A comprehensive review! Top ten news of cross-border e-commerce in 2023!

The melody of global business is coming towards us like waves.

Cross-border people, 2023 is almost over. For the industry, this year is another year of embracing change, with too many moments worth marking. Ennet has compiled the top ten news in the cross-border circle this year to help everyone look back on the past and move forward.

1. Amazon meets rivals in global expansion, and the "Four Little Dragons" emerge as a group

At the end of 2022, "external rollout" became a path that many companies were eager to try. Soon, Shein, AliExpress, Temu and TikTok Shop emerged overseas and were called the "Four Little Dragons Going Overseas". In the eyes of the media, the main goal of this "external rollout" force from the East is to challenge the overseas giant Amazon.

In December 2023, Data.ai data showed that after Black Friday and as of December 2, Amazon ranked first in the list of popular applications ranked by usage behavior penetration rate, followed by Shein, Temu and AliExpress.

In January this year, Data.ai data showed that AliExpress and Temu were ranked 8th and 10th on the list respectively.

2. "American Spring Festival Gala" sings divine songs, Temu sponsors the Super Bowl

$14 million was spent on two 30-second ads, with an average of $240,000 per second spent on ads. In the 57th Super Bowl in February this year, Temu swept the field with its brainwashing ads and also swept the US shopping app download list. This made Amazon feel the market pressure from Chinese apps.

3. Chinese companies are suppressed overseas, and heavy bets on North America are facing a "sword hanging over their heads"

On April 14, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission under the U.S. Congress released an analyst report stating that there are problems with China's cross-border e-commerce platforms.

4. South Korean young people are addicted to Chinese apps, and AliExpress caused South Korean customs to "explode" for a month

In May 2023, Chinese e-commerce once again sparked heated discussions in overseas media. According to Korean media reports, South Korean customs experienced the longest "warehouse explosion" in history because the number of orders from the Chinese cross-border e-commerce platform AliExpress surged, leaving the customs overwhelmed and forcing them to work overtime to cope.

The Korea Customs Service said that due to a surge in parcels from China's AliExpress, there is currently congestion in customs clearance at Pyeongtaek Customs, and some consumers' logistics have been delayed for up to a month.

5. All in cross-border platforms, the four little dragons step into the same river

The hottest word in the cross-border e-commerce industry in 2023 is "full trusteeship".

At the end of 2022, Temu and AliExpress took the lead in launching the full hosting model. In May 2023, TikTok Shop, Lazada, Shopee and other domestic and foreign e-commerce platforms followed suit and officially launched similar services. For a time, "full hosting" became the mainstream model of the entire cross-border e-commerce industry.

Based on their own advantages, the full-hosting models of the "Four Little Dragons Going Global" are also different.

Under the full-hosting model, there are tempting order volumes on one hand, and the squeeze on merchants' profits in extreme internal competition on the other, which has forced many sellers to think about their own way out. At the same time, with the rise of emerging markets, the full-hosting model continues to gain ground, and Amazon's global expansion is still facing challenges from Chinese e-commerce forces.

6. AliExpress surpasses Korean giant Gmarket, and foreign ants are working hard to overthrow local giants

Of course, cross-border e-commerce is not limited to the North American market. Focusing on emerging markets is the only choice for Chinese e-commerce platforms to enhance their ability to resist risks.

AliExpress is a representative of emerging markets. According to the latest report by Yonhap News Agency on December 20, AliExpress is the app with the most new users in South Korea this year, with an average of 3.71 million new users per month. The number of active users in November reached 7.07 million, ranking first in the number of users in South Korea.

Prior to this, AliExpress surpassed Gmarket and, as a cross-border e-commerce platform, created a miracle of defeating local giants and became the first overseas platform to rank among the top three e-commerce platforms in South Korea.

7. Brazil's tax reform has twists and turns, and the hearts of many sellers are also beating fast

In March this year , the Brazilian government announced that it would cancel the tax-free policy for goods below US$50 on cross-border platforms, but the plan was shelved due to strong opposition from Brazilian consumers. In June this year, after much negotiation, the Brazilian National Committee of Finance Secretaries unanimously decided to impose a 17% Goods and Services Circulation Tax (ICMS) on low-priced goods purchased on platforms such as AliExpress, Shein , Shopee, and Wish. On August 1, Brazil's tax compliance plan officially began to be implemented.

AliExpress became the first platform to obtain a tax compliance license in Brazil, which also means that merchants can enjoy the tax-free policy for orders below US$50.

8. AliExpress Cainiao launched "Global Five-Day Delivery", and European customers were shocked

E-commerce and logistics are close partners in going global. In September this year, Cainiao and AliExpress officially launched the "Global Five-Day Delivery" international express delivery product, which was first launched in five countries: the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and South Korea.

AliExpress is the only platform among the "Four Little Dragons" that has built its own logistics to ensure the delivery experience. With its five-day global delivery service, AliExpress created the "fastest Black Friday in history" during this year's Black Friday, which drove many merchants to "explode orders".

9. Shein is rumored to be going public again

According to foreign media, Chinese cross-border e-commerce platform Shein has submitted an IPO application to US securities regulators, seeking to be listed in the United States. Foreign media said that this listing may be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in many years.

10. Tiktok shop returns to Indonesia after being banned. Nietzsche’s famous quote should be here

In October this year , TikTok's e-commerce business was banned by the Indonesian government, causing an uproar in the cross-border circle. Two months later, TikTok officially announced that it had reached an e-commerce strategic cooperation with Indonesia's GoTo Group. TikTok's Indonesian e-commerce business will be merged with Tokopedia, an e-commerce platform under the GoTo Group. The merged Tokopedia will be controlled by TikTok. TikTok and GoTo will jointly promote the development of Indonesia's digital economy and support small and medium-sized enterprises.

Summarize:

Looking back at 2023, the three most important words for cross-border e-commerce throughout the year are "full trusteeship", "four little dragons going overseas" and "volume". No matter how twists and turns the process was, at the end of the year, we saw good news one after another:

On November 16, Alibaba released its second quarter report for the 2024 fiscal year ending September 30. Judging from the data, Alibaba's overseas and logistics businesses have grown at an impressive rate. With the rapid growth of platforms such as AliExpress, Alibaba's international retail business has increased significantly, with revenue increasing by 73% year-on-year.

On November 28, Pinduoduo released its Q3 financial report, with revenue of 68.84 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 94%, far higher than the market expectation of 54.872 billion yuan. Temu has become Pinduoduo's second growth curve.

On November 29, foreign media revealed that Shein had submitted an IPO application to the US securities regulator, seeking to be listed in the United States. Internal sources said that Shein 's valuation target this time is US$90 billion.

On December 11, TikTok e-commerce announced that it had reached a strategic e-commerce partnership with GoTo Group, and returned to Indonesia during the Double 12 period by "borrowing the passage". Sales on the first day of its return far exceeded expectations.

For Chinese e-commerce, the overseas conquest of the "Four Little Dragons" in 2023 is exciting. In the new year of 2024, they and the Chinese supply chain will continue their journey overseas.

History has proven that cross-border e-commerce is a long-term expedition, and the advantages of long-termism are obvious. By constantly adjusting and refining the business model, constantly trialing and erroring the model, and verifying the market fit of goods and services, participants need to face increasingly fierce competition in this process.

Oh ~~~Everyone keep rolling in 2024, what else can I say.

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