Six financings took place in three months, and the capital trend has changed

Capital has always had a keen sense of smell, and through their movements we can often know the development prospects of an industry. It can be said that where the capital flows determines where the wealth opportunities are.

In recent years, the cross-border e-commerce industry has exploded with huge development potential, and a large amount of capital has poured in, but most of the investment has been in some Amazon sellers. Last year, Amazon's account ban swept the industry, independent sites showed great advantages, and the direction of capital investment has quietly changed.

In Q1, there were 15 financing events in the cross-border e-commerce industry, 6 of which were related to independent websites

The " 2022Q1 China Cross-border E-commerce Financing Data List" released earlier by the China Internet Network Information Center showed that there were 15 financing events in China's cross-border e-commerce field in the first quarter of 2022.

The editor observed that among these 15 financings, 6 were related to independent sites, including independent site brands (sellers) Wujiang Cross-border and Newme, as well as Xingpan Cross-border, FunPinPin, ShopBase, and Dianjiang, which provide website building services for independent site sellers.

Even among the companies that have announced the amount of financing they have raised, Dianjiang ranked first among more than a dozen companies with US$150 million.

In fact, not only capital is optimistic about the independent station track, many cross-border e-commerce sellers also regard independent stations as an important channel. Especially after the outbreak of the epidemic, they have been actively deploying independent stations.

GenusAI's research shows that the number of independent websites built through Shopify increased by 201.53% from March 2020 to January 2022 , with an increase of approximately 2.6 million. Among them, the number of independent Shopify websites in the United States increased by 178.53% compared to March 2020.

In China, the number of independent websites is also growing rapidly. According to the Ministry of Commerce's estimate in July last year, the number of independent cross-border websites in China has exceeded 200,000. After experiencing the account suspension incident last year, I believe this number will increase.

As the number continues to increase, the market structure of cross-border e-commerce B2C is also quietly changing. The share of independent sites continues to increase. In 2016, it only accounted for 9.8% of the market share, with a scale of 0.2 trillion yuan; by 2020, it accounted for 25% of the market share, with a scale of 0.8 trillion yuan. It is expected that by 2025, the market share of independent sites will increase significantly to about 50%.

Another reason why independent websites have attracted investors and sellers is that a giant, SHEIN, has emerged from them. It is reported that the company's current valuation has reached 100 billion US dollars, exceeding the total market value of fast fashion giants H&M and Zara.

Now, independent sites have become the focus of many big sellers, and some sellers who are ahead have achieved good results. According to the 2021 financial report released, Anker Innovations' independent site revenue last year was 390 million yuan, accounting for 3.13% of the total revenue; Zebao Technology's independent site revenue was 120 million yuan.

It can be said that independent sites have become one of the main revenue channels for many sellers. However, in the process of operating independent sites, they also discovered a problem: it is really difficult to attract traffic to independent sites!

How to attract buyers, keep them there and continue to consume has become the top challenge for sellers when operating independent websites.

Create conversations with buyers and increase sales conversion rate by 20%

The higher the traffic of an independent website , the healthier its ecology is. But the reality is that it is difficult for sellers to attract buyers to their own brand websites, let alone attract more customers.

In the process of continuous exploration, some sellers found a breakthrough method: conversational marketing.

Conversational marketing emphasizes direct communication with potential customers. Communication often plays a very important role in the sales process. Effective communication can increase customers' affection for the brand and promote their understanding of the product, thereby greatly improving sales success rate and user retention rate.

At present, there are three main commonly used conversational marketing methods. Among them, the most effective one is to integrate conversation tools ( Messenger/WhatsApp) into independent websites, or Facebook, Instagram homepages, and live broadcasts to facilitate real-time communication with customers.

In the past, even if businesses had their own websites and social media, they often had to passively wait for customers to contact the brand before they could start marketing . Now , by expanding WhatsApp and Messenger corporate communication software , businesses will be able to set up automatic dialogue marketing on the most popular communication platforms for overseas customers, and proactively send marketing information and recommend products in conjunction with marketing strategies . As long as the customer clicks a button, they will automatically jump to the company's WhatsApp or Messenger page, which simplifies the process of customer contact with merchants, helps to arouse their interest , and increases the chances of product sales.

Now some independent website sellers have experienced the benefits of this marketing method.

According to feedback from ChicMe, a Shanghai-based independent website seller , since installing the Messenger automated conversation experience on the ChicMe website, conversion rates have increased by 20%, international phone calls have decreased by 30%, customer satisfaction has increased by 15%, and the number of people starting conversations through Messenger has increased by 36%.

Its chief technology officer, Li Feng, also affirmed: "We believe that fast and high-quality responses are the key to our sustainable growth in cross-border sales."

It is worth mentioning that in order to save resources and provide timely responses, chatbots can be set up in WhatsApp and Messenger. In general, chatbots can play five roles:

1. Provide efficient interaction;

2. Handle repetitive common problems and transfer complex problems to manual customer service to provide one-to-one personalized services, reducing the pressure on manual customer service;

3. Work 24 hours a day;

4. Transform boring messages into conversations through live chat;

5. Collect remarketing data, that is, obtain user portraits and classified customers from conversations to adjust marketing strategies more accurately.

As customers increasingly demand faster responses, the importance of such chatbots becomes more prominent.

Customers are big sellers such as Anker, ChicMe, Miniso, etc. Sanuker chatbot solutions are reliable

CTX (Click to Messenger/WhatsApp) ads are a unique advertising method on Facebook. CTX encourages customers to communicate with brands through Messenger/WhatsApp. Sellers can use this form of advertising to conduct conversational marketing to attract and retain users.

Data shows that ads that directly lead to website and app downloads are effective all year round for impulse buyers, who account for about 2% of the market. However, to reach active and regular buyers, who account for about 35% of the market, it is necessary to communicate with brands through CTX ads.

Therefore, for sellers who want to increase the trust and interest of non-impulsive users in the brand and acquire more customers, conducting conversational marketing through CTX advertising is a must.

Sellers may think that conducting conversational marketing would be difficult and complicated, but this is not the case. It can be easily achieved through the chatbots mentioned above.

Currently, Sanuker has assisted many cross-border independent sites to conduct conversational marketing through chatbots.

For example, in the process of providing services to ChicMe, Sanuker added the Messenger chat plug-in to the ChicMe website and built a customer experience for Messenger that automatically answered common questions.

For customers with complex questions, Sanuker has set up a standard method of transfer that can seamlessly transfer questions to live online customer service for further assistance. After the launch, ChicMe consumers can use Messenger through the website to get customer service before placing an order.

The website also enables guest user mode so that people who are not logged into their Facebook or Messenger accounts can still start smooth conversations on Messenger.

"The robot solutions we provide can provide customized and personalized services based on the different needs of each seller." A relevant person in charge of Sanuker said that in this field, they also have the advantages of omni-channel docking and understanding of overseas markets.

It is reported that as a service provider focusing on creating conversational business experiences for Chinese overseas brands, Sanuker was fortunate to become a developer partner of Messenger as early as 2017, and became the first and only official agent of WhatsApp's global business solutions in China in 2019. Subsequently, it became the official partner of HSBC Smart Connection of HSBC Hong Kong in 2021.

If you also want to conduct conversational marketing, please add WeChat: kis-flying

Independent website