The year-end bonuses of cross-border “cows and horses” have been credited

At the end of every year, the hard-working people in all walks of life look forward to their year-end bonuses, and the cross-border industry is no exception.

"Have you distributed the year-end bonus? How much? When will it be distributed..."

Year-end bonus? Some people dare not expect it, but some people have already received it

In the past few years, at the end of the year, there were often: operations year-end bonuses of hundreds of thousands or even millions, some people gave away cars as year-end bonuses, and some cross-border workers won millions of bonuses, and could buy a house in a first-tier city after a year of hard work ... "XX company issued a year-end bonus of XX million", "Someone else received a luxury car at the end of the year", and other such news were everywhere.

But since the year before last, some companies have announced that they will delay the payment of year-end bonuses. They didn’t say how long the delay would be, but there is a high probability that it will come to nothing in the end, after all, the market conditions have not improved significantly.

In comparison, there seems to be very little discussion about year-end bonuses in the cross-border circle this year, and there are almost no cross-border practitioners showing off their year-end bonuses on public platforms.

Is it because people have become more low-key or because there is no such thing as a "year-end bonus"? Maybe both.

From the information on social media platforms, we can see that many cross-border practitioners, especially those in operations positions, are talking about the lack of year-end bonuses:

“—I haven’t seen a year-end bonus since last year, and it’s even less likely this year;
——Each of us received a JD.com E-card worth RMB 1,000 as a year-end bonus;

——Year-end bonus, such a strange word;

——I’ll be content if you don’t issue a salary reduction notice;

——There is no year-end bonus, only year-end summary ;

..."

The results of a voting survey showed that nearly 40% of cross-border practitioners chose "no year-end bonus", another 30% chose "year-end bonus of 1,000-3,000", and 20% chose "more than 5,000, which was expected", and the remaining more than 10% received a relatively satisfactory year-end bonus.

From interviews conducted by Yien.com with some cross-border practitioners, it can be seen that many people indeed said that there will be no year-end bonus in 2024, or said that "the company said it will issue it, but the specific standards, how to issue it, how much to issue, and when to issue it have not yet been determined."

But some practitioners were happy to share that they had received their year-end bonuses and were ready to work their last shift before the Spring Festival and go home to celebrate the New Year.

According to Ennet, although the cross-border seller circle in 2024 is not as active as in previous years and the sellers' cries of misery are getting louder and louder, there are still many sellers who have achieved increased profits in the past year, so the year-end bonus that team members can get is not low.

The operator told Yien.com that he received a year-end bonus of more than 60,000 yuan last year, which had already been deposited into his bank card .

"It is indeed much more difficult than before, but the gross profit performance of the products I am responsible for, whether old or new, is good, so my year-end bonus is more than 60,000 yuan."

It is reported that the company to which the operation belongs mainly deals in household products. Throughout last year, the boss took the lead in drastically cutting off listings with weak profitability. At the same time, he spent a lot of effort and was not afraid of cost losses to conduct market testing on new products, and finally launched two relatively strong products.

The operator mentioned that although the new product's sales volume is not as good as the old product, the profit margin is very high. At the same time, the annual sales of the old product has increased by more than 3 times . "Although our annual sales are only tens of millions, the overall net profit is high, and the team is only 10 people, so in addition to the daily commission, the year-end bonus everyone received this time is also quite good."

Another clothing category operator said that the sales of the listings he was responsible for reached several million US dollars in the past year, including a new product listing that made nearly 1 million US dollars in sales from 0 to 1 , and he received a year-end bonus of nearly 50,000.

"In fact, the commission rate was already reduced last year, but fortunately our sales volume increased, so even if the year-end bonus was calculated based on the previous commission rate, it was still acceptable. In addition, the new products performed well, and I hope that these listings will still be strong in the new year."

Another person in charge of the operation of stent products achieved sales of 60,000 US dollars for the new product in just a few days in December and received a year-end bonus of nearly 10,000 RMB.

A seller mentioned to Yien.com that at the company's annual meeting, nearly 1 million yuan in year-end bonuses were prepared for 40 employees.

Not long ago, the year-end bonuses of shipping giants such as Evergreen and Yang Ming were announced, making many workers envious.

According to media reports, Evergreen Marine this year issued 20 months' salary year-end bonuses to employees . Benefiting from the recovery of freight rates, Evergreen Marine's revenue in the first three quarters of last year far exceeded NT$347.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 67.98% , and its net profit after tax reached NT$108.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 239.4%.

In addition, Yang Ming Marine Transport also stated that the year-end bonus is expected to be as high as 12 months' salary, as well as dividends equivalent to 6 months' salary . Currently , 5.5 months' salary is pre-paid as the year-end bonus. The final year-end bonus will have to wait until the full-year financial report is finalized in March. However, the industry estimates that there is still room for additional payment.

"The current situation can still create many possibilities." Even though cross-border e-commerce will become increasingly stringent with compliance requirements starting in 2022, coupled with inflation and other factors leading to consumption downgrades, sellers will suffer in the increasingly difficult industry, and workers will suffer even more with declining wages and difficulty finding jobs. However, there are still many teams that can adjust strategies in a timely manner in terms of products, operations, advertising, etc., thereby enabling the company's performance to continue to grow.

"There is no limit to the price war, no risk", sellers' profits doubled

Different companies calculate year-end bonuses in different ways, and daily commission points may also affect the final year-end bonus. But there is no doubt that year-end bonuses are a barometer of corporate performance. Only when the company makes money can it pay employees.

Although it was often said that cross-border business was difficult last year, when counting profits at the end of the year, feedback from sellers showed that quite a few made money.

Regarding the profit performance in 2024, a seller survey showed that 30 % of respondents said "profits soared", 45% of respondents said "profits increased slightly or remained the same as in 2023" , and another 10% of respondents said "profits declined, but within a controllable range."

"Each platform's profitability is definitely different. Take Amazon for example . Last year, our sales and net profit on Amazon increased significantly. Sales increased ninefold, and profits increased more than twofold . "

The seller mentioned above also mentioned that he made a lot of money last year and planned to buy a new house with full payment.

From the perspective of overall revenue, many sellers mentioned that "there are fewer and fewer orders that can be sold, so more and more attention is paid to profit returns, and cost reduction and efficiency improvement are still the most important core focuses." Therefore, for these sellers, revenue may increase slightly or remain the same, but the profit level has grown significantly compared with the past.

A seller told Ennet, "In fact, the overall trend of the categories of our old products was downward last year, so the company once thought about increasing prices, but after a few days of waiting, we found that there seemed to be no lower limit to the increase, and a pure price war would definitely lose. In the end, we insisted on the principle of 'profit first' . At the same time, we did not blindly follow the trend and frantically expand new products, so the profit for the whole year was preserved. "

However, this does not mean that the seller has not paid attention to new products on the market. "We have actually developed several products that we feel are promising since September, and we plan to launch them into the market for testing after the new year. Of course, we will still test them on a small scale to control the cost expenditure."

Sellers have different focuses for reducing costs and increasing efficiency, starting with team size or product materials. In any case, the final result will be presented in the year-end financial statements.

Judging from the annual meetings, many sellers are "big-ticket": the lowest meal price is 800 yuan per person, and some are as high as 2,000 yuan per person. In addition, many sellers organize team trips to other places for group building.

Some small and medium-sized sellers are reporting good news, and the performance forecasts of listed big sellers have also released some good news.

On January 6, auto parts giant Daotong Technology released its 2024 annual performance forecast , saying that according to preliminary estimates by the financial department, its full-year revenue last year is expected to reach 3.8 billion yuan to 4 billion yuan , an increase of 549 million yuan to 749 million yuan compared to 2023 , an increase of 16.88 % to 23.03% .

In terms of net profit, it is estimated that the net profit attributable to the parent company's owners in 2024 will be 620 million yuan to 680 million yuan , which will increase by 441 million yuan to 500 million yuan compared with the same period last year , a year-on-year surge of 245.92% to 279.39% ; the non-net profit will be 520 million yuan to 580 million yuan , which will increase by 153 million yuan to 213 million yuan compared with the same period last year, a year - on - year increase of 41.76% to 58.11%.

Relying on the advantages of product and technological innovation , Daotong Technology has maintained its leading position in the industry over the past year.

In 2024 , Daotong Technology's digital maintenance business achieved operating income of approximately RMB 2.95 billion to RMB 3.09 billion ; at the same time, it seized the new energy trend to develop new businesses, and the digital energy business also brought it approximately RMB 830 million to RMB 890 million in revenue .

Earlier than Daotong Technology, tool-selling giant Superstar Technology released its performance forecast for the past year on December 21.

Due to the recovery of consumption in the North American tool market, the sales volume of its products has increased significantly. At the same time, the company's production capacity efficiency in Southeast Asia has improved. Therefore, it is expected that the full-year revenue will increase by more than 35% year-on-year, and the company's profit will also increase significantly year-on-year.

In 2024, Giant Technology expects its net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies to reach RMB 2.284 billion to RMB 2.537 billion , and its non - net profit to reach RMB 2.292 billion to RMB 2.546 billion . Both financial data will increase by 35% to 50% year-on-year .

Although many big sellers have not yet announced their 2024 performance, combined with their performance in the first three quarters and the traditional Q4 peak season, securities companies are optimistic, such as:

Minsheng Securities predicts that SDIC's full-year revenue will reach 9.423 billion yuan and its net profit will reach 368 million yuan;

Kaiyuan Securities, Southwest Securities, Guosen Securities and others estimate Zhiou Technology's full-year revenue to range from 7.8 billion yuan to 8.2 billion yuan, and their net profit forecasts are all around 400 million yuan;

Minsheng Securities, Soochow Securities and Kaiyuan Securities estimate that Huakai Yibai's full-year revenue will reach between 8.7 billion yuan and 9.3 billion yuan, and its net profit will range from 295 million yuan to 396 million yuan.

Needless to say, Anker Innovations, as a billion-level global giant, has achieved good results year after year with its various consumer electronics products, and its revenue is expected to exceed 20 billion yuan in 2024. According to the third-quarter financial report data, six securities companies including Tianfeng Securities and Pacific Securities all predicted that Anker Innovations' annual revenue could reach about 24 billion yuan, and its net profit could reach 2 billion to 2.2 billion yuan.

The dividends from 2021 to 2023 also show that its performance is booming, with the cash dividend amount increasing from 325 million yuan and 488 million yuan to 813 million yuan.

Cross-border transactions are difficult? Chinese sellers account for more than half of Amazon's platform

Every year, people say that cross-border transactions are becoming increasingly difficult, but what can be noticed is that a large number of entrants continue to emerge.

Data shows that the number of registrations of cross-border e-commerce related companies has increased significantly in the past 10 years , increasing by 43.97% in 2023 compared to 2022 ; and it increased sharply in 2024.

A search on Qichacha using only the keyword "cross-border e-commerce" revealed that there are nearly 100,000 related companies (98,900), and more than 19,200 new companies have been added in the past year , with the largest number of new companies in Anhui, Hubei, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces.

The seller data from platforms such as Amazon and Walmart can also support this.

The latest research from Marketplace Pulse points out that by 2024, Chinese sellers will account for more than half of the market share on Amazon .

Specifically, more than 50% of the popular sellers on the Amazon platform are from China , American sellers account for about 45% , and some Chinese sellers have registered company addresses in the United States, so the actual proportion of Chinese sellers will only be higher than 50% .

Even if the seller activity level is used as the standard, the proportion of Chinese sellers is still high, and even higher among the active sellers on the platform.

In February last year , Amazon also mentioned in its annual report submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that Chinese sellers are of great significance . It is undeniable that in the past decade , the share of Chinese sellers in various Amazon sites has continued to grow.

In November 2024, Amazon launched its low-price mall Amazon Haul . According to Marketplace Pulse data, 100% of Amazon Haul sellers are located in China .

In 2024, Amazon 's GMV is expected to reach approximately US$750 billion , of which the vast majority is completed by third-party sellers ( over US$500 billion). Based on the activity of Chinese sellers, the hot sales of Chinese sellers' products, and the number of new Chinese sellers, it is not difficult to estimate that Chinese sellers' sales in various Amazon markets will reach hundreds of billions of dollars .

It is undeniable that on the Amazon platform, in the BS list of most subcategories , products from Chinese sellers occupy a very large proportion of the list . The products of just one seller can account for more than half of the TOP50 rankings, not to mention that there are other Chinese sellers in the same category.

Taking 3D printing, power banks, headphones, sweepers, lawn mowers, women's clothing, yoga clothes, storage racks and other segmented products as examples, almost all the products occupying the top row of Amazon's BS list are from Chinese sellers, and some can even beat Amazon's own giant brands, covering various tracks such as home furnishings, consumer electronics, and clothing.

Although since a "wave of account bans" in 2021, both big and small sellers have been severely damaged, and since then, the compliance requirements of the Amazon platform have become more and more numerous and stringent, and various fees and costs have continued to increase, but as the European and American cross-border e-commerce platform with the largest traffic pool and user pool, it still has huge opportunities, attracting a large number of Chinese sellers to settle in.

In addition to Amazon, there are also many Chinese sellers on the Walmart platform.

Marketplace Pulse research in April 2024 showed that three-quarters of new sellers on Walmart’s platform were from China , surpassing the record set the previous month.

Specifically , 73% of new active sellers on Walmart's platform in April were from China, breaking the record of 67% set in March .

Since Walmart opened up to international sellers outside the US market in March 2021 , except for a small number of sellers from India, Canada, the United Kingdom and Vietnam, the vast majority of sellers are located in China.

It can be seen that Chinese sellers’ overseas expansion is still mainly based on platforms such as Amazon. It can also be seen that, year by year, the power of Chinese sellers on the major cross-border e-commerce giants’ platforms has become increasingly stronger.

Europe and the United States slowed down but did not stop, and China's cross-border exports still soared

GKF data shows that in 2024, Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Temu, SHEIN , AliExpress, and TikTik Shop are expected to ship about 4 billion pieces to EU countries.

What attracts sellers to keep pouring in must be the huge potential money-making opportunities.

The report by Appriss Retail and Deloitte mentioned that the overall sales of the US retail market will reach approximately US$ 5.2 trillion in 2024 .

The fourth quarter is a time of many holidays in Europe and the United States, and consumer enthusiasm is high. Many sellers only need one quarter to reverse the losses in the first three quarters of the year and turn them into profits, and their profits can even increase several times over the previous year.

The 2024 U.S. Holiday Retail Spending Report released by Visa shows that in the seven weeks starting from November 1, U.S. holiday consumption increased by 4.8% year-on-year , with e-commerce leading the growth rate, and online shopping spending increased by 7.1% year-on-year. It is estimated that in November and December , total holiday spending in the United States will reach US$979.5 billion to US$989 billion.

During the Christmas holiday alone , Adobe data showed that total online sales by U.S. consumers reached $241.4 billion, an increase of 8.7% year-on-year, setting a new e-commerce sales record , with more than 1 trillion consumer visits and 100 million product SKUs purchased online .

Black Friday is a traditional sales season. According to the latest report of the British Retail Consortium ( BRC) , total retail consumption in the UK increased by 3.2% year-on-year in the four weeks ending December 28, the largest increase since March. After Christmas, 65% of British consumers still plan to shop online.

It's not just the UK. Although the online retail sales in European markets such as Germany, France, and the Netherlands will not increase much in 2024, they are still growing positively. And for most sellers, although the European market has many compliance requirements, high taxes and fees, and fewer orders, the profit margin is much higher than that of the North American market .

Whether in Europe, America or Southeast Asia, Chinese sellers have found more opportunities in the huge red ocean and blue ocean. The huge volume, low e-commerce penetration rate and extremely high growth rate are all important factors that help Chinese sellers go overseas .

According to the data from the General Administration of Customs , China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 1.88 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of 2024, an increase of 11.5% year-on-year, both of which set historical records. Guangdong, Zhejiang , Henan and other places are still the leaders in cross-border e-commerce export business.

The total volume of cross-border e-commerce imports and exports in Guangdong Province jumped from 11.3 billion yuan in 2015 to 843.3 billion yuan in 2023, expanding 75 times in 8 years and growing at an average annual rate of 71.4%. It reached 427.34 billion yuan in the first half of last year, accounting for more than 1/3 of the country's total, and its scale has remained the largest in the country.

In the first half of 2024, the export volume of cross-border e-commerce in Zhejiang Province reached 180 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.5%, 21.6 percentage points higher than the national average. Among them, the total volume of cross-border e-commerce cargo exported from Hangzhou Airport alone reached a record high of 127,200 tons in 2024, far exceeding last year's 73,600 tons, a year-on-year increase of 72.8%, accounting for 70.27% of the total export cargo volume .

The cross-border e-commerce import and export volume of Henan Bonded Logistics Park reached more than 24.1 billion yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 26.03% ; the number of cross-border e-commerce import and export orders totaled about 78 million, a year-on-year increase of 31.09%, setting a new historical high.

Going overseas to engage in e-commerce still provides huge profit opportunities for many sellers.

Cross-border

Year-end bonus