest delivery drone MK30 has been officially put into operation in Arizona, USA . Residents living near the Leeson distribution center in Arizona can participate in this new service when purchasing an eligible item weighing no more than 5 pounds (about 4.54 kilograms).

Image source: aboutamazon

In May this year, Amazon obtained approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), a term in the aviation industry that refers to drones operating beyond the operator's line of sight. This is the first time in the field of e-commerce logistics. In October, the MK30 drone received FAA operating permission, which means that all preliminary preparations for the MK30 have been completed.

Image source: CNBC

Amazon Ireland to open to Chinese sellers

At the recently held "2024 Amazon Global Selling Cross-border Summit", Amazon Global Selling stated that it will open the Irish site to Chinese sellers in 2025. This is the 10th site opened by Amazon to Chinese sellers in Europe, and the total number of open international sites will reach 20 by then.

Amazon's plan coincides with the timing of the expansion of the platform's own business territory. In May of this year, Amazon announced plans to officially launch the Irish site "Amazon.ie" in 2025. After it is officially launched, local consumers will be able to buy local products at a cheaper price.

In fact, in recent years, the status of Chinese sellers in the global e-commerce market has been accelerating. Chinese sellers can be found on almost any platform or market.

Take Amazon for example. According to the latest data released by SmartScout Insight, 13 of the top 20 cities in terms of the number of Amazon sellers are in China. And in the top 20 cities, the number of Chinese Amazon sellers totaled 233,000, far exceeding the 58,000 American sellers.

U.S. core services inflation continues to ease in November

Markets expect the Fed to cut interest rates by 25 basis points this month

In November, the core service inflation in the United States continued to ease, which slightly reduced the market's concerns about the stagnation of the downward trend of the core inflation in the United States. The market's expectations for interest rate cuts are stable. According to CME observations, as of December 12, the market expects the Federal Reserve to continue to cut interest rates in December with a high probability of nearly 100%, and the rate cut will be 25BP. However, the market still expects the total rate cut in 2025 to be around 50BP.

Inflation in the United States has rebounded slightly. In November, the U.S. CPI was 2.7% year-on-year, a slight increase of 0.1 percentage point from October. However, the core CPI was 3.3% year-on-year, the same as in October, and remained unchanged for three consecutive months. From a month-on-month perspective, the CPI in November was 0.3% month-on-month, a slight increase of 0.1 percentage point from October; while the core CPI seasonally adjusted month-on-month was 0.3%, remaining unchanged for four consecutive months. In addition, the core CPI seasonally adjusted month-on-month annualized rate in November was 3.7%, a slight rebound.

Spend 700 million to build overseas warehouses

Home Furnishings Sales Makes Side Business Prosperous

Recently, Lance Holdings announced that it will invest US$97 million (approximately RMB 700 million) to build a new overseas warehouse "Apple Valley" in California, USA. The warehouse is expected to cover an area of ​​1.2 million square feet (approximately 110,000 square meters) . The company's wholly-owned subsidiary 6075 Lance LLC will serve as the investment entity for this investment.

53-year-old woman starts a business selling beauty products and earns 400 million yuan a year

In 2017, Trinny Woodall, then 53, embarked on a journey of entrepreneurship without hesitation and founded the beauty brand Trinny London. In the fiercely competitive beauty market, Trinny London has shown its unique style and has now grown into a super brand with a valuation of up to US$250 million. Last year, it attracted about US$62 million (about RMB 450 million). In September this year, Trinny London even won a huge financing of 15 million pounds.

Different from the beauty brands that are well known to the public, Trinny London does not focus on young women, but on "older" people . This does not sound reasonable. Even Olivier Garel, Unilever's venture capital director, has questioned the brand's target market positioning.

This in turn aroused Trinny Woodall's fighting spirit and made her more determined to start her own business. In the product pictures, Trinny London uses a large number of founders and models of different ages and skin colors to fully take into account the needs of women of all ages. It is worth mentioning that Trinny London's community building is particularly outstanding. It is understood that Trinny London has a community of 100,000 loyal fans on Facebook, and the purchase rate of community members accounts for more than 40% of Trinny London's sales.

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Hot Christmas items pose fire hazard

Urgently recalled

Recently, the UK Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) issued an announcement, announcing the recall of a Christmas home scene candle lamp holder sold by The Range and Wilko on the grounds of safety risks.

From the appearance, the bottom of this product is a round wooden board with two Christmas-style wooden decorative houses and a glass candle holder glued on it. The product was recalled because it did not meet the requirements of the UK's general product safety regulations. The candle holder was located just under the overhanging roof of one of the houses. After consumers use this product for a long time, this wooden house decoration may catch fire, causing fire, personal injury and property damage to consumers.

For this reason, OPSS recommends that consumers who have purchased this product stop using it immediately and contact the brand and e-commerce platform for after-sales service. After the incident, The Range and Wilko also quickly issued a recall notice, stating that they would provide a full refund to consumers who provided proof of purchase.

*The above information is compiled from online resources