Starting today, multiple cost increases will take effect!

It seems to be the same in recent years. At the beginning of the new year, many sellers in the cross-border circle began to worry about the market and costs. On social media platforms, many sellers said that sales fell sharply in February this year.

Although the market is temporarily cold, the goods prepared before the New Year have basically been sold out, and sellers have started a new round of replenishment. However, it seems that the cost pressure this year has increased compared to the past. From the perspective of shipping service fees alone, sellers are going to "bleed" again.

Multiple costs of the first and last leg have increased

Every year, Amazon makes some changes to the fees on the seller side, from platform commissions to FBA storage fees, etc., and a series of additional fees are inevitable during the peak season.

This year, Amazon has made many changes in logistics costs alone.

For example, the newly added "warehouse configuration service fee" officially took effect today . The warehouse configuration fee refers to the cost incurred by Amazon in the process of allocating inventory to the corresponding operation center. Some sellers said that this fee may reduce their profits by 3 percentage points .

If the seller selects the wrong warehouse or deletes the shipment before delivery , he may be charged a higher configuration fee . In addition , additional fees such as warehousing defect fees may also be incurred , which means that the profit margin may be reduced.

As the cost of the last leg increases, can we expect the cost of the first leg to be balanced? The answer may disappoint the seller.

Since the fourth quarter of last year, the rising trend of first-leg freight rates has not returned to normal levels, and recently shipping companies such as Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have also issued fee adjustment announcements .

Similar to Amazon’s warehouse configuration service fee, Maersk’s adjustment of the peak season surcharge ( PSS ) rates for some routes , as well as new rates for North American demurrage and detention fees, also came into effect today .

Maersk's official website shows that from today , it will increase the demurrage and detention charges for goods shipped to/from the United States, Canada and Mexico worldwide . For example, the import and export rates for all levels and equipment types in Canada and Mexico will increase by US$20 ; the rates for all levels and equipment types in the United States will increase by US$20, which only applies to import demurrage and import and export detention charges.

Effective March 1 , Hapag-Lloyd will adjust freight rates by $500-$800 for 20-foot and 40-foot dry cargo, refrigerated and special containers (including high-cube equipment) from Asia to Latin America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America .

The seller's cost scale adds another yard.

At the end of last year, affected by the Red Sea crisis, international freight rates soared by 600%. In less than half a month, the freight rate on the route increased from 1,000+ USD /FEU to 6,000+ USD /FEU .

The Red Sea crisis has lasted for more than four months, but there is still no sign of ending . In recent times, the Yemeni Houthi armed forces have launched several attacks and several cargo ships have been hit.

Many international logistics practitioners believe that as long as the Red Sea crisis is not resolved, freight rates will continue to rise . Coinciding with the Chinese New Year, there is still a backlog of goods at many ports, and industry insiders said that the shipping market is still volatile.

Although the freight rate has dropped, it is still much higher than the daily level. During this small peak period of stocking, will sellers give up the cross-border e-commerce market due to cost issues? Not necessarily.

The net profit of the big sale was over 100 million, and the giant platform earned 30 billion US dollars

Recently, a number of listed companies in the cross-border circle have announced their annual performance in 2023. Judging from the performance results, even though everyone is complaining about the difficulties of the current cross-border market, there is still profit to be made.

In the past year, Huakai Yibai made a net profit of 320 million to 355 million yuan, an increase of 47.99% to 64.18% compared with 2022. Among them, its cross-border e-commerce business , Yibai Network, is expected to achieve revenue of approximately 6.4 billion to 6.6 billion yuan, and net profit may reach 490 million to 510 million yuan.

Zhiou Technology, a home furnishing giant that went public only last year, also stated in an announcement that its net profit in 2023 will reach 400 million yuan to 420 million yuan, an increase of 59.93% to 67.92% over the same period last year .

Let’s look at the performance of Amazon, a cross-border e-commerce platform: In 2023, Amazon’s net sales reached US$574.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12% from 2022; net profit was US$304, an increase of US$33.1 billion from the net loss of US$2.7 billion in 2022.

Among them, third-party seller services contributed $140 billion in revenue to Amazon. Marketplace Pulse data shows that Amazon 's global GMV totaled $700 billion last year, an increase of 11% year-on-year , of which the third-party market ( platform third-party sellers ) sales reached $480 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13% .

Since 2019, the third-party market has continued to grow , driving Amazon's global GMV to a record high in 2023. From 2019 to 2023, Amazon's GMV more than doubled (increased by $365 billion), of which the third-party market contributed about 75% of the GMV increase . To this day, thousands of new sellers are still entering Amazon every day .

Not only individual sellers, overseas platforms are also expanding vigorously.

Temu has attracted over 200 million users in just over a year since its launch and has opened sites in nearly 50 markets around the world. According to data, Temu's GMV reached approximately US$16 billion from January to November 2023 .

Last year, SHEIN opened up a model for third-party sellers to enter the platform, and TikTok Shop achieved great results in markets such as Southeast Asia. It is also reported that TikTok Shop will open 8 new sites this year .

A June 2023 report by the U.S. Congress showed that SHEIN and Temu sent a total of nearly 600,000 packages to the United States and nearly 400,000 packages to Germany every day; according to the latest data from freight consulting firm Cargo Facts, SHEIN, Temu, Aliexpress and TikTok ship more than 10,000 tons of goods overseas every day.

Various data from sellers and platforms all prove the popularity of the cross-border market, but it also means that competition is fierce. Coupled with rising costs, sellers' profit margins have become smaller.

With reliable logistics support, sellers compete for the cross-border circle in 2024

The market competition is already fierce. How can sellers try to maintain their profits as much as possible in such a situation?

In addition to seizing various major promotional events, improving product advantages and differentiation, and making these key preparations for victory, logistics timeliness is also a key link that affects sellers' sales market.

Just talking about the first-leg logistics, cases of being "backstabbed" by unreliable freight forwarders are not uncommon in the cross-border circle , and sellers are repeatedly cautious about this.

With 56 branches and 327 stations in 36 countries around the world , Samsung SDS ranks among the top 20 third-party logistics service providers in the world . It has reached in-depth cooperation with many shipping companies and airlines , and can provide sellers with timeliness advantages for their orders to a great extent.

Samsung SDS 's Qinlujie digital international logistics platform provides standardized processes + digital customized services , and is very transparent in terms of logistics quotations and transportation processes . Its business content includes comprehensive e-commerce logistics, cross-border small packages, sea freight FCL, sea freight LCL, international air transportation, and China-Europe express trains .

Now, become a member of the Qinlujie platform and you will have the opportunity to get the author's autographed cross-border e-commerce book "Growth Flywheel 2 : 50 Lectures on Creating Cross-border E-commerce Amazon Hot Products " :

This book is written by Lao Wei , the founder of Ying Shang Hui . It brings together his decades of practical experience in cross-border operations and the essence of knowledge on creating hot products. The content covers operational dry goods such as product selection and product optimization, advertising placement, and spiral hot product creation . His original spiral hot product creation practice can create a hot product in as fast as 42 days .

The specific cycle is :

Week 1   Activate sales and achieve zero sales

Week 2   The maintenance weight continues to rise , and the orders are kept stable.

Week 3   Ranking position , sales continue to rise, BSR ranking enters the top 100

Week 4-5   Micro-profit range , average daily sales of 20+ orders , BSR ranking in the top 20

Week 6 and beyond   Average daily sales volume is over 30 orders , and BSR ranking is stable in the top 20 ( head area )

With a series of specific cycle plans and the specific operational strategy guidance in the book , it is not difficult to create a hit product .

Note: Only 20 copies are available for giveaway , first come first served .

You will also have the opportunity to enjoy three spring gifts. If you place your first order on the SamsungSDs Qinlujie platform, you will receive a 400 yuan JD card . If you recommend others to make shipments, you can also receive an additional 200 yuan JD card (infinitely stackable) . Those who are interested can scan the QR code above to add customer service for more details.

cost

rise