One order in 7 days, operation: Go home early for the New Year

After entering January, sellers have reported that the number of orders has declined further.

It's not a beheading, it's a beheading with the knees !

“This year is really weird! Although the order volume will drop after the peak season, it has never dropped to this extent!”

Earlier, Ennet reported on sales performance after the traditional peak season in Europe and the United States. At that time, many sellers said that the trend of declining orders was very obvious. They spent a lot of money on advertising, but the number of orders was not ideal. "I understand that this is the norm after the peak season, but I cannot understand the situation where there is no order . "

On multiple social media and other public platforms, there are more and more contents showing the number of orders, but the trend is almost uniformly downward, and many sellers say that the downward trend is getting worse.

"We sell clothing, both men's and women's clothing. I don't think there is a big difference between the peak season and the off-peak season. Relatively speaking, our profit margin is lower during the peak season. Generally speaking, from the second half of the year to January and February of the following year, our order volume is relatively stable, at a medium-to-high level. But this year is very strange. After late December, our stores began to plummet. Advertising expenses burned faster, but the conversion rate was surprisingly poor. "

According to the seller , in the half month from late December to now, the total sales of his store has dropped by 30% year-on-year, and one single store has dropped by more than 50% year-on-year .

" Today's advertising was $ 30 , sales were $7.99, and refunds were $ 40 . What kind of family is this? I lose 400 yuan a day to go to work . If I'm not charitable , who will be?" a seller complained on a social media platform.

Other sellers said that now they have no tacit understanding and dare not place an order. Doing so would feel like a knife stabbing their hearts. In the past, cross-border people would ask "how many orders were placed today" as if they were asking "have you eaten?", but now they would ask "2 orders today" and then get a response " you are better than me, I have 0 orders, hahahaha ".

Many sellers are frustrated that advertising fees do not bring conversion rates. " Sales are not enough to cover the advertising costs . I used the advertising fees to buy a bunch of rocks and throw them into the water, and there would still be some ripples. "

An operator mentioned to Ennet that when traffic and sales were declining at the beginning, he increased the bidding for advertising fees, but the effect was not ideal and only lasted for two days. After two days, the words that had previously generated orders were no longer available . After a few days, there was still no improvement, so he lowered the bidding again. " If I don't lower the bidding advertising , the orders will be less and less every day , and there will be no clicks . It's not enough to just spend money, there must be orders, otherwise I dare not speak during meetings . "

" It's getting worse day by day ! I'm woken up by the data at 4 a.m. every morning . I used to have $6,000 in sales after spending all my daily advertising expenses , but now I only have $2,000 after spending all my daily advertising expenses. This return cut is so bad that it makes me vomit blood."

According to feedback from other sellers and operations, sales performance after mid-January is even more pessimistic than in early January. "Sales have been bleak since January, and they've become worse and worse. Sales on the 10th were halved compared to those on the 4th, and the return rate is super high. Sales are also unevenly distributed over time. The sales I see when I wake up in the morning are basically the sales for the whole day. There are basically no orders from noon to the afternoon . "

“——Who is as miserable as me? I only got one order in 7 days .
——It ’s like a nightmare recently, catching up with the data during the new product period ;

——Sales and rankings are dropping , it’s driving me crazy ;

——The company is in a slump and the stores are not taking orders;

——I dare not open my eyes, hoping it is just my illusion ;

——It ’s not cut in half, it’s cut in half, only one third of last year ;

..."

One operator joked, " I don't want to go to work because I'm so tired . There are no orders coming in. Can the boss give me an early New Year's holiday? "

The number of orders has plummeted and the return rate has skyrocketed!

Some sellers attributed the continued sharp drop in order volume to the current extreme weather in the United States.

" The United States is experiencing a severe winter of fire and heavy snow, and people's enthusiasm for consumption has dropped rapidly . "

Although this extreme weather is limited to certain states and cities, unfortunately, some sellers said that their daily orders are concentrated in the disaster-stricken areas. " According to the ERP system statistics, California orders account for 52% of my share . "

Since January 7, wildfires have broken out in many places in Los Angeles, California , and the fires have been out of control . As of the 10th , more than 180,000 people have been evacuated and more than 10,000 buildings have been damaged, causing billions of dollars in losses.

Currently, the two largest wildfires in Los Angeles have not been further controlled. According to the California Fire Department report , the Palisades Fire has burned 23,700 acres of land and the current control rate is only 11% ; the Eaton Fire has burned 14,100 acres of land and the control rate is 15 %.

Because of the fire, many cross-border sellers have not only suffered from reduced consumer willingness, but also experienced delivery delays.

Fires broke out near popular warehouses such as LGB8 and LAX9 , and power outages have caused warehouses to be unable to operate. In addition, due to road control, truck delivery times are uncertain, but are expected to be delayed by at least 1 to 2 weeks. It is reported that warehouses such as FTW1, DFW6, and STL4 have been temporarily closed and have begun to postpone contracts on a large scale.

The situation in the eastern United States is not optimistic either. Extreme snowstorms are raging and delivery services are being severely affected. Not only is warehousing difficult, but delivery out of the warehouse is also not easy.

Many freight forwarders have reminded sellers that warehouses in disaster-stricken areas may be temporarily closed , and contract cancellations and postponements are unavoidable.

Moreover, many sellers ship their goods to the western United States, so the impact is widespread. "I care about this fire more than Americans do, and I am concerned about the situation in Los Angeles."

In addition to the decline in order volume, sellers have also mentioned the issue of return rate in recent times.

Several sellers said, " The return rate during the peak season in 2024 is a bit high. Every day when I open my eyes, I can see new return orders. They were sold in December and returned in January. I am a bit confused . "

" The number of orders plummeted, and the return rate soared . I didn't make much money in December, but I lost it all in January."

Data from Salesforce shows that global online sales reached a record $1.2 trillion in the 2024 holiday season (November 1 to December 31), a year-on-year increase of 3%, exceeding the $1.17 trillion in 2023.

But as of the time the report was released, the amount of online returns during the global holiday season had exceeded $122 billion , a 28% surge year-on-year.

Research by Manhattan Associates predicts that British consumers will return 67 million Christmas gifts worth £1.5 billion in 2024. Data from British express delivery service company Parcelhero shows that on January 2 alone , the number of returned packages peaked significantly, up 6.8% from the same period last year .

According to a Deloitte report, in 2024, the losses of sellers in the US market due to fraudulent returns and claims are expected to reach $103 billion , of which the return rate of e-commerce platforms will reach 24.5% . Optoro predicts that by 2025, the value of returns in the retail and e-commerce sectors will be slightly more than $1 trillion.

An American entrepreneur said on a social media platform, "Offline business in the United States is frighteningly bleak right now. Ordinary people are paying off their credit card debts every month, and they return the money they spend online."

Although the beginning of 2025 does not seem to be friendly to sellers, I hope that sellers can "start low and end high" in the future, overcome all the difficulties, and sell well every day.

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