Led by the company's top executive, sellers make millions in this channel

In 2021, the cross-border e-commerce industry has seen huge differentiation. On the one hand, third-party platforms have completed the reshuffle of merchants during the rectification, and some sellers have encountered operational bottlenecks; on the other hand, the top sellers on independent sites have received frequent financing news, and this channel has become a hot commodity.

Half sea water and half fire , this is the true portrait of the cross-border circle this year. Sellers have an unprecedentedly strong desire to develop multi-channels. Independent websites have changed from the useless situation in the past to become the top priority. Many companies have increased their personnel and capital investment and officially launched independent website projects, some of which are led by top leaders. After most sellers have taken the first step to go overseas through e-commerce platforms, can independent websites become the second curve of cross-border e-commerce growth?

Led by the top leader, independent websites enter a period of explosive growth

As the global epidemic continues to spread, cross-border e-commerce independent sites have ushered in a long-awaited highlight moment.

According to the " 2021 China Cross-border E-commerce Development Report", consumers of different income levels have maintained or increased the proportion of online consumption on independent sites. Apparel and fashion, home gardening, 3C and beauty are considered to be the four major opportunity tracks.

Among them, the official websites of clothing and fashion brands have gained obvious traffic dividends; some vertical DTC brands focusing on home and gardening categories have quickly harvested online traffic, and a number of bedding, kitchen supplies, aromatherapy, and outdoor home brands have seen an average monthly visit growth of more than 100%; multiple DTC vertical brands in the 3C category have grown rapidly, and excellent brands have emerged in categories such as humidifiers and air purifiers; the visit growth rate of multiple beauty and personal care brands is close to 200%, and there is a lot to look forward to in the future.

People took action upon hearing the news.

Furrytail is a leading brand of pet products. In 2019, it received 80 million yuan in Series A and A+ financing led by Xiaomi. At the end of last year, the brand began to expand into overseas markets and directly chose to build an independent website.

If the industry fluctuations in the past few months have put pressure on sellers to explore independent sites, then the frequent news of independent site financing has given them motivation.

After Xike, Lilysilk and other big sellers obtained financing in the first half of the year, PatPat received financing of US$510 million and US$160 million in the second half of the year; in September, DTC brand Cider announced the completion of US$130 million Series B financing, which was the fourth round of financing obtained by the company within one year of its establishment. Its current valuation has reached US$1 billion, making it a unicorn.

( Cider financing history/Photo source: Qichacha )

The potential of independent sites has attracted many powerful merchants. In the first half of the year, Nanji E-commerce increased its investment in new cross-border e-commerce projects. In terms of cross-border independent platforms, the company plans to create multiple overseas sales platforms such as women's clothing (Fommos), children's clothing (mother and baby), home furnishings and appliances through a self-operated model. The cross-border e-commerce project is expected to be basically launched in September this year.

Sellers are paying more attention to independent website projects. A service provider in the industry said: "Previously, most sellers who found us to build independent websites would hand over this part of the business to subordinate teams, but this year, in many cases, the top leader is leading the team."

Merchants who entered the market early have already received feedback. A cross-border e - commerce company specializing in ski equipment has built and operated its independent website for more than a year, which currently supports more than 20% of sales. One seller lamented: "By the time I figured out the problem, my peers had already made millions using the independent website."

According to the current trend, independent websites may become the industry standard. More Chinese sellers are trying to build their own brands through this channel, thereby gaining the right to speak in the entire industry chain.

But for most Chinese sellers , independent website marketing is a big problem. How to tap into the real needs of consumers and achieve high orders, high conversions, and high repurchases? The marketing of the old benchmark SHEIN and the powerful newcomer Cider is definitely worth learning from.

SHEIN and Cider’s breakthrough in overseas marketing

SHEIN is definitely a benchmark for independent websites in China. With fast fashion apparel as its main product category and backed by the powerful Made in China industry, it has now achieved an annual revenue of over US$100 billion, ranking first among shopping apps in 56 countries and surpassing Amazon to become the "fast fashion" cross-border e-commerce platform with the highest number of shopping app downloads in the United States.

When it comes to SHEIN's marketing, we have to mention social networks. Since 2010, SHEIN has started social cultural promotion. It is one of the overseas brands that tried to cooperate with KOLs and KOCs on foreign social platforms for advertising promotion. It can be said to be the pioneer of domestic social media marketing.

SHEIN has rolled out its marketing channels on multiple social media networks such as Instagram and Facebook, and has worked with many influencers with millions of fans. Its influencer model is not limited to influencers with large fan bases, but also works with ordinary influencers. The content it publishes is not entirely self-promotion, and some complaints and minefields are also included. Multi-channel and multi-content coverage has greatly increased the market's awareness of the SHEIN brand.

This marketing strategy has made SHEIN rise rapidly on social media, and its Facebook page has more than 10 million followers. On major social media platforms, it has a huge number of fans, and the number of video views under the SHEIN tag is considerable.

As SHEIN is launched in more than 100 countries around the world, its user base has gradually become more complex. SHEIN has begun to market according to different cultures and trends. Its accounts on different social platforms are divided into regions, and different promotional content is launched in accordance with the actual conditions of different markets.

If the established benchmark sellers entered the market earlier and captured traffic, they are not on the same level as new sellers. Then the newcomer Cider, who entered the market last year , is indeed worthy of exploration for its social media marketing practices by independent website sellers.

Cider was just established last year, entering the market later than many cross-border e-commerce sellers, but its development has been exceptionally rapid.

Cider focuses on the retail of fashionable women's clothing with an INS style, and its target customers are the overseas young group of Generation Z. In addition to its advantages such as trendy product design and fast new product launch, Cider also puts a lot of effort into marketing.

Similar to SHEIN, Cider also makes great efforts to develop social media marketing, actively seeks customers through KOL "carrying goods" promotion. In addition, it also strives to create an open community - Cidergang based on target users. In this community, users can post their own outfits, chat and communicate, and also provide feedback and suggestions on product design.

According to Pinwan’s report, there are currently thousands of posts about #Cidergang on major overseas social platforms every day. In less than a year, Cider has accumulated more than 2 million fans on global social media, has accumulated more than 1 billion exposures, and has users in more than 100 countries around the world.

Statistics from traffic statistics platform Similarweb show that Cider's web page visits have steadily increased over the past six months, from 650,000 visits per day in February to over 1.8 million visits per day in July.

Whether it is an old benchmark or a newcomer in the industry, social media is an indispensable and important marketing channel for independent website sellers.

Detailed explanation of new overseas business opportunities, Facebook Overseas Marketing Summit is coming

As more and more sellers enter the independent website market, those who pay attention to social media channels earlier may gain an advantage faster. However, many sellers are still confused about overseas social media marketing. Based on this, Facebook's first overseas marketing summit came into being.

On September 23, the Facebook Overseas Marketing Summit will be held online. The conference has invited Facebook and well-known industry experts to interpret in detail new overseas business opportunities for companies going overseas.

The conference will be divided into two parts: the main venue in the morning and the sub-venue in the afternoon. In the morning, opinion leaders and forum guests will give dozens of wonderful speeches, covering three aspects: future business, future technology and future marketing technology. The conference will share how to use the latest exploratory business concepts to seize the trend of independent stations to build a beloved brand; how to use big data to drive and bring people a truly personalized experience and other high-quality content.

The afternoon session will continue to interpret exclusive strategies for e-commerce holiday marketing, Internet finance, pan-entertainment, online education and other latest industry white papers from a practical perspective.

There are also various reward interactive activities in the online venue. On the event page outside the venue, sellers can obtain the "Overseas Carnival E-book" jointly launched for the first time by Facebook's officially recognized agents.

In addition, the event will also showcase Facebook IQ, its leading insights and application scenarios in virtual reality and augmented reality.

Click the end of the article to read the original text and register for the conference immediately to learn more about the event details. Feel free to forward or share this article and invite friends to join the event!

*The Facebook solutions mentioned in this event are provided by official agents approved by Facebook.

If you want to learn more about the relevant topics, please contact Facebook's official agents. You are welcome to request the solutions and materials mentioned in the speech through your agents.

Overseas marketing, independent website