A big seller with annual sales of billions was banned again, and a wave of people turned to independent sites desperately

At the beginning of April, Amazon sellers’ accounts were blocked one after another, with the top sellers bearing the brunt of the ban, and many well-known brands were cut off. Recently, another top seller encountered a second round of brand bans, which made sellers in the industry sigh. In the face of the crisis, some sellers spread the risk and "get on the train" of independent websites.

Since last year, many independent website bosses have delivered impressive results, which has also given more sellers confidence. For many sellers, independent websites may have become an important "life-saving straw"!

Will the top-selling product be banned again in the second round?

Amazon has been cracking down on violations for a long time. In the past, sellers had the impression that the platform would start with small and medium-sized sellers. This year’s account suspension action was just the opposite. The big sellers were the first to be hit, followed by small and medium-sized sellers.

Recently, big sellers whose accounts were previously blocked have encountered another round of "strangulation". One big seller with annual sales of billions of yuan had its brand blocked in the first round, but it has not yet recovered and has experienced a second round of brand blocking. Almost all of these brand links have been suspended.

Another insider revealed that there is a similar situation with another top-selling product. This top-selling product has also suffered a second round of ban and its brand is almost bankrupt.

Amazon’s second round of crackdown on its top sellers appears to have begun, and any brand that has previously violated regulations is at risk of being affected.

While cleaning up the big sellers, Amazon also extended its hammer to small and medium-sized sellers. Recently, a company reported its current situation. It was unfortunately hit by the account suspension wave. Its daily sales have dropped to a negligible level and the company is on the verge of bankruptcy.

The scary thing about this rectification campaign is that it blocks brands, and the possibility of restoration is almost zero. Some sellers are unwilling to give in, and register the brands of the original blocked stores to new stores. As a result, the new stores are associated with the blocked stores and eventually blocked. This is what sellers call brand "joint punishment".

Due to account problems, many sellers suffered heavy losses. For example, Youkeshu has 340 new sites blocked or frozen , and its suspected frozen funds on Amazon are about 130 million yuan; Tongtuo Technology has been banned from selling and closed 54 stores, and its suspected frozen funds are 41.43 million yuan.

"I watched him build a red building, and I watched it collapse." The life-and-death situation of the industry's top sellers made the onlookers shudder. This sounded the alarm for sellers who are highly dependent on a single platform. Not putting all eggs in one basket and developing more sales channels have become the top priorities of many sellers. Among them, the independent station track has attracted many sellers.

Entering the independent station, the sales volume increased by 3 times

"A wave of people are desperately turning to independent websites, especially those who have been hit by the virus. With the risk-averse sentiment, even 10 bulls can't pull them back." said a seller. After all, in this big storm, independent website sellers have been able to stay out of trouble.

Jihong shares, a leading seller, was recently asked whether the company's cross-border e-commerce business was affected by the ban on Amazon affecting many merchants. The latter replied: The company mainly sells products through social media such as Facebook and Google, rather than opening a store on Amazon, and the business has not been affected.

The sales of independent websites have already received feedback. Xiang Lehong, chairman of Lechuang Holdings, a leading cross-border e-commerce company, once said, "Independent websites must be built. Only by building independent websites can we truly get close to users and understand their needs." In the first half of the year, Lechuang's independent website sales increased by 366.42% year-on-year. According to statistics from Google Analytics, the monthly visits to its global independent websites have reached 600,000 to 700,000.

Zibuyu, a cross-border footwear and clothing giant, has submitted an application for listing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In the past three years, the revenue of its self-operated website was 22 million, 110 million, and 360 million respectively, accounting for 1.7%, 7.7%, and 19.1% of the total revenue, and the compound annual growth rate of sales GMV was as high as 680.0%.

Chuangyuan Co., Ltd. is a seller of cultural, educational, and sports and fitness products. In addition to sales on the platform, the company is also increasing its investment in the construction of its official website. In 2020, sales on its U.S. Ruitefei official website accounted for approximately 20% of its operating income.

The number of sellers entering the independent website market has increased significantly. According to estimates, the number of independent websites in China has reached about 200,000. Some sellers made $10,000 in the first month after opening an independent website, calling it "not a loss".

Policies also encourage sellers to develop independent sites.

In early August, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce issued a notice to support cross-border e-commerce companies in expanding their markets. For independent station projects, companies that meet the following application conditions will be selected for funding, with each independent station project receiving 2 million yuan in funding:

( 1) The independent website was launched before January 1, 2019 and has been in continuous operation and is sustainable;

( 2) The average monthly sales of the independent website in the past year (July 2020-June 2021) is more than US$300,000 (including US$300,000);

( 3) The applicant enterprise directly or indirectly holds no less than 50% of the shares of the independent station domain name ownership entity,

The number of independent station projects that each enterprise applies for funding shall not exceed 2.

In the next three years, will everyone have an independent website?

Industry insiders pointed out that in the next three years, anyone engaged in cross-border e-commerce business, regardless of whether they are platform sellers or not, will have to have an independent website.

According to Statista data, vertical independent sites accounted for 33% of the e-commerce shopping platforms that users are most interested in worldwide in 2018-2019, ranking first. Grand View Research, a research organization, predicts that by 2025, the scale of the global decentralized e-commerce market, dominated by independent sites, will reach US$557.9 billion.

Shopify, a well-known independent website system service provider in the industry , started in the "blind spot" of the Amazon platform, which is well suited to the high share of private brands in the European and American markets. As Amazon and other e-commerce platforms tighten their policies on sellers, it has become a trend for export cross-border e-commerce companies to build their own brands and independent websites.

However, many sellers enter the independent website market on a whim without considering the threshold for operation. Some sellers get stuck in the website building stage, while more sellers have a headache on how to operate it in order to achieve the effect of rapid traffic and order generation.

The editor learned that the smart business service provider WeMall officially launched the cross-border independent station product ShopExpress at the end of July, which will provide Chinese sellers with full-link digital overseas services from 0 to 1.

ShopExpress's full-link digital overseas service mainly covers the following three points:

1. Quickly build an independent website and build overseas private domain traffic. Based on the strong research and development capabilities of Weimeng, ShopExpress helps sellers build a complete business system and promote high-conversion SaaS website building through rich decoration templates, powerful product management configuration, on-site SEO data optimization, intelligent data dashboard, efficient and convenient order management and customer management, as well as payment, logistics and other configurations.

2. Accurately guide overseas traffic through multiple channels. Building a website is just the starting point. ShopExpress has connected with overseas mainstream media channels such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter. In the future, it will also connect with TikTok, the "international version of Douyin", to help overseas merchants find business opportunities on short video social platforms.

3. Equipped with a professional operation team. In addition to the ability to accurately attract traffic through multiple channels and quickly build websites, ShopExpress also equips overseas merchants with a professional operation team. On the one hand, it can provide overseas merchants with strategic consulting services such as brand packaging, advertising planning, event planning, and product selection strategies; on the other hand, it can also provide website building services, such as product listing, full-site web page decoration, customized store templates and other store decoration services, making it easier for merchants to go overseas.

The launch of ShopExpress is an important measure for WeMall to advance its internationalization strategy. In 2020, WeMall proposed three core strategies: large customer, internationalization, and ecologicalization. International development is seen as an important part of WeMall's future development. With the launch of the ShopExpress independent station solution, more Chinese merchants and brands will enter the overseas market with the help of WeMall, and WeMall will also form an international pattern of "walking on two legs".

It is reported that ShopExpress adopts an invitation-based membership model, and currently more than 100 companies have joined the internal beta test. During the launch period, WeMall also launched the "Sailing Navigation Plan" to provide sellers with a series of support such as traffic assistance, SaaS website building, and operational assistance.

Sellers who are considering setting up an independent website can click on the entrance to view details and easily start an independent website business.

Big sales, account blocked, independent website