Breaking news! Another cross-border e-commerce platform announced its closure!

Another cross-border e-commerce platform shut down!

This year has been too difficult for cross-border sellers. Whether it was the Amazon account blocking wave in the middle of the year or the dismal sales performance during the peak season, it had a strong impact on sellers. Affected by the account blocking wave, the performance of listed companies such as Tongtuo and Youkeshu plummeted. Some small and medium-sized sellers could not withstand the blow of "profitless internal circulation" and also withdrew from the market.

At the same time, some cross-border e-commerce platforms have also collapsed one after another. Some time ago, the news that Vova platform was suspected of running away caused a lot of controversy, and a large number of sellers had nowhere to ask for payment. Subsequently, JD.com also announced the closure of its cross-border e-commerce platform JOYBUY. I thought that the last month of this year would be smooth, but who knew that another cross-border e-commerce platform collapsed.

Middle East e-commerce platform AjMall shuts down

Recently, some sellers reported that the Middle East e-commerce platform AjMall sent an email notification saying that it would be shut down!

The specific content of the email is as follows:

Dear AjMall merchants, due to the adjustment of the platform business, AjMall will be closed today. Thank you very much for your support and cooperation since you joined us! The deadline for goods to enter the warehouse is 24:00 on December 16; if there are unsettled bills in the background, please confirm the bills and upload the invoices as soon as possible. The platform will arrange all settlements by early January at the latest! Finally, please cooperate with all suppliers to complete the finishing work and send out the orders on time. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart, and I hope to see you later~

According to the email, AjMall announced its closure and sellers need to confirm their bills as soon as possible, and the platform will settle all bills by early January at the latest. In addition, orders that have been placed still need to be shipped normally.

This news is so sad that a giant company collapsed just like that, and it also makes people feel infinitely sad about the current situation of the entire e-commerce industry this year ...

AjMall’s past and present

According to iQiyicha, AjMall was founded on March 23, 2018, and its e-commerce platform AjMall was officially launched on August 20, 2018. Just one week after its launch, it received $2 million in angel round financing, and three months later it received another $5 million in round A financing.

AjMall is a fast fashion clothing platform dedicated to providing the most fashionable, most suitable and most affordable products for women around the world. In Asia, AjMall has integrated hundreds of fashion women's clothing factories and designer studios, and has a complete and practical supply chain system. Overseas, AjMall works closely with international logistics giants such as DHL, FedEX, Aramex, and TNT to ensure the efficiency of product delivery .

From the market perspective, AjMall is rooted in East Asia and targets overseas emerging markets, providing global consumers with products in multiple categories including clothing, accessories, cosmetics, shoes and bags, home furnishings, maternity and baby products, electronics, etc. For women's clothing, AjMall also has a special category for Arabic clothing, and has captured a large number of fans in Saudi Arabia and the UAE by adding localized elements.

In terms of downloads, AjMall was very popular when it was first launched. Around April 2019, AjMall ranked in the top three in Saudi Arabia on the mobile application platform APP Annie, second only to Fordeal, and left SHEIN and AliExpress behind. At that time, AjMall's download ranking in the entire UAE was only in the top ten.

In addition, AjMall also launched an independent APP: AjBaby in July 2020, officially entering the vertical e-commerce field of mother and baby in the Middle East, selling products in categories such as mother and baby, shoes and boots, children's toys and accessories.

At that time, many people questioned who this AjMall was, and whether it could surpass Jollychic, SHEIN and Fordeal to become a dark horse in the Middle East e-commerce in 2019.

But now, SHEIN is becoming more and more popular and has become a big hit in many regions, but AjMall has chosen to leave...

How is the AjMall platform?

Given the current good development trend of cross-border e-commerce, why did AjMall choose to withdraw from the e-commerce market?

In order to get a more detailed understanding of the platform, the editor browsed the user reviews of AjMall in the Google Play Market and the Apple App Store. Of course, there are positive reviews, but the editor also found that many users vented their dissatisfaction with the platform in the comment section.

In the Google Play app store, many users mentioned that the clothes sold on the platform are cheap, but the sizes are wrong and the quality is not satisfactory. Some users mentioned that what is even more speechless is the platform's logistics and after-sales service are very average. What's more, one user said that his refund has not been received for 8 months.

In the review section of the Apple App Store, users are also crying. After sorting out the comments, the editor found that the most common feedback from users is that the products sold on the platform do not match the promotional pictures, and the platform's after-sales and return and exchange services are very average.

One user complained that the product quality was very poor. When he applied for a return, the seller asked him to mail the product to China by himself. However, after the courier showed that he had signed for the product, the seller refused to pay him a refund on the grounds that he had not received the return.

Some users also mentioned that this is a scam application, the platform service is very poor, and the shipping fee for returns is more expensive than the product price, so it is not recommended for everyone to download it.

An insider said that AjMall may have shut down because it wanted to transform into a B2B business, but we have no way of knowing the real reason for its withdrawal from the Middle East e-commerce market. However, from the comments left by users, we can see some clues. The platform's review and control of product quality, after-sales service support, and attitude towards buyers all need to be improved.

Big sellers in the Middle East are exiting the market one after another. Are these “hot commodities” no longer popular?

In fact, AjMall is not the first cross-border e-commerce platform to go bankrupt in the Middle East . As early as two years ago, the Middle East king "Zhi Yu" had already begun to decline, and was often exposed to the news of "delaying payment to suppliers". The Middle East has always been hailed as the next blue ocean market for cross-border e-commerce, but Chinese e-commerce platforms have frequently suffered setbacks. Is this "hot commodity" in the Middle East still hot?

According to GO-Gulf, the global outbreak of COVID-19 has boosted the growth of the e-commerce industry in the Middle East. From 2018 to 2021, the annual growth rate of e-commerce in the Middle East was 23% , and it is expected that the sales of e-commerce in the Middle East will reach 49 billion US dollars in 2021. At present, online sales in the Middle East only account for 2% of total retail revenue . This shows that the e-commerce business in the Middle East still has great development potential.

However, due to the late start of e-commerce in the Middle East, there are inevitably some problems in logistics and other infrastructure . In the negative feedback from users of AjMall, the Apple App Store , many people mentioned the problems of troublesome returns and high shipping costs. This is also an area that cross-border sellers in the Middle East need to improve in their development in the future.

Summarizing the development of cross-border e-commerce in 2021, it can be found that several cross-border e-commerce platforms have encountered problems one after another. This has also sounded an alarm for the majority of cross-border sellers. When entering the platform, they must make good platform strategic plans and, if conditions permit, deploy multiple platforms to disperse business risks.

AjMall

Cross-border e-commerce

E-commerce platform