A small team earns 1 million yuan a year! Sellers: Don’t start a business if you’re new to it

"Don't start a business, Xiaobai, it's a waste of money!"

The data from Zhiyouji clearly shows that the demand for operational talents in the cross-border e-commerce industry has been extremely hot since the beginning of 2024, with the growth rate much higher than the same period last year. Amazon has become the highlight of all platforms. The number of Amazon operations recruitment positions nationwide in 2024 has soared by 316% year-on-year compared with 2023.

The recruitment situation in 2024 shows the attitude of cross-border sellers towards the entire industry. "Although a large number of peers complain about the poor cross-border environment every year, there are still many people who make a lot of money and continue to expand..." said an industry insider.

The booming cross-border e-commerce has helped batches of practitioners realize their dream of becoming bosses, and has also given many small and medium-sized players hope of launching an impact on becoming big sellers or going public.

"Is it too late for me to work on my own now?" In 2024, a new batch of workers began to think about quitting their jobs to start their own businesses. Those who acted quickly have already embarked on the road of working on their own, eager for good things to happen to them.

In this regard, those who have experienced it have predicted the outcome based on the actual situation: newbies without any advantages will definitely lose! These three types of people still have a chance.

Life is good! Cross-border players of different sizes have produced outstanding representatives

" Currently, the company's small team has only four people. This year's goal is to maintain a profit of 1 million and strive for 1.5 million. Amazon's per capita output value ceiling is very high." A small and beautiful player who mainly deals with Amazon is optimistic about this year's market. It is understood that it is now mainly pursuing profit maximization rather than sales growth. Therefore, there is no need to recruit people this year. Instead, it will improve everyone's labor efficiency output through a performance system, which will reduce the company's costs while increasing the comprehensive income of employees.

Coincidentally, another Amazon seller also insisted on a small but beautiful development strategy, believing that entrepreneurship should not have a gambler mentality. He just quit his job to start a business, and is now basically fighting alone. "I have seen too many cases of peers expanding and losing money while working. In just a few years, Amazon has become more and more difficult to do business. Maybe this year's products are very hot, so I impulsively opened funds and shipped them. Next year, these goods will become inventory that cannot be cleared, causing huge financial pressure."

From increasing investment in product categories to focusing on core products, the industry insider "Factory Manager in the Wind" successfully turned losses into profits. The factory manager said that the company's Amazon business lost more than 1 million in 2022. After learning lessons from it, most of the product lines were cut off, leaving only very profitable products, and finally some results were achieved.

Many industry insiders, such as the factory manager, believe that cross-border practitioners, especially small and micro sellers, should build a small and beautiful team, first talk about survival and then talk about development. However, "small and beautiful" is not suitable for all players. Depending on the size of the company, cross-border players can formulate different development strategies. Let's take a look at the details:

Small and micro sellers: Focus all your energy on a single platform and gain a foothold on one platform first. Taking multiple platforms into consideration will not only disperse your energy, but you will also fail to excel on each platform, which will not be worth the effort in the end.

Small and medium-sized sellers : Try to expand as many channels as possible , but focus on one platform and use other platforms as supplementary . Sellers with conditions can try to build an independent website, which requires dedicated personnel because there is a slight difference between the public domain and the private domain.

Large e-commerce sellers : Cover all channels including Amazon, independent websites, T emu and other platforms . It is best to have a separate team for each channel .

Is it too late to quit your job and start your own business? Industry insiders: These three types of people are still suitable for this

"Do you want to partner with me to start Amazon? The other party will be responsible for the money, and I will be responsible for the operation. I am afraid that there will be disputes over the distribution of money later, but I am very tempted..."

" I have already submitted my resignation application and turned my side business into my main business. Now the income from my Amazon side business exceeds that of my main business. After I start working alone, I can focus on running my own store. "

At the beginning of 2024, more and more people are considering leaving their jobs to start businesses on platforms such as Amazon. The development trend of cross-border e-commerce in recent years looks very good. Whether it is cross-border workers, domestic e-commerce sellers, or novices without e-commerce foundation, they have all turned their attention to this industry. In the view of many industry insiders such as factory managers, these three types of people still have opportunities:

First, there are people with supply chain advantages, such as manufacturers with production advantages, traditional foreign trade companies that are more familiar with the market and supply chain, etc. Affected by the overall environment, their original ways of making money are becoming narrower and narrower, but B2C still has a vast space for development, and one thing that cannot be ignored is that their own supply chain foundation happens to be an important condition for cross-border business.

The second is e-commerce experts, who have rich e-commerce experience, whether they are domestic or foreign sellers, among which product selection is a very important trait. As AI replaces many operational tasks, the role of operations is weakened, and the importance of product strength is gradually highlighted. In the future, it will be more important to find products suitable for foreign markets.

Then there are people with strong product R&D and design. These people have the ability to create original hit products. Original hit products can improve the company's economies of scale, increase revenue certainty, and reduce marginal costs. It is worth noting that overseas patents should be registered in a timely manner.

Finally, there are the motivated second-generation rich. These people have sufficient funds and enthusiasm. Through continuous trial and error with money, they will definitely gain a lot of experience, and then turn that experience into motivation to make money.

The cost of doing cross-border e-commerce is too high! Newbies with no advantages should not enter the market

"Cross-border e-commerce has an entry threshold. Those newbies who have no competitive advantage should stop entering the market. It is a waste of money and time." People in the industry said that with the rise of full-trust management, the cross-border threshold has been lowered, and many outsiders have entered the market. Cross-border e-commerce has gradually changed from a niche money-making industry in the beginning to a traditional sales channel. This is no longer the era where a capital of tens of thousands of yuan can generate millions of revenue.

"Starting a business on Amazon is an asset-heavy investment. Before you even make any money, you may have been crushed by all the costs." A seller said that there are more and more pitfalls in doing business on Amazon now. It is common for peers to post bad reviews, make malicious complaints, etc. It is also easy for accounts and brands to have problems. The annual increase in logistics costs has further reduced profits.

Take the platform's latest warehouse configuration fee as an example. A large number of sellers have to pay hundreds of dollars or even more for nothing. Those who sell low-priced products, which already have meager profits, have now become "philanthropists". In fact, Amazon sellers have to pay a lot of money. They have to pay advertising fees to promote products, abandonment fees to throw away products, storage fees to store products, delivery fees to ship products, and fees for low inventory if they sell quickly, and fees for long-term storage if they sell slowly...

"There is definitely no chance of getting rich overnight by selling on Amazon," the seller said.