Even though they can earn twice as much working alone, sellers still want to flee Shenzhen

"Do you have any city recommendations? I want to leave Shenzhen!" Such a short sentence contains so much bitterness of migrant workers.

In recent years, events such as account blocking, policy changes, price wars, and inflation have come one after another. The industry environment of cross-border e-commerce has been greatly affected. Cross-border sellers are also having a hard time. The few orders in the background are in sharp contrast to the rising costs.

In order to cut costs and return to the essence of life, some cross-border sellers in Shenzhen have chosen to leave Shenzhen and move to cities such as Foshan, Wuhan, Changsha, and Zhengzhou. Among them are many single sellers and mom-and-pop sellers. Xiao Li, as one of the single sellers, works on Amazon while working. His net profit has now doubled his salary, but he still wants to escape from Shenzhen.

At present, migrating to other cities, reducing costs and looking for new opportunities in second- and third-tier cities seems to have become a plan for major overseas companies. So how are the first batch of sellers who moved inland now? For sellers who want to evacuate Shenzhen, what other places are worth choosing?

Another batch of sellers evacuated Shenzhen

"Since the beginning of this year, Shenzhen's buses seem to be less crowded, and rental houses are much emptier. It feels like there are fewer people in Shenzhen," some sellers said. It may not be obvious at larger stations, but compared to the past commuting, there are indeed fewer people.

In the seller circle, there is a saying that many of my friends have left Shenzhen and moved to other cities. This statement is a bit exaggerated, but it is undeniable that some cross-border industry practitioners are migrating to other cities, and their departure can be said to be a microcosm of the reduction in the number of people in Shenzhen.

A young couple born in the 1990s has been working at Amazon in Shenzhen for five years in a small family workshop mode. They currently have a deposit of 800,000 yuan. Like many Amazon workers working alone, they open their eyes every day to reply to messages and check orders, but the day-to-day operation makes people feel tired and decadent. They are eager to change, want to expand the scale of the company, move out of home and rent a house to set up a company, and corporatize the small family workshop.

However, the high rent and living costs in Shenzhen are undoubtedly a blow. Therefore, leaving Shenzhen and moving to other cities in Guangdong where the living pressure is relatively lower has become their current focus.

Foshan was the first location they considered, followed by Dongguan.

In their view, Foshan has a developed traditional manufacturing industry, and relatively good education and medical resources. Compared with Shenzhen, the rent, daily expenses, and even children's education expenses in Foshan are much lower, and these costs are relatively friendly to sellers. In addition , there are policy advantages for cross-border e-commerce in Foshan. The government has invested 30 million special funds to support cross-border e-commerce, focusing on supporting overseas warehouses, independent sites, and cross-border e-commerce brand promotion and traffic diversion.

Dongguan not only has an outstanding manufacturing industry, but also has a very advantageous geographical location. It is adjacent to Guangzhou and Shenzhen , and many logistics companies are stationed here, so sellers basically do not have to worry about product selection and logistics distribution.

Xiao Li, a seller who has moved from Shenzhen to Foshan, said that he is currently doing Amazon business in Foshan and has seen some logistics companies opening branches in Foshan. If you want to relax and balance work and life, Foshan is still a good choice. However, the cross-border atmosphere is not as good as that in Shenzhen, and most of the sellers who moved here are mainly working alone.

Compared with Shenzhen, Dongguan and Foshan, the development of cross-border e-commerce has certain shortcomings, and the lack of operational talents is the most profound feeling of many sellers. Compared with the current situation of Shenzhen where talents gather, supply exceeds demand, and sellers raise recruitment requirements, the recruitment requirements for operations in these two regions are not high, but it is still difficult to recruit suitable operations.

Some sellers who want to leave Shenzhen are even more worried: "If we evacuate to second- and third-tier cities outside of Shenzhen, can we recruit more experienced operators?" In this regard, sellers who have already evacuated said that they have a deep understanding of this. When they first went back, they had posted recruitment information for operations positions for half a year. They didn't recruit anyone in the early stage and had to support it all by themselves. Later, they lowered the requirements and interviewed several people, but they had little experience and there were not many options for selection. After all, the salary levels are there. It can be said that the current salaries in these cities cannot attract qualified operators, but it does not rule out the possibility that some companies will recruit operators with high salaries.

In the view of some sellers, as an e-commerce center, Shenzhen's biggest advantage is that it has an atmosphere of hard work, but if you can plan well, the effect of doing cross-border e-commerce in other places will be the same. Although there will be certain restrictions when moving from Shenzhen to Dongguan, Foshan and other regions, these restrictions can be overcome to a certain extent. At the same time, they believe that the advantages after relocation are greater than Shenzhen.

If the company can be moved to cities such as Wuhan and Zhengzhou, the total cost will be relatively lower. A seller who moved back to Wuhan said that the cost of renting a house can be reduced by about one-fifth, and the labor cost can be reduced by one-third or even one-half. If you have children, then after relocation, you will save a lot of money on education expenses.

In fact, in order to save operating costs as much as possible, some companies have already placed departments in different regions in the early years. They will place finance, management and procurement supply chain employees in the headquarters in Shenzhen, while sales and customer service positions are placed in some areas with relatively low human resource costs, such as Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Changsha.

"I came to Shenzhen with great expectations, but after a few years of ups and downs, it seems like I have nothing. Shenzhen is full of opportunities, but it is not easy to grasp them. I want to leave more and more every year, but I decide to stay again and again," this is the deepest feeling of some sellers after working hard in Shenzhen for many years.

Xiao Li, a solo seller, is a true portrayal of many workers in Shenzhen. He graduated in 2020 and wanted to create his own world in Shenzhen. He went to work in a company during the day and ran his own store in a rented house at night. He was busy until two or three in the morning every day. This state has lasted for more than a year.

"The net profit has doubled my salary, but I paid for it with my life," said Xiao Li. Staying up late for a long time has made his heart and skin worse and worse. Worried about sudden death, he is ready to resign and leave Shenzhen to run his own store in another place. "Convenient logistics, low housing prices, and a slow pace of life" are his requirements for the relocation location.

In response to Xiao Li's request, some sellers mentioned Wuhan, where housing prices are not expensive, wages are not high, and the pace of life is not fast, making it a good choice for working alone. In fact, many companies are already located in Wuhan, such as the well-known LightInTheBox, which was acquired by Wuhan's Zhuoer Group, and Yibai Network's branch is also in Wuhan. Perhaps due to the concentration of universities in Wuhan, Yibai Network's recruitment positions in Wuhan mainly include data analysts, developers and other technical talents, which also means that after moving to Wuhan, sellers will not worry about talent.

A practitioner also mentioned that if Xiao Li wants to expand the scale in the future, Wuhan is also a good choice. Recruiting an operation staff of 6K-8K in Shenzhen only requires about 3K in Wuhan, and the staff must have a bachelor's degree in foreign trade English. After the company becomes bigger, it can also choose to split up, like Yibai Network, placing the main force in Wuhan and the logistics and supply chain in Shenzhen.

But Xiao Li is also worried about what problems he will encounter after the relocation. So, after the relocation, how are the sellers who have evacuated now? What problems have they found in the local area?

After evacuating from Shenzhen, they discovered these shortcomings

Perhaps due to the local sentiment, many sellers' first choice when leaving Shenzhen is their hometown. For example, the founders of Banggu, Lianke, Tongtuo, Youkeshu, etc., which we are familiar with, are all from Hunan. After becoming bigger and stronger in Shenzhen, they tried to put some simple and easy-to-train positions in areas with relatively cheap labor costs, and at this time, their hometown became their first choice, which is also an important reason why many companies set up branches in Changsha.

Let’s not talk about big sellers here, but start with the small sellers who are closest to the sellers. Seller Xiao Liu withdrew from Shenzhen to his hometown Wuhan in 2019. At that time, for the purpose of taking care of his family, he also estimated the salary in Wuhan. But after returning, he found that compared with Shenzhen, the salary range in Wuhan was still much lower, basically only half of that in Shenzhen.

"Now that I'm back, I can't hesitate anymore, so I compromised," Xiao Liu said. Thinking about how hard he worked at that time, he still wanted to laugh. After much difficulty, things started to improve, but since 2021, various expenses began to rise rapidly, which once again squeezed the already worrying profits. It was too difficult.

As for the profit compression, Xiao Liu believes that being in Wuhan has a big reason. At the same time, he believes that compared with Shenzhen, Wuhan has many shortcomings ↓

There is no cross-border e-commerce atmosphere. In Wuhan, it is difficult to find a cross-border circle. If you search for cross-border e-commerce groups in QQ groups, you will find that these groups are nominally from Wuhan, but in fact more than 80% are from Shenzhen. At the beginning, there was a Juguhui in Wuhan, but it disappeared after the epidemic.

There are no logistics resources. There are basically no local logistics resources in Wuhan. Most of them come from Shenzhen. The goods need to be shipped to Shenzhen first, and then shipped from Shenzhen. The logistics efficiency in Wuhan is two days later than that in Shenzhen. At the same time, they found that there are few freight forwarders to choose from, and very few can pick up the goods at home.

The information is relatively closed. The service providers in Wuhan are basically from Shenzhen. There are no exhibitions, exchanges, or training courses. It is difficult to meet peers and get in touch with new ideas. After returning to Wuhan, you still have to keep in touch with the original service providers to operate.

As far as Xiao Liu knows, the Amazon companies in Wuhan are mainly concentrated in Optics Valley and Wuchang. These companies are mainly focused on fine-tuning, but there are not many large companies, and the majority are small companies.

Many sellers who moved back to Wuhan have a deep understanding of the above points. After returning to Wuhan, they continued to cooperate with logistics companies in Shenzhen and used express delivery from Wuhan to Shenzhen, always worried that the packaging and products would be damaged due to an extra trip. However, some sellers disagreed with the above view, saying that Xiao Liu might have just returned and the resources were not yet open. After a long time, he would understand the cross-border e-commerce atmosphere in Wuhan.

At the same time, for sellers, talents in Wuhan area have extremely high cost-effectiveness, with less money and more work, but this has also been complained by many workers.

"Working in Wuhan is too bad," said an operator. In Shenzhen, if an operator can make a new store 50,000 US dollars a month in a year, in Wuhan, due to various pitfalls, he can only make 10,000 US dollars a month. There are even many operators who can only make 4,000-5,000 US dollars a month. In addition, most companies in Wuhan give completely new stores to new employees.

An operator working in Wuhan said that the working experience in Wuhan is far inferior to that in Shenzhen. Not only the base salary was cut in half, but the boss also urged for more orders and performance every day, and there was no resource support. Unlike some companies that have job segmentation, the company has assigned all the work from market research, product selection and development , to shelf promotion, off-site and other series to one person, and overtime is commonplace. In contrast, although there is a lot of pressure and work in Shenzhen, the salary is relatively high.

According to feedback from some operations, only 50% of Wuhan's cross-border e-commerce companies have dedicated graphic designers, and only 20% to 30% of companies have dedicated development, evaluation and off-site promotion. There is basically no data analysis. Most of their products come from a domestic wholesale platform, not to mention the marketing costs.

Of course, everything has two sides. Some sellers also believe that Wuhan has a good overall cross-border e-commerce entrepreneurial atmosphere, and sellers are more willing to share resources and communicate frequently. In their opinion, although Wuhan has many drawbacks, it is completely possible to do Amazon. From small things like solving food and clothing problems to big things like prosperity and success, there are ways to solve both logistics and talent problems.

At the same time, there are many benefits for sellers after leaving Shenzhen. First, it is close to home and convenient to go home; second, the housing prices are much cheaper than in Shenzhen, and medical care is relatively convenient; finally, the educational resources that everyone pays attention to are not as tight as in Shenzhen. After leaving Shenzhen , their lives are no longer just two points and one line. In addition to work , they have time to feel the scenery around them. Those who once thought they could not leave Shenzhen , after actually taking action, found out why they did not leave earlier.

They also gave their own advice to workers who want to leave Shenzhen and return to Wuhan: If you want to come back, you must think clearly. Wuhan is unlikely to generate big sales and the salary will not be high. It is fine if you can accept these realistic conditions.

At the same time, a number of inland cities have also become options for sellers to evacuate Shenzhen.

In addition to Shenzhen, cities such as Changsha and Chengdu have become the first choice for sellers

When talking about cross-border e-commerce, the first word that comes to mind for many people should be Shenzhen. As a cross-border e-commerce center, Shenzhen is home to a large number of sellers and has also produced many well-known sellers, such as the Bantian Five Tigers and the South China Four Young Masters. But you should know that in addition to Shenzhen, there are some cities where cross-border e-commerce is developing in full swing, with countless small and medium-sized sellers taking advantage of the situation, and many sellers are considering moving to these cities.

Changsha. Cross-border e-commerce sellers represented by Anker are on the rise, but to be precise, Anker is not a company that has withdrawn from Shenzhen to Changsha. Instead, considering the optimal allocation of resources, Anker has placed sales and customer service personnel in Changsha, while employees including R&D and procurement have been placed in Shenzhen.

Like Anker, there are many companies with layouts in Shenzhen and Changsha, including Youkeshu, Savi, Gonglang Network, Huanjin Technology, Tongtuo, etc. The local bonus policy is one of the reasons that attract them. Of course, a very important reason is the talent cost. Compared with Shenzhen, the salary in Changsha may be one-third less.

According to incomplete statistics, there were a total of 3,466 cross-border e-commerce sellers in Changsha in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 30%. They were mainly concentrated in cross-border e-commerce industrial clusters focusing on Huanghua Comprehensive Bonded Zone, Jinxia Bonded Logistics Center, and Changsha High-tech Zone.

Chengdu. Some time ago, Chengdu's rewards for cross-border e-commerce companies attracted a lot of attention. The rewards ranged from hundreds of thousands to millions, which made some sellers say they wanted to go to Chengdu to do Amazon. In addition, Chengdu has also established a cross-border e-commerce global service resource center, and supports cross-border e-commerce exports through bonded warehouses and supports cross-border e-commerce companies in financial financing.

In fact, many Amazon sellers have already established companies or branches in Chengdu. XGIMI Technology, which specializes in projectors and laser TVs; Starlink Technology, which focuses on clothing, home furnishings, and outdoor products; and Yibai Networks also have branches in Chengdu.

In general, the advantages of doing cross-border e-commerce in Chengdu are obvious. As a new first-tier city, Chengdu has the best educational resources in the southwest region, and the local talents are abundant and cheap. Alibaba and Tencent have many people in Chengdu, and many cross-border e-commerce companies have also set up their operations departments here. In terms of transportation, Chengdu is the city with the most international routes in the central and western regions, and is also an important node of the China-Europe Chengdu-Europe Express.

Zhengzhou. Compared with the leading position of the eastern coastal areas in the cross-border e-commerce industry, the growth rate of cross-border e-commerce in the central and western regions leads the country. As the second batch of cross-border e-commerce pilot areas in the country, Zhengzhou's cross-border e-commerce development index ranks fourth in the country, second only to Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. In 2021, the cross-border e-commerce transaction volume in Zhengzhou reached 109.247 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.35%.

In Zhengzhou, there are also many relatively successful cross-border e-commerce companies, such as Zhiou, which specializes in home furnishings, Jikeyin, a leading domestic e-commerce company, Zhengzhou Mingyang, which specializes in curtains, and Yinhua Ruijin, which specializes in clothing. At the same time, Zhengzhou has also attracted many small and medium-sized sellers to join with its superior geographical location. In the eyes of some sellers who have moved to Zhengzhou, it is not only to save costs, but more to accumulate strength before the next bonus period of the industry arrives.

Among the sellers in Zhengzhou that I know, Xiao Zhang, who mainly sells accessories, mainly ships his goods in Xinzheng. The delivery time is 1 to 2 days later than in Shenzhen, but it is acceptable because the rent and living costs in Zhengzhou are much lower than in Shenzhen. A freight forwarder who returned to Zhengzhou from Shenzhen also said that Zhengzhou has established many industrial parks and can now sweep the buildings. Most of the sellers are home furnishings and pets. After the goods are shipped from Zhengzhou to the Pearl River Delta, they are shipped to the United States and Canada by sea.

For sellers, developing cross-border e-commerce in Shenzhen has certain advantages. Not only can they obtain the latest industry trends, but they can also have a complete supply chain. However, when sellers' profits continue to be squeezed and various pressures are coming, moving the office space to a lower-cost area is a good option to spread the risk. Although second- and third-tier cities have certain shortcomings, you may find it to be an oasis after reclamation.

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