Amid the wave of account bans, sellers with annual sales of 800 million delivered impressive results

A few months ago, Amazon began to ban some top Chinese sellers, and small and medium-sized sellers were gradually affected. Under the pressure of Amazon's rectification, more and more Chinese sellers have accelerated their multi-channel layout. As the B-end continues to improve, it has become a trend for cross-border merchants to shift from the C-end to the B-end. Companies such as Shenzhen Zongwei Cube have already laid out Alibaba International Station and delivered impressive results.

The account blocking trend may force a number of sellers out of the market

Since the end of April, Amazon has banned a large number of Chinese seller accounts for violating platform policies, including some top sellers with annual sales of more than US$1 billion.

As time goes by, Amazon's account blocking action has not stopped. Recently, another wave of brands have been affected, involving multiple categories such as lighting and home furnishings. At present, the goods and outstanding debts of the blocked accounts of the top sellers in the industry are still missing, and there is basically no possibility of restoring the accounts of small and medium-sized sellers.

After their accounts were blocked, many sellers faced the risk of a shortage or break in their capital chain. First, because there was no way to recover funds, a group of sellers had to speed up the clearance of inventory at low prices, which intensified the internal competition in the industry. Secondly, layoffs and cost reductions caused a large number of operators to suddenly lose their jobs. Finally, after continuous losses, a group of them may be forced out in the near future. Industry insiders revealed that many companies are currently waiting in line for bankruptcy.

Sellers who relied too much on a single channel were hit hard. "Spreading risks and not putting all your eggs in one basket" has become a consensus among cross-border sellers.

Many Chinese sellers are accelerating their multi-channel layout. Some are turning to independent sites to build private traffic. However, this is not suitable for all sellers. Others are turning to other platforms. As the B-end improves, some sellers who have settled in the international site have achieved considerable results.

Sellers with annual revenue of 800 million yuan delivered impressive results

The shift from C-end to B-end has become a trend. Whether in the field of domestic e-commerce or cross-border e-commerce, merchants have weighed their options and decided to enter Alibaba International Station.

Shenzhen Zongwei Cube focuses on the research and development, production and sales of 3D printers. It owns its own printer brand Anycubic. Nearly 90% of its products are sold to global markets such as the United States, Germany, France, etc., and its average annual sales have maintained a year-on-year growth of more than 100%.

For overseas markets, Zongwei Cube has already deployed on platforms such as Amazon, Alibaba International Station, and AliExpress, and its brand ranking on Amazon is currently third in its category.

In 2017, based on the considerations of capital risk, channel distribution and enhancing brand influence, Zongwei Cube entered Alibaba International Station. The business chain of the International Station is shorter than that of the third-party platform, and the operation model and risks are also different. 3D printers are high-priced products. From the C-end to the B-end, one of the core issues is the differentiation of product lines. "The product layout of the C-end and the B-end must be differentiated, otherwise the two cannot be taken into account at the same time." said the company staff.

Today, Zongwei Cube's annual shipments exceed 500,000 units, with annual revenue of 800 million yuan, of which international sales account for more than 15%. Currently, the company has three international stores, with monthly sales ranging from one million to several million US dollars.

The peak season is approaching and traffic is rising. As an international SK seller, Zongwei Cube's traffic this year will be wider and more accurate. In addition, with the launch of new products in the first half of the year, there is a certain amount of accumulation, and sales will increase significantly. The company has also signed up for the September Global Procurement Festival on the international site, and hopes that this year's growth rate can double that of last year.

At present, many sellers in the industry are trying to deploy on multiple platforms. Zongwei Cube recommends that new entrants to the international site should control the proportion of sales revenue on the B-end and C-end to avoid polarization; achieve product differentiation, and deploy more international site stores as needed.

Not only cross-border sellers, but also domestic e-commerce sellers are an important new merchant group on the international site.

Furniture seller's 3 stores have sales exceeding 10 million US dollars

The development of Dalian Zhicheng Furniture Co., Ltd. is legendary. The company mainly sells mattress products. In 2011, the founder Zhu Yulong opened a Taobao mall with a credit card and entered the e-commerce market. After several years of exploration, the company's annual sales on Tmall exceeded 80 million in 2018, occupying a place in the industry.

But he was not able to relax. Competition in the domestic B2C e-commerce market was becoming increasingly fierce. Dalian Zhicheng Furniture hoped to balance the competition by doing B2B e-commerce. In addition to improving performance, the company also hoped to sell its products abroad and realize the brand's overseas expansion. In April 2018, the company entered Alibaba International Station.

From the domestic e-commerce C-end to the cross-border B-end, the business transition period is inevitable. "Different industries are like different mountains. We still encountered many problems, such as export procedures, quotation, performance, customs declaration, customs clearance, etc., but the problems in foreign trade procedures and service links were solved with the help of Alibaba." The relevant person in charge of the company said.

The company's main business is mattress products, but the requirements for domestic and foreign products are different. Dalian Zhicheng Furniture has specially designed products and production processes to solve the problem of differences in demand for Chinese and foreign products. As a large commodity, mattresses are quite challenging in the logistics and transportation links of cross-border retail. Smaller retail orders are difficult to make, while larger orders can be combined into shipping containers to save freight; spring mattresses can also save space by compressing them for export.

Dalian Zhicheng Furniture has fully developed its domestic e-commerce channels, and its international business department has also deployed Amazon and eBay platforms, but Alibaba International Station is still its main overseas sales channel. Last year, the company's mattress sales on e-commerce platforms and factories reached 360 million yuan, of which the e-commerce sales channel sales reached 200 million yuan, and the international station sales reached 7 million US dollars, accounting for 25% of the total.

"In 2021, our goal is to sell 1.3 million mattresses, with international sales reaching US$20 million and the channel share increasing to 35%. The company already has three international stores, with current sales exceeding US$10 million," said Dalian Zhicheng Furniture.

In the development plan of the international station channel, the company will give priority to the export of factory brands, while at the same time doing a good job in brand product accumulation, and developing distributors around the world from the international station to verify products and markets.

With this in mind, the company participated in the September Super Star Brand Project and the September Procurement Festival promotion. "We are very confident. We have achieved very good results in the March and September promotions at the international site in previous years." The traditional peak sales season is approaching, and furniture mattresses, as rigid consumer products, will usher in greater demand both on the C-end and the B-end, and sales performance is expected to increase.

The positive sales on the B side was once again confirmed by sellers. At the same time, B2B has also entered a high-speed development mode, which will help more cross-border sellers to further improve their performance in the future.

The B-end is improving and will usher in a "second spring" of development

Cao Lei, director of the China E-commerce Research Center, mentioned in the report "The Current Situation and Eight Trends of China's Cross-border Export E-commerce B2B" that at present, China's traditional export trade has been cold, while export e-commerce has grown rapidly against the trend; the B2B model has always been the main model of export e-commerce. In cross-border e-commerce, B2B has become the preferred model for small and medium-sized enterprises. This business is easier to sell in the early stage and is also convenient for arranging factory production. After 20 years of development, it has transformed from information services to transaction services and data services, ushering in a "second spring" of development.

In recent years, as other foreign trade profits have become increasingly slim, B2B companies have transformed into cross-border e-commerce. With the support of national policies, companies engaged in cross-border e-commerce export B2B business, such as Dalian Zhicheng Furniture and Shenzhen Zongwei Cube mentioned above, have also seen rapid growth in performance.

Since this year, more sellers in the industry have paid more attention to the B-end. One seller said that this year's C-end business has not achieved the expected growth, and most categories have entered a price war mode. Several partners held a meeting to discuss the gradual transformation to 2B business. Another seller said that he gradually found the joy of doing B-end business, and he didn't have to worry about dead accounts and dead inventory; some sellers even said that they wanted to try Alibaba International Station.

It is understood that Alibaba International Station is the world's largest cross-border B2B e-commerce platform, with sellers from more than 140 countries and regions and buyers from more than 200 countries and regions. In the first half of this year, the transaction volume of the International Station platform increased by 111% year-on-year.

Sellers who encounter bottlenecks on the C-end may wish to turn their attention to the B-end. Dalian Zhicheng Furniture, which has already tasted the sweetness, also gave a few suggestions to cross-border sellers who want to deploy international sites:

First, you need to do a good job of market research and positioning in the early stages;

Second, you need to rationally set goals based on the data provided by the e-commerce platform;

Third, whether it is e-commerce or business, in the past, people consulted information to obtain data, but now e-commerce platforms directly obtain a large amount of data. Therefore, it is necessary to make more effective decisions through data analysis, rather than blindly following the trend or making decisions on a whim. This is also the most important point.

Cross-border e-commerce has developed to this day, and the era of wild growth has ended. Sellers have realized that the idea of ​​"taking shortcuts to make quick money" is difficult to thrive in the long run, and future operations need to shift to intensive cultivation, and work harder on quality, brand, and high-quality supply. A tree with deep roots can withstand wind and rain. For sellers who value long-term development, dispersing risks through multi-channel sales has become a must.

B-side, sales, sellers