Hot sales in multiple categories, transformation of traditional factories, and advancement of brand lines, cross-border sellers have a good start in 2024 at SHEIN

On January 12, the General Administration of Customs released the latest import and export data for the whole of last year. Last year, my country's total import and export value was 41.76 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.2%. The import and export of goods trade was better than expected, achieving the goal of promoting stability and improving quality.

Among them, new platforms and new formats are showing good development momentum. According to preliminary statistics, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 2.38 trillion yuan last year, an increase of 15.6%. The proportion of cross-border e-commerce imports and exports in foreign trade was less than 1% five years ago, but it has increased to about 5.7% last year, becoming a new highlight of China's foreign trade export growth.

The cross-border track continues to be hot. With the help of overseas consumer hotspots such as the "New Year Season", "Winter Sports" and "Valentine's Day", overseas e-commerce sellers have ushered in a good start in 2024 and continue to create new sales peaks. The reporter learned that since January, overseas sellers on the cross-border e-commerce SHEIN platform have actively innovated products, not only continuing the popularity of the previous wave of year-end sales peak season, but also ensuring the best-selling rate of new products and the overall growth rate of orders. The dividends of the vast overseas market continue to be released, and SHEIN sellers have won a "good start" in 2024.

Keeping up with consumer trends and actively innovating products, many categories are hot-selling at the beginning of the year

As overseas consumers buy things for the New Year, they also create new business opportunities for Chinese cross-border sellers. A month ago, stationery seller Zhou Yongxin saw a lot of sharing about New Year's gifts on overseas websites and social media, such as calendars, planners, stickers and other stationery for 2024. He immediately put a batch of original New Year stickers, creative bookmarks, stationery, etc. on the SHEIN platform.

Thanks to the rapid introduction of new products and flexible production, this batch of New Year stationery quickly gained popularity in the market. It is understood that Zhou Yongxin's secret to getting rich includes his ability to grasp the "traffic code" in advance at almost every consumption node, and he can get orders as soon as new products are put on the shelves. He can earn more than 300,000 yuan a month just by selling stickers and tapes .

Since SHEIN itself has a strong fashion attribute, the demand for decorative products such as frames, accessories, bags, beauty tools, and fashionable home furnishings on the platform also rises rapidly during the high frequency of gatherings and dating such as New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day. Zhou Wenwen, a jewelry seller from Zhejiang, added the Valentine's Day love element to earrings and hair accessories, which became a popular choice in the shopping carts of overseas girls.

As an overseas seller focusing on accessories, Zhou Wenwen believes that the tone of the SHEIN platform is very compatible with her products. She said that SHEIN is very concerned about whether sellers are capable of developing new products and the sellers' new product launch rate. Consumers are also very concerned about the iteration of styles, and the repurchase rate is very high . From hairpins, hair hoops, and headbands to earrings, belts, and headscarves, Zhou Wenwen likes to try new product designs and create popular products by herself, which makes her happy to create fashion and feel the value of being recognized by users in different countries and regions around the world.

Following SHEIN's on-demand model, traditional factories transform to unleash new resilience

Data shows that private enterprises have been the largest foreign trade operator in China for five consecutive years. By improving their core competitiveness and innovation, they have actively expanded markets and diversified channels to meet the development opportunities of selling hot all over the world. At present, there are 645,000 foreign trade operators in China with import and export performance, a record high, of which 556,000 are private enterprises, accounting for 54% of the total import and export value.

Duqiao Town in Linhai, Zhejiang is a nationally renowned "glasses town". There are nearly a thousand glasses manufacturing companies in the town, and nearly 60,000 glasses practitioners have made this place the cradle of the world's sunglasses. Fifty percent of the world's affordable sunglasses come from Duqiao.

Chen Yuheng's glasses factory is one of nearly a thousand glasses factories. In 2020, it transformed from a traditional foreign trade factory to a SHEIN platform. After half a year of development, Chen Yuheng's store's average monthly sales amount exceeded one million. Especially recently, he combined the red and pink 2024 New Year color scheme to launch more trendy styles. From last month until recently, Chen Yuheng's store's average monthly sales have reached more than 8 million. Chen Yuheng said: "Glasses are a powerful tool for fashion matching. Some buyers place orders for more than ten or twenty pieces at a time."

Compared with passively accepting orders from foreign trade customers, Chen Yuheng can proactively innovate product styles on SHEIN by combining consumer hot spots and popular trends provided by the platform, and match supply in real time according to market needs . He told reporters that traditional overseas orders may require five or six similar styles for two or three years, but in SHEIN's store he can launch multiple styles at the same time, and continuously create popular styles by testing small orders. That's why so many eyewear colleagues are willing to choose here, the subjective initiative of sellers has been mobilized, and consumers will be more sticky to the platform. "

In addition to new styles, factories also need to adapt to the development trend of flexible production. Chen Yuheng feels that his transition was very smooth. He said, "SHEIN has very comprehensive training for newcomers, and the management dashboard is very simple. We can accurately prepare stocks and arrange production according to the sales of the platform ."

At present, Chen Yuheng has more than 400 eyewear products on the SHEIN platform. The incremental growth brought by cross-border e-commerce has accounted for more than half of Chen Yuheng’s company’s business. He has not only established a development department and an operations department, but also doubled the number of people in the factory. Everyone in the team is working with him to go all out to face the challenges and surprises brought by the new track.

Brand sellers’ attack: Professional line products release sales power to the world

In the northern hemisphere, where winter sports are popular, Wu Jinsong's sports brand has caught up with the sales peak at the beginning of 2024. Many sports enthusiasts who are keen on skiing and fitness have placed orders in his brand store and left good reviews after their experience. Wu Jinsong told the media that overseas consumers have more professional requirements for sports protective gear and have a strong awareness of brands and qualifications .

The attempt on the SHEIN platform also allowed Wu Jinsong's sports protective gear brand to easily reach the global market. Wu Jinsong introduced: "If we only do offline foreign trade orders, our understanding of the products will be very limited. Opening a SHEIN store allows us to directly face a large number of users from different countries. Their different body shapes, aesthetics and sports habits are making our product portfolio more comprehensive, suitable for more people, and more competitive in the international market ."

In order to help the brand form a professional image and enhance its recognition overseas, Wu Jinsong , under the advice and guidance of SHEIN, also built a gym studio in the factory, which not only allows company employees to fully try out products and exercise, but also allows employees to shoot new products that are about to be put on the shelves every day. The scene-based visual design allows sports protective gear to be presented more professionally , and also gives the sports brand a more vibrant vitality and enhances its brand image and perception .

For SHEIN, the introduction of third-party sellers' products and brands can not only provide consumers with more abundant and cost-effective choices, but also help domestic sellers and brands integrate and upgrade the entire value chain through its many years of overseas sales network, mature marketing experience and innovative supply chain system, thereby improving its overall competitiveness overseas.

The most recent Central Economic Work Conference proposed that we should accelerate the cultivation of new impetus for foreign trade, consolidate the basic foundation of foreign trade and foreign investment, and expand trade in intermediate products, trade in services, digital trade, and cross-border e-commerce exports. "For SHEIN and overseas sellers and brand merchants, the 2024 overseas race has begun. With the steady progress of high-level opening up, domestic sellers have abundant opportunities to bring more high-quality products and brands to the international stage in the boom.

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