Cross-border headlines of the week | Employees in more than 20 countries plan to strike, Amazon's Black Friday logistics may face paralysis...

Workers in more than 20 countries plan to strike

Amazon's Black Friday logistics may be paralyzed

Recently, there have been reports that Amazon warehouse workers in more than 20 countries including the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and Brazil plan to hold a strike called "Make Amazon Pay" from "Black Friday" on November 29 to "Cyber ​​Monday" on December 2 .

Image source: cbs news

In this regard, industry insiders pointed out that Amazon has spent millions of dollars to prevent workers from striking, but it has been proven that workers will not stop pursuing better job conditions.

Image source: cbs news

It seems that Amazon will be hit hard this Black Friday. If workers in more than 20 countries go on strike, it will have an adverse impact on e-commerce sellers and consumers. Sellers are advised to pay more attention to the dynamics of the freight market. Once abnormal situations occur, they should adjust the carriers and logistics transportation plans as soon as possible.

Online shopping reaches 99%, German e-commerce sales break record

According to data provided by the German Trade Association HDE, German e-commerce sales are expected to reach 87.1 billion euros (about 91.66 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024, a slight increase of about 2% from 85.4 billion euros in the previous year. At the same time, this will also surpass the peak of 86.7 billion euros reached in 2021, setting a new record for the German online retail market.

At the same time, HDE's survey shows that as many as 99% of German adult consumers shop online, indicating that online shopping has become a mainstream shopping method widely accepted by the German public.

It is also worth mentioning that sales during the German holiday shopping season will also increase slightly this year. Stephan Tromp, deputy general manager of HDE, said: "Despite weak consumer confidence, the special offers during Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday continue to arouse great interest."

Image source: HDE

Shopee accelerates in Indonesia

Won the title of profit king in the hearts of sellers

Recently, Snapcart released a study on local brands and small and medium-sized enterprises in Indonesia. The data showed that among the major e-commerce platforms, Shopee was rated by sellers as the platform that can bring the most sales profits, accounting for as high as 71%, far ahead of other e-commerce platforms.

Image source: Snapcart

In addition to bringing profits to sellers, small and medium-sized enterprises and local brands are also satisfied with the overall sales experience provided by Shopee. According to survey data, Shopee has received more than 70% satisfaction in terms of event plans, product categories, payment methods, delivery service options, etc.

In addition, in addition to Indonesia, Shopee also performs well in other parts of Southeast Asia.

Not long ago, the CEO of Priceza, a Thai price comparison website, said at the DAAT DAY Advolution event that by 2027, Thailand will become the second largest e-commerce market in Southeast Asia after Indonesia with 1.6 trillion baht.

Image source: bangkokbiznews

Temu opens to all US sellers

Recently, Temu announced an important adjustment: the previous restriction of requiring an invitation code to join has been lifted, and local sellers in the United States are now allowed to register and sell directly on the Temu platform. It is understood that the seller registration process is simple and fast, the whole process only takes about 10 minutes, and the application review is usually completed within one working day.

Image source: PYMNTS

In order to attract local American sellers, Temu not only simplified the registration process, but also provided many preferential policies. For example, sellers can ship directly through the US warehouse and enjoy fast delivery services, and products can be delivered to customers within one day at the fastest. This move not only improves customer experience, but also reduces sellers' logistics costs and time costs.

It is worth mentioning that while Temu is expanding its presence in the US market, it is also increasing its focus on Latin American and Southeast Asian markets . Not long ago, Temu's business in Southeast Asia has expanded to Vietnam and Brunei.

TikTok shop's self-operated "platform docking overseas warehouse" in the US is launched

On November 24, TikTok Shop cross-border e-commerce provided a new option of "platform docking with overseas warehouses" for merchants in the United States who ship their goods to overseas warehouses.

The platform docking warehouse is an overseas warehouse that has completed system docking with TikTok Shop and can help merchants fulfill orders under the premise of merchant authorization. The platform docking overseas warehouse is still a self-delivery behavior of the merchant, and follows the basic requirements and assessment specifications for self-delivery by the merchant.

TikTok Shop stated that starting from November 1, 2024, all cross-border overseas warehouse merchants with the qualifications to ship goods from local overseas warehouses in the United States can independently complete the connection and stock preparation with the service provider, and authorize the service provider to send back the corresponding information. Since each docking overseas warehouse has its own product interface and the way it docks with the platform is different, and most of the authorization and configuration work needs to be completed at the docking overseas warehouse, merchants need to contact the account manager of the docking overseas warehouse they use to obtain detailed system configuration instructions.

General Administration of Customs: Cancel the registration of overseas warehouse enterprises for cross-border e-commerce exports

On November 27, the General Administration of Customs issued an announcement on further promoting the development of cross-border e-commerce exports. Among them, the General Administration of Customs cancelled the registration of cross-border e-commerce export overseas warehouse enterprises. Enterprises engaged in cross-border e-commerce export overseas warehouse business do not need to register the export overseas warehouse business model with the customs.

Image source: Customs release official account

The announcement shows that this optimization has simplified the export document declaration procedures. Before declaring cross-border e-commerce retail exports and business-to-business export lists, cross-border e-commerce companies or their agents and logistics companies should transmit transaction, logistics and other electronic information to the customs through the international trade "single window" or the cross-border e-commerce customs clearance service platform respectively. There is no need to transmit electronic information of receipts, and they must bear corresponding legal responsibility for the authenticity of the data.

At the same time, the pilot program of "inspection before shipment" for export LCL goods will be expanded. In addition, the cross-border e-commerce retail export cross-customs return supervision model will be promoted. The cross-border e-commerce retail export cross-customs return supervision model pilot program will be carried out in 20 directly affiliated customs offices, including Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Harbin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Hefei, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Nanchang, Qingdao, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Huangpu, Chengdu, and Urumqi Customs.

Federal Reserve releases minutes of November meeting

Another rate cut is expected in December

On November 26, local time, the Federal Reserve released the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting from November 6 to 7. According to the forecast in the minutes, the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates by another 25 basis points in December.

The minutes showed that the Fed decided to lower the target range of the federal funds rate by 25 basis points at its November meeting, bringing its benchmark funds rate to a range of 4.5% to 4.75%, and said that further adjustments to the stance of monetary policy would help maintain the strength of the economy and labor market while continuing to push inflation further down. Participants believed that it was appropriate to continue to reduce the Fed's securities holdings. Participants expected that if the data were roughly in line with expectations, inflation continued to decline to 2% on a sustained basis, and the economy remained close to maximum employment, a gradual shift to a more neutral policy stance over time might be appropriate.

An American grandmother made $7.5 million selling condiments on TikTok

Entrepreneurship is not limited to age. Tina Castaneda, an American "grandmother-level" entrepreneur, made a fortune on TikTok with a seasoning "bomb" ball. She did not expect that the brand she founded, EZ Bombs, would achieve unprecedented success in a very short period of time.

Castaneda first shared his first video of frying tacos with seasoning balls on TikTok, which quickly gained over 1 million views. Many users were attracted by the seasoning balls, which provided authentic Mexican flavor and were easy to cook. In the second week, Castaneda received 700 orders.

In terms of brand marketing, EZ Bombs has also made a very clever layout. Open TikTok and you can find that the EZ Bombs brand account has accumulated 235,900 followers and received 2.1 million likes. The video content under the brand account mainly shows the detailed cooking process, so as to attract more young users who are interested in convenient cooking.

Image source: TikTok

Nearly 10,000 pieces sold a day

Small lozenges are popular in the US section of TikTko Shop

Recently, a caffeine lozenge has become popular in the US area of ​​TikTok Shop, with 9,282 orders sold on November 21, directly topping the daily sales list. The caffeine lozenge comes from the Neuro brand, and the caffeine, vitamin B6 and other ingredients added to the product can help refresh the mind.

Image source: FastMoss

According to FastMoss data, as of now, 221,100 units of this caffeine lozenge have been sold, with a total GMV of over US$4.8 million. At the same time, its product heat index and popularity index both remained at 100.

In the past two years, the U.S. health care product consumer market has become increasingly powerful and has been showing a rapid growth trend. Data shows that in 2023, the scale of the global health care product industry will reach 187.3 billion, of which the United States is the world's largest mature market, accounting for 32.51%.

Even the best sellers failed, more than 560,000 products were recalled, resulting in losses of hundreds of millions

Recently, Govee, a smart home brand invested by Anker Innovations, was notified by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to recall more than 560,000 products due to potential safety hazards. The recalled products mainly involve GoveeLife and Govee brand smart electric heaters because they may overheat and cause fire and burn risks.

As of the time of the recall, GoveeLife and Govee had received 113 reports of overheating, including seven reports of fires and one report of minor burns.

In order to protect the rights of consumers, Govee has started a refund procedure. Consumers can upload photos of the recalled electric heaters, manufacturer labels, serial numbers on the bottom or side, and other information through Govee's recall application website to apply for a refund. This means that Govee may need to bear a refund amount of up to US$16.83 million to US$84.16 million (equivalent to RMB 122 million to RMB 610 million).

Frequent product recall incidents have become an issue that cannot be ignored in the cross-border e-commerce industry.

Cross-border sellers must attach great importance to product safety issues, strengthen quality control, enhance compliance awareness, strengthen after-sales service and consumer communication, and actively respond to recall incidents. Only in this way can they remain invincible in the fierce market competition and make their overseas gold-digging road go further.