Only 3 out of 9 platforms survived. Is multi-platform layout no longer attractive?

What about those sellers who choose to operate on multiple platforms?

"In addition to sharing risks, a multi-platform layout can also bring more room for imagination in performance growth." This is the general understanding of cross-border people on the benefits of multi-platform operations. As more and more problems are exposed in operating a single platform, more and more people are adhering to the principle of "not putting all eggs in one basket" and actively exploring other platforms.

In this process, some people have achieved full success, some have failed, some have made progress despite setbacks, and some have returned to a single platform after operating on multiple platforms ... People in the industry are experiencing the different aspects of "multi-platform operation". Let's take a look at the real stories of two sellers who have deployed multiple platforms!

From initially wanting to share risks across multiple platforms to returning to a few mainstream platforms

Mr. Zhang is one of the many sellers who have joined the multi-platform operation army. Like others, he initially thought that multiple sales channels would mean multiple profit channels, but now his thinking has undergone a major change!

In 2019, Mr. Zhang officially started to engage in cross-border e-commerce and actively implemented a diversification strategy. In the past four years, he has developed 10 cross-border e-commerce platforms.

Since the company's main target market is the European and American markets, in the process of selecting a platform, we first abandoned Southeast Asian e-commerce Shopee, Lazada, South American e-commerce Meikeduo, as well as some well-known platforms in Japan and Africa. We were originally interested in eBay, but unfortunately we failed to open a store after several attempts. In addition, some friends said that the profit was too low, which completely gave up the idea of ​​​​doing this platform. In the end, the experience of multi-platform operation "fell" from 10 companies including AliExpress, Amazon, Independent Station, Wish, Walmart, Wayfair, Etsy, Zhiyu, Coupang and Tophatter. After years of ups and downs in the business world, we have decided to focus only on a few mainstream platforms such as Amazon.

At the end of 2018, Mr. Zhang joined the American flash auction platform Tophatter and officially started his cross-border e-commerce journey. During the peak sales period, the number of orders per day reached 20,000, and he once became the top seller on the platform. However, since 2021, the traffic of this platform has dropped sharply, and it has not improved until now, so he had to withdraw.

In 2019, Mr. Zhang successively laid out three sales channels: Amazon, independent stations, and Zhiyu. As for the Amazon platform, he did not pay much attention to this platform at the beginning. He just recruited two employees and let them try to operate it themselves. By the end of 2019, the monthly sales were only 10,000 to 20,000 US dollars, which was mediocre compared with other channels. At the beginning of 2020, the epidemic broke out. The store followed the situation and sold some products related to the epidemic. It briefly reaped related dividends, and occasionally had outstanding performance for one or two months, but the good times did not last long. The store subsequently received many bad reviews and sales plummeted. This did not hit Mr. Zhang. On the contrary, in the process of in-depth operation of Amazon, he discovered the feasibility of this platform. So at the end of 2020, he readjusted the product direction and slowly guided the Amazon store to become formal.

Up to now, Amazon has become the company's main battlefield, and judging from the company's current situation, there should be greater room for development on the Amazon platform in the future.

Mr. Zhang also started the independent station in 2019. He believes that it is still necessary to continue operating it. Unlike the rapid output of the Amazon platform, the independent station team was not built until the second half of the year. The head of the independent station team attaches great importance to the product and insists on developing products by himself. Thanks to this move by the head, Mr. Zhang successfully built his own factory and made a lot of money during the 2020 epidemic.

Independent sites, which have unlimited prospects, actually have many challenges. It is understood that since 2021, the conversion rate of independent sites has begun to decline, and it has become more difficult to obtain traffic. Mr. Zhang and his team had to strengthen social media operations and investment in Google SEO and SEM channels.

If Amazon and the independent website were both successful attempts, then Zhiyu can be called a "negative example". At that time, the investment manager deceived Mr. Zhang by saying that this domestic platform had just started to open up to sellers and there were many opportunities for sellers to join. However, it turned out that it was not as good as advertised, and the platform went bankrupt not long after. Fortunately, Mr. Zhang did not spend too much time on this platform and did not have much inventory, so the loss was not big.

2020 is known as the peak period of cross-border e-commerce development. This year, Mr. Zhang opened four platforms, including AliExpress, Wish, Walmart and Wayfair. After operating them, he definitely gained something, but also learned many lessons.

On the AliExpress platform, the company has been performing mediocrely, from the initial distribution method to the current situation where it basically only sells its own products. The reason is that the main target group of the company's products does not match the countries where AliExpress has a relatively high market share.

I envy my friend's revenue very much. At the end of 2020, Mr. Zhang entered the Walmart and Wayfair platforms. Like the AliExpress platform, the overall performance of these two platforms is also average, but he does not intend to give up. It is understood that when he first entered Walmart, the account could only be an American company, and it was very troublesome to enter. It cost more than 100,000 yuan in total to get the account. After entering, he found that unlike friends who made large products, the "money-making ability" on this platform was different. More than a year has passed, and the company has not made back the money spent on registering the store. Even so, they decided to continue, believing that as long as they do not withdraw, there will always be opportunities in the future. After entering Wayfair, the performance was also not ideal, so they cleared the large product line, reduced the scale of investment, and only kept a few products for sale.

The next platform, Wish, is far inferior to the previous three platforms. As Mr. Zhang entered the market too late and missed the peak of the platform’s development, he wasted a lot of manpower costs on the Wish platform. The highest monthly sales volume was only a few hundred thousand US dollars, but the profit-making period was too short. At the same time, he also faced various risks such as infringement complaints. As of May this year, he still had hundreds of thousands of bad debts and hundreds of thousands of inventories.

Like the Tophatter platform, Wish's traffic has plummeted since last year. Taking multiple factors into consideration, Mr. Zhang is currently slowly withdrawing from this platform.

After the crazy expansion in 2020, Mr. Zhang was obviously much more conservative in 2021, and only opened up two new platforms, Etsy and Coupang. In the end, he did not stick to either. After entering Etsy, his account kept dying, and he could not find the key to open the sales door of the platform, so he had to give up reluctantly. As for Coupang, he gave up after only two months because he did not have much time and energy to study it .

Mr. Zhang believes that his development process of multi-platform layout is also a microcosm of the blood and tears history of cross-border e-commerce development over the years. Among the many cross-border platforms that have entered the market, many have paid tuition fees, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. In many cases, there is actually nothing wrong with the platform itself, but either the timing of entry is wrong, or the platform itself cannot focus on doing a good job on each platform, so that in the end there are not many platforms that really make a difference.

The experience of multiple platforms also changed Mr. Zhang's cross-border e-commerce business philosophy. He always wanted to diversify and share risks through multiple platforms. It was not until last year that he began to clarify the development direction and returned to a few mainstream platforms to drive the development of the entire company with products. Mr. Zhang increasingly felt that instead of expanding to so many platforms, it would be better to operate stably on a platform that is large enough to obtain a higher rate of return.

Only 3 of the 9 platforms survived! Sellers are still willing to explore new platforms

Different from Mr. Zhang’s point of view, during the journey of exploring and developing new platforms, I have become more convinced of Mr. Li’s idea of ​​multi-platform layout.

As a veteran player with more than 10 years of experience in e-commerce operations , Mr. Li has extensive experience in operating e-commerce platforms.

Like many sellers, Mr. Li also started from domestic e-commerce and gradually expanded to overseas markets. In 2012, he opened a store on Taobao, mainly selling sex toys , and later opened other platforms such as Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, 1688, etc.

In 2017, he began to extend his tentacles overseas, with the first stop being the popular platform Amazon, continuing the domestic "multi-platform operation strategy". After gradually gaining a foothold on Amazon, he also tried sales on channels such as AliExpress, independent sites, and TikTok.

Overall, Mr. Li has operated a total of 9 platforms so far, but only three of them have survived: Pinduoduo, Independent Station and Amazon. The remaining 6 platforms were "abandoned" for various reasons.

Mr. Li said that he started to try live streaming on TikTok in 2021, but after operating it for a while, he found that the revenue was not as expected, so he had to shut it down. Maybe he would enter the market again if there is a chance later. In his opinion, TikTok does have great development prospects in the future, but its overall consumption power or other aspects are far from the maturity and stability that an e-commerce platform should have. It can be said that this platform is still a child and needs time and space to grow.

Unlike TikTok's "shallow operation", Mr. Li invested more time and energy in the abandoned AliExpress platform. It is understood that he laid out the AliExpress platform in November 2017. At the beginning, sales and profits were considerable, but under the heavy blow of the epidemic and VAT in 2020, operating difficulties increased suddenly and profits also dropped sharply. He had to shut down in time to stop the loss.

In terms of domestic e-commerce, affected by traffic, profit and other factors, Taobao, JD.com and other stores have been closed, and only Pinduoduo platform was retained. Now Pinduoduo platform has become the main force of the company's overall profitability. It is the only platform that can place adult product advertisements, and the traffic is considerable. Therefore, Mr. Li opened 39 official flagship stores as soon as he entered this platform. It has developed all the way to the present, and the overall net profit is very good.

In terms of foreign e-commerce, Amazon was the focus of operations at the beginning, but the business situation took a sharp turn for the worse after the Amazon account ban in 2021. Fortunately, the independent station channel has developed rapidly since then, gradually making up for the trauma caused by Amazon.

It is understood that at its peak, the company had a total of 216 accounts on the Amazon platform, with an average daily sales of about 20,000 orders. However, under Amazon's ban, the company's Amazon accounts were almost wiped out, and more than 200 million yuan of funds could not be withdrawn. Amazon channels were hit hard, and Mr. Li fell into an unprecedented crisis. At one point, he was on the verge of a complete failure in the foreign market.

Fortunately, the independent station channel has gradually taken over from Amazon and become the latest important source of profit in the foreign market. Mr. Li said that from 2018 when he started to run the independent station until now, he has indeed experienced many difficulties. He is not immune to the problems of difficulty in obtaining traffic that his peers generally encounter, but he has persevered. Now, the profit of the independent station channel can reach 60%, which can be said to be a sweet reward after all the hardships.

After being exposed to so many platforms, Mr. Li believes that the biggest challenge of multi-platform operation is not the funds, but your determination to persevere. All things are difficult at the beginning. After the initial "pioneering period", you will find that multi-platform operation is not difficult. Although the traffic, target audience, rules and prices of each sales channel are different, the essence of business remains unchanged - put products on the shelves, ship goods, and provide good pre-sales and after-sales services.

After many attempts, Mr. Li's multi-platform operation has not been smooth sailing overall. He still believes that multi-platform operation is worth persisting in. As many people say, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Next, he is still willing to explore new platforms and find the next profit-making revenue point for the company.

Small e-commerce sellers should not blindly follow the trend and fall into the trap of multiple platforms

The above two sellers can be called two typical figures in the multi-platform track. Their attitude towards multi-platform operations can represent many people in the game.

It is undeniable that the multi-platform operation strategy has many supporters. Well-known industry sellers such as Anker Innovations, Santai, Savi, Youkeshu, etc. have all deployed on multiple platforms. The Amazon account ban wave in 2021 has further exacerbated this trend.

Tianze Information's financial report shows that Youkeshu's sales on the AliExpress platform increased significantly in the first half of this year, reaching 29.11%, second only to Amazon's 32.42%, while the same period last year accounted for only 15.94%. In addition , the growth of the Shopee platform is also rapid, with revenue exceeding 200 million. Now, Youkeshu's main sales platforms include Shopee, Amazon, AliExpress, Wish, eBay and other well-known platforms. Even so, it is still actively exploring and developing businesses on other e-commerce platforms and continuously expanding its sales radius.

Yibai Network has also blossomed on platforms such as Amazon, AliExpress, Wish, eBay, Shopee, and Walmart. As TikTok live shopping gradually rises, Yibai Network is gradually starting to open a small number of accounts on TikTok. It believes that the competition landscape in the e-commerce industry can be said to be flourishing. At present, TikTok's impact on mainstream e-commerce platforms has not yet been reflected, and the company's product sales on mainstream e-commerce platforms are more ideal. However, in the future, it will still pay close attention to content e-commerce such as TikTok, grasp the changing trends of the industry and follow up at any time.

Analysis shows that the indispensable genes of these well-known cross-border players when deploying on multiple platforms are strong financial strength and more obvious supply chain advantages, so that they can have more time and money to conduct trial and error and correction. Therefore, many industry insiders believe that although the deployment on multiple platforms is attractive, small e-commerce sellers should not blindly follow the trend and fall into the trap of multiple platforms. Without sufficient strength, it is very likely that they will want to do everything but fail to do anything. Sellers should reasonably evaluate themselves and do what they should and should not.

A seller said that operating on multiple platforms can easily distract one's attention. Although he operates on many platforms, he currently only focuses on one platform, which contributes 80% of the company's profits. The remaining platforms are either only used to clear inventory or the accounts are idle.

He believes that in e-commerce, the e-commerce platform is the battlefield, the boss is the marshal, and the operation is the general. One general is assigned to each battlefield. If a small boss cannot afford to hire an operation, then he should be the general himself. Don't be responsible for multiple platforms by yourself, because there is not enough time and energy. Products are soldiers. Strong soldiers can make it easier to "charge into battle" . Funds are food and grass. If the food and grass are cut off, the whole army will be wiped out immediately .

Many people are "obsessed" with multi-platform layout, simply because they are attracted by the advantages of this model in sharing risks and increasing revenue. In fact, in many cases, these advantages can be achieved through other methods. Previously, a fan left a message under Yien's article that received high praise. This fan believed that small sellers are being profited by operating on multiple platforms not because they are small, but because they have the genes of profiteers . The layout of multiple platforms is to continue to expose and display the weak links in their own supply chain. If sellers focus on their advantages in product selection , keen market observation , quick response , fast capital turnover , product research , nice and hardworking customer service staff , and close cooperation with suppliers ... they can also do great!

This reflects the importance of "intensive cultivation". An industry insider believes that the common misunderstanding among people today is that when the traffic dividend of a platform ends, the platform will no longer work or will not make money. In fact , the end of the traffic dividend proves that the platform is mature and professionals can make more money. In the early stages of Amazon, many people just put a few products on the platform and the money came naturally. However, in the later stages, the products became less and less popular. The living conditions changed and the traffic became more expensive. Thinking from another perspective, if sellers stick to the old rules and keep standing still, they will inevitably be abandoned by the times. The reason why the new platform has a large traffic dividend is that there are not many professionals , and professionals are never enough . Unprofessional people are more suitable to go to new platforms and train themselves into veterans. E-commerce iterations come one after another . As long as you are professional, you will definitely have your chance in the next wave.

The quality of e-commerce business is not determined by size, but by professionalism. Analyzing the survival status of large and small sellers, we can find that large players have more revenue, but also have to bear more risks. For example, they need to be very sensitive to the flow of consumer traffic. Since the supply chain is long and numerous, one hair can move the whole body . If one chain goes wrong, other chains can also be easily affected.

Small sellers mostly get their goods from small factories or stalls, have less inventory, and can recover more quickly when problems arise.

In addition, large-scale cross-border e-commerce players spend more every day and are far less comfortable than small companies. More importantly, as cross-border e-commerce traffic has decreased this year, large cross-border sellers have increased their efforts to compete on price and clear inventory , not only losing a lot of money, but also increasing pressure . However, small sellers or those who sell niche products have a small ship that is easy to turn around, and even if the traffic is reduced, it is only a matter of how much profit they make.

Under the pressure of the epidemic in the past two years, the concepts of cross-border players have gradually changed, and more people do not seek to become bigger and stronger, but just to survive!

(Note: Mr. Zhang and Mr. Li in this article are pseudonyms)

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