Traffic has dropped significantly! Many sellers have low order volume

Product sales are declining, have you been affected?

It is said that the new year brings a new beginning, but in the field of cross-border e-commerce, a large-scale decline in orders after the Spring Festival has arrived as expected. Sellers on many cross-border platforms, including Amazon and Walmart, said that store traffic is very bleak, orders have been halved, and sometimes even zero . Some foreign trade factories are also unable to escape the crisis of declining orders. A leading foreign trade company in Shenzhen had to announce that the Spring Festival holiday would be extended by more than two months.

While the number of orders has been declining recently, cross-border sellers have also found that product operating costs are getting higher and higher. With the warehousing configuration service fee officially taking effect, Amazon sellers have to think further: How to maintain a certain profit amid the decline in order volume and the impact of low prices?

Traffic has dropped significantly! Many sellers have low order volume

As 2024 approaches , cross-border sellers generally find that traffic has declined too severely.

One of the Amazon sellers said that the traffic in the product category has dropped by about 20% to 30%, which is roughly reflected in the fact that the order volume of a certain seasonal product has not changed much, but the product ranking has moved up by more than 20 places.

Another Amazon seller, Xiao Zhang, also said that the platform's total traffic is declining, and the current category traffic has basically dropped by more than half . What's worse is that product orders have also plummeted .

The seller stated in detail that product sales were still impressive in January this year, but began to show a steady downward trend after entering February. In order to save this situation, the company decided to increase its investment in advertising expenses, which only slightly increased product sales. However, overall, product profits in February fell sharply.

Unlike this seller who increased his advertising investment to increase his sales, many sellers have no effect even if they spend a lot of money on advertising. Xiao Li said that after increasing the advertising budget for the product and raising the bid, the conversion rate did not improve, and the total traffic and organic ranking still decreased.

A group of Walmart sellers are also complaining.

"Walmart has no traffic and it's the off-season, so its sales have been going downhill, but the advertising fees are being spent happily..." Many Walmart sellers said that the difference in traffic on the platform between the off-season and the peak season is too large. The store's sales have been poor since Christmas. Some sellers even had no orders for half a month. The order volume was so outrageous that they once suspected that there was a problem with their account.

This wave of declining orders not only affects Amazon and Walmart sellers, but has also been experienced by a large number of sellers on other platforms. Are all sellers' orders declining? The answer is definitely no. According to sellers' observations, the orders of the top sellers who have been at the top of their categories for many years seem to remain "strong", while the sales of many competitors have increased sharply.

Costs are rising year by year. Sellers: Where is the way to increase profits?

After a decline in orders, the two methods commonly adopted by sellers are to lower product prices and increase advertising spending.

Compared with advertising investment, one seller said that price reduction is more useful to him, and cost-effectiveness is still the main factor in attracting consumers to place orders. Spending money on advertising may increase store traffic, but if the price is not right, consumers will still not place orders. In fact, there are many sellers with the same idea, which has also led to a decline in the average order value of the entire category.

"Old competitors on Amazon are better, their price cuts are not too outrageous, but the newbies are really aggressive, they start with the lowest price." Xiao Liu said helplessly that the platform fees are getting higher every year, but the product prices are not going up...

It can be said that Amazon sellers occupy half of the cross-border e-commerce exports. Recently, Amazon sellers have been complaining about the increase in advertising fees, as well as the issue of rising logistics costs.

Xiao Zhang said that the biggest challenge he is facing right now is the inventory placement fee. Amazon started charging inventory placement fees on March 1, and this fee standard is still quite high for him. "FBA charges more meticulously. If a product packaging is 1 cm different, the fee may increase by 0.4 US dollars, which is much more than before."

Xiao Li also said that after the new policy takes effect, the store will charge up to US$2 for a large product , but the current profit of this product is actually very slim. As the new policy takes effect, the profit will be greatly compressed. In addition, the market situation is unclear, so he has to consider whether to abandon this product.

Sellers generally stated that they would need to study the delivery fee table more carefully in the future and make sure to allow for packaging size errors when developing products.

Yienjun learned that product packaging is a point where sellers are very likely to fall into traps. Product packaging may be deformed during transportation. For example, the charging standard for a product is based on a side length of 45cm. If the product packaging is originally less than 45cm, and the packaging is deformed so that the side length exceeds 45cm, then the seller will have to pay more delivery fees due to the small error.

As orders decline, operating costs are also rising year by year. Cross-border sellers are aware of the importance of reducing costs and increasing efficiency. More and more sellers are adopting methods such as improving labor efficiency and reducing expenses in various details.

Order status affected ! Shenzhen foreign trade giant gives employees a long holiday

Platform sellers are having a hard time, and the factories that are closely connected with the sellers are also feeling the chill.

Due to market changes this year, order status was affected, and a leading foreign trade company in Shenzhen announced that the Spring Festival holiday would be extended by more than two months.

It stated in detail that the holiday time will be extended from February 26, 2024 to April 30, and the salary and benefits during the holiday will be implemented in accordance with relevant regulations. The employees' wages in February 2024 will be paid according to normal working hours; starting from March 1, 2024, the company will pay living expenses at a rate not lower than 80% of the minimum wage standard in Shenzhen during the holiday and suspension of work.

Yienjun learned that this large foreign trade manufacturer mainly produces audio products, including wireless Bluetooth speakers, smart voice speakers, soundbars, portable energy storage speakers, etc. It is a supplier to multiple cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Walmart, and Yandex.

Coincidentally, a large 3C factory in Dongguan has already announced that it will extend the vacation for employees. Employees who have received the notice will start their vacation on January 16, 2024 and end on July 15, 2024, which means that some employees will have an extra-long vacation of 6 months. During the first month of the vacation, wages (including performance and related subsidies) will be paid according to normal working hours. Starting from the second month, living expenses will be paid at 80% of the local minimum base salary standard until the end of the vacation.

The leading foreign trade companies in the industry cannot escape the fate of poor orders. Some small foreign trade companies with low reputation may have a harder time. This phenomenon also reflects from the side that the overall environment is not very optimistic now. The relevant practitioners in the export business chain are always on guard ...