16 best-selling star brands are targeted, and there is a way out for Chinese sellers!

In May, a storm swept the cross-border e-commerce industry. Several Shenzhen top sellers had abnormal Amazon accounts one after another. As many as 16 star brand products were removed from the shelves and have not been restored to date. From the initial mentality of watching the melons to the panic of being swept by the tail of the typhoon, the platform sellers who witnessed this huge change began to feel uneasy and even thought of fleeing to independent sites.

In the field of independent websites, the seller group has quietly divided into three echelons. The early sellers are busy with promotion, while the big sellers who have climbed to the top of the pyramid have begun to open their arms to accept capital. How is the survival status of independent website sellers? What is the strategy of Nanjing-based companies such as SHEIN? Should platform sellers make plans? Which categories and markets are more suitable? How to build an independent website? Sean , the head of e-commerce for a certain brand in Nanjing, revealed them one by one.

16 star brands were targeted, and platform sellers called for independent websites

The news that several top sellers in the industry have been banned by third-party platforms has spread and attracted the attention of many financial media. Foreign media have also reported extensively.

Research firm Marketplace Pulse said that Amazon has suspended more than a dozen Chinese seller accounts due to fake review issues, including the two largest electronics brands on Amazon, M*** and A***, as well as V***, T***, A***, V***, S***, H***, H***, L***, T***, O***, T***, A***, H***, O***, etc. A total of at least 16 brands have been fined, and the total sales of the suspended sellers exceeded US$1 billion.

After blocking the account, Amazon also deleted the reviews of the brands involved. Among them, the number of reviews for a wireless headset product from M*** dropped sharply from over 66,000 to 14,000, and more than 50,000 reviews were deleted.

Big sellers were fined for violations. Some sellers were relieved that the competition was fairer, but many sellers said that if the lips and teeth are gone, they will be in trouble: "If big sellers are like this, small sellers have a weaker presence and it is like walking on thin ice to make money on other people's platforms." The sales channel is in the hands of others, which is equivalent to the life in the hands of others. This is the biggest concern of sellers about selling on third-party platforms. Therefore, the call for independent websites has risen again, which seems to be a safe haven for platform sellers.

Is now a good time to enter the game?

The best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago, and the second best time is now. Sean believes that products with a certain brand influence on third-party platforms can be given priority to build independent sites, so that they don’t have to start from scratch with certain endorsements.

Sellers should make a decision after fully weighing the pros and cons. " Judge whether you can calm down and study seriously, and not be carried away by the immediate interests. The core of the independent station is accumulation, accumulation of users, accumulation of brands. If something must be accumulated over time, then it must be a core competitiveness. " Sean said.

Standing at the top of the tower, the top independent sites are selling well and frequently receiving financing

"Low-key" is a common label for independent website sellers, and sales, company size, etc. are often unknown to the outside world. Sean pointed out the overview of the independent website field:

1. Early stage sellers are trying to find promotion channels and focus most of their energy on promotion ;

2. The mid-term type is practicing internal skills to improve labor efficiency and operational efficiency ;

3. In the later stage, we will focus on new projects, investment and mergers and acquisitions .

At present, most of the independent website sellers we have seen have embarked on the financing process.

SHEIN

SHEIN is in an absolute leading position in the field of cross-border e-commerce. The company's business is mainly fast fashion clothing, covering multiple categories such as clothing, accessories, shoes and bags, jewelry, home furnishings, beauty, home textiles, etc., mainly targeting consumer markets such as Europe, America, the Middle East, and India. In 2020, SHEIN's revenue was close to US$10 billion (about RMB 65.3 billion).

In April 2020, SHEIN completed hundreds of millions of dollars in Series E financing, with a valuation of over US$15 billion.

( Picture from Tianyancha )

Banggood Technology

The self-operated platform and the third-party platform are operated and developed in parallel. The main products of the self-operated platform cover 15 categories, totaling more than 400,000 kinds of goods. The products are mainly exported to the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Australia, Russia and other countries, and have a certain market share in the Middle East and East Africa. Banggu has currently had three financing experiences.

( Picture from Tianyancha )

Appen International

Aopeng started out as a clothing independent website cluster. At its peak, it had more than 1,000 clothing independent websites. It is now transforming from a distribution-type website cluster to a boutique independent website, creating multiple fashion brands in vertical segments. Lu Wei, chairman and CEO of Aopeng International, previously stated in a public speech that the company is the first seller in the website cluster field to achieve annual sales of 2 billion. In 2020, it received a 100 million yuan B round of financing.

(Picture from Appen’s official website)

In March this year , Nanjing Capeshi, a popular beach swimwear brand for women, received over 100 million yuan in strategic financing; in April, Xike Technology completed a $50 million Series B financing. Boosted by the epidemic, independent website sellers are accelerating their capitalization process.

The core of the big selling strategy: focus on products and supply chain

Nanjing has incubated digital independent sites such as SHEIN and Capeshi, which have become hot sellers. The Nanjing-based independent site strategy has also attracted much attention.

Sean analyzed: "Nanjing Damai is relatively patient and willing to dig deep instead of following the crowd. Their competitors have never been domestic peers, but international brands. In terms of product selection, their goal in the early stage is not high-profit products, but some products with high repurchase attributes, and they will cultivate their internal strength for a long time to improve service and repurchase rate, thereby reducing marketing investment in the later stage. "

Top sellers pay particular attention to products and supply chain.

SHEIN is a typical representative of deep-rooted supply chain management . In the cooperation conditions for suppliers, in addition to the supply scale and stable supply, SHEIN also requires timely delivery ( spot goods are shipped within 40 hours, and ready goods are shipped within 5 days ) , as well as innovation capabilities (independent R&D and design capabilities, new products > 30 models/month).

According to media reports, SHEIN launched 150,000 new items in 2019 , an average of more than 10,000 new items per month, and the pace is accelerating. In one month, an average of 2,000 new items were launched every day in the women's clothing category alone, including some accessories and old styles.

After receiving the B round of financing, Xike also stated that it will recruit high-end talents in areas such as the back-end supply chain. In addition, products are also a top priority.

Lu Wei, CEO of Aopeng , said that most boutique independent sites achieve sustained and healthy growth by considering how to increase the hit rate and extend the life cycle of hits. When talking about site GMV, there is a formula called the number of items × hit rate × hit life cycle = GMV. The difference between a site with monthly sales of 100,000 US dollars and a site with monthly sales of one million US dollars may be only a few hits. Distribution-type independent sites are more likely to create hits by constantly testing and launching new products, but because the connection between hits is not strong, it is difficult to ensure the continuity of hits and the continuous growth of sites. Visual extension and adding new application scenarios can extend the life cycle of hits.

The concept of product is king has spawned a number of independent websites that sell well. "A good product is one that reminds you of its specific appearance after hearing its brand name. For example, when you hear the name of Yeezy, you can imagine what it looks like," said Sean.

Platform sellers should pay attention to these when entering independent sites

Under the epidemic, independent websites have ushered in a wave of growth dividends. In the first quarter of this year, Jihong Co., Ltd.'s precision marketing cross-border e-commerce revenue was 635 million yuan, an increase of about 1.4 times year-on-year; Lechuang's independent website sales revenue increased even more, more than 8 times year-on-year.

From a functional perspective, independent websites that can accumulate customers and set their own rules are a safe haven for cross-border e-commerce sellers. However, when sellers first enter this field, the biggest challenge they face is the increase in marketing costs. With more sellers entering the market and more capital, industry competition will inevitably intensify.

Independent site sales are different from platform sales.

The initial work of an independent website is mainly promotion and customer service. When building a platform, sellers focus on traffic or products, but most independent websites should pay more attention to users. Solving problems for users is the core, so pay more attention to customer service. The problems they report need to be solved as soon as possible.

Another key point is traffic generation. Traffic generation channels must match users or products. Sean said that sellers must be clear about their positioning. Not all channels are suitable for promotion. For example, it is difficult for furniture sellers to do performance advertising on Snapchat or TikTok because the audiences are different . However, mainstream channels such as Google and Facebook have a wide audience and have all kinds of audiences .

Which markets and categories are more suitable for independent sites?

As for the market, Sean believes that the entry point should start from the European and American markets in the early stage, which is basically what domestic big sellers do , and the market is mature and the supporting facilities are mature. But there are also big sellers who take a different approach. For example, Jihong Co., Ltd.'s cross-border e-commerce business mainly focuses on Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and other regions, and North America accounts for a relatively low proportion of sales. However, the choice of sellers should focus on the industry. If you only look at the successful cases of domestic sellers and ignore your own advantages, you will easily be moved into the battlefield of your peers.

In terms of product selection, most of the sales on independent sites are clothing, because the market size is large enough, but the difficulty is that the size problem is serious. In addition, products that can be described in pure text and standard products are not suitable for independent sites. Products that can only be fully understood after looking at pictures have a greater chance on independent sites.

On May 25, the 5th China Cross-border E-commerce Network Marketing Conference will be held in Guangzhou. At that time, Sean, a veteran of independent websites, will give an in-depth explanation of " How the independent website with product as king was born ". Click "Read the original text" to register for the conference.