Cross-border e-commerce has made a major breakthrough! This category is growing rapidly

Recently, foreign media released the latest cross-border e-commerce data statistics, showing that the U.S. e-commerce industry exceeded US$1 trillion in annual sales for the first time last year !

In 2022, e-commerce sales in the United States reached 1.09 trillion US dollars. This is the first time that this milestone has been broken since the birth of e-commerce, especially in the past Q4 of 22, with sales reaching 332.2 billion US dollars in a single quarter.

The categories with the highest sales are:

① Grocery (US$219 billion)

② Apparel and accessories ($175 billion)

③ Computers and peripherals ($117 billion)

④ Consumer electronics (US$85 billion)

⑤ Furniture ($76 billion)

Among them, the mobile e-commerce market is the fastest growing, with a growth rate twice that of the desktop last year. In the fourth quarter, the sales of the e-commerce market increased by 18%, mainly driven by the strong growth of 26% on the mobile side. So far, the proportion of mobile e-commerce sales in the total e-commerce has reached nearly 40%.

In terms of categories, the category with the most amazing growth in recent years is groceries. In the fourth quarter of four years ago, the total sales of grocery categories in the e-commerce industry did not exceed US$15 billion. In the fourth quarter of last year, this figure reached US$64 billion, and the online sales of grocery categories surged by 333% in four years.

The strong performance of the grocery category has prompted many cross-border platforms to seek a share of this market, and platforms that have previously banned the sale of food are eager to try. Tik Tok has become the first emerging platform to enter the market recently.

Previously, TikTok Shop had been slow to open up sales rights for groceries, including pet food. However, the latest platform announcement shows that Tik Tok Shop has opened up sales rights for food categories to some sellers in the form of targeted invitations this month. The open sites are mainly in the Southeast Asian market, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore. At the same time, sellers are supported to apply for entry as mainland China or Hong Kong companies.

The open food categories mainly include: instant food, grains, oils, staple foods and condiments, beverages, snacks and baked food ingredients. Alcoholic beverages and other categories are not open for the time being.

According to the information disclosed by the authorities, targeted invitations are mainly made to sellers who meet the following conditions.

1. The seller needs to hold a business license from mainland China/Hong Kong (not a self-employed business), and the business license should include the corresponding categories to be sold. And the remaining validity period of the business license must be greater than 1 year.

2. No-brand sellers are accepted. Sellers with their own trademarks need to submit a trademark registration certificate; sellers with authorized brands need to submit a trademark authorization letter;

3. The seller should hold relevant food business license.

4. Sellers need to have the ability to ship overseas to Tik Tok certified warehouses;

5. Sellers should have local sales qualifications. Sellers in Thailand are required to have a Thai FDA license. There is no requirement for the other four countries.

There are also a lot of food short videos on Tik Tok, with a total of more than 106.6 billion views under the tag #foodtiktok! It is naturally suitable for bringing and selling food products. In last year's e-commerce data survey, TikTok's consumer influence has increased significantly, with a 33% increase in consumer behavior searching and watching related consumer categories on Tik Tok, and a 150% increase in direct retail participation. At the same time, 86% of TikTok users also use Amazon. It is a feasible new opportunity to lay out Tik Tok's food category, or to do food on Amazon and use Tik Tok for promotion and traffic .