Order volume in many categories plummeted! A group of sellers entered the off-season early

The current situation of cross-border sellers in December...

2023 is quietly coming to an end, which means that this year's cross-border e-commerce peak season will also end. However, a number of cross-border sellers have already bid farewell to the peak season. The order volume has been "unrecoverable" since the end of Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday, and has entered the off-season mode ahead of schedule.

The cross-border market is unpredictable. As China's four overseas dragons develop rapidly overseas, a large number of Chinese sellers have expressed their intention to place great bets in 2024.

Order volume in many categories dropped sharply! Sellers: Christmas products are also lagging behind

It is understood that in the last month of 2023, sellers on many cross-border platforms spent their time complaining. As the traffic of products in many categories began to decline, their order volume dropped sharply:

During the peak season, why is it that others’ orders are increasing while mine is getting worse and worse?

The cross-border off-season started early , catching people off guard.

There have been signs of a decline in sales recently, and our category is slowly entering the off-season .

Even a 50% discount on the product price couldn’t restore the order volume, so I had to let things take their course .

I thought my sales were the only thing that was bad, but I didn’t expect that everyone’s sales were the same.

After checking the store, everything was normal except the order volume was still very poor.

The peak season is here, delivery fees have increased, warehousing costs have increased, advertising costs have increased, but the number of orders has not increased.

There are still a lot of goods, so I can only reduce the price significantly to clear them out.

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Judging from the feedback, there are indeed many sellers who have continued to receive a surge in orders recently, but the number of orders for another part of sellers has dropped precipitously. This situation has occurred in many categories such as furniture, clothing, and electronics. In this regard, the first reason that sellers think of is that Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday "overdrawn" sales in advance, and there was a huge surge in orders some time ago, and consumers stockpiled a lot of goods in advance, causing a sharp drop in shopping enthusiasm now.

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At the same time, the order volume of a group of sellers selling Christmas products also showed a "heaven and earth" trend. Some had sales of tens of thousands, while others had difficulty promoting their products.

It is observed that the Christmas products with good sales this year are almost all old links with several years of experience. Few new products have "made it through the crowd". Therefore, the sales of Christmas products of many sellers have dropped sharply , and they are struggling with their competitors. For a time, the word "volume" was everywhere, and many old players said that holiday products were difficult to sell. Those sellers who just entered the Christmas product market this year were even more miserable.

Unlike a large number of sellers who have already experienced the atmosphere of the peak season, some sellers said that this year's peak season "never came at all" and the entire peak season was spent in the off-season.

" At this point in time , the order volume is still not improving . This year's peak season is basically over . " An Amazon operator said that this year's overall sales and profits are much worse than last year . The category he is in is being monopolized by big brands. The peak season failed to save the company's order volume, but instead caused ACOS to explode . This year, he can't go home for the New Year with peace of mind.

Another cross-border seller said that an old product had performed well, ranking within 30 in the subcategory and receiving nearly 100 orders per day. However, its ranking and sales volume have been declining slowly since October this year, with the number of orders per day falling below 60. In November, the situation was even worse, with the number of orders per day falling directly to 30 or even lower, and the ranking was naturally unbearable...

Optimistic about China's four little dragons going global! In 2024, sellers said they would focus on the multi-platform model

The product sales in 2023 are related to the work arrangements in 2024. The editor has observed that in 2024, a large number of cross-border sellers will unanimously focus on "multi-platform layout".

An Amazon seller said that the multi-platform layout has relieved the performance pressure of a single platform. In December, the performance of the company's eBay store was terrible, and the sales of auto parts and motorcycle parts declined significantly. Fortunately, the Amazon store has stable orders and considerable monthly sales, which has eased the company's financial pressure to a certain extent.

As the "big brother" of cross-border e-commerce platforms , Amazon will naturally remain a platform that sellers bet heavily on in 2024. However, as the choices increase, sellers are also focusing on some "potential platforms":

Some of my friends have already started to invest in TikTok, Temu, Ozon, etc., but I am still sticking to Amazon and feel confused.

We will continue to work on Amazon next year, but we will also expand into platforms such as Temu and SHEIN.

When doing cross-border e-commerce, Amazon and independent websites are the first choice, but other platforms should not be missed either.

Currently I only work on Amazon and don’t have time to work on other platforms, but I will consider it later. If I can’t beat them, I’ll join!

Try some new platforms in 2024, but not as the main platform.

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The four major e-commerce platforms, SHEIN, Temu, AliExpress and TikTok Shop, are known as China's four overseas dragons. In just one year, the four overseas dragons have emerged as a dark horse and are catching up with Amazon.

Judging from the latest global user numbers, Amazon grew 4% year-on-year, while the total number of users of the "Four Little Dragons" is close to 90% of Amazon, an increase of 2.6 times in one year. In terms of user behavior penetration ranking, in December 2023, SHEIN, Temu and AliExpress have all ranked in the top four, following the dominant Amazon.

Chinese e-commerce platforms performed particularly well during this year's holiday shopping season. Industry data showed that the transaction volume of some platforms in the European and American markets more than doubled in November.

The latest data from Sensor Tower shows that in 2023, Temu and SHEIN will have strong growth in downloads, and will take the first and second place in the growth list of e-commerce applications in the United States, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, surpassing Amazon and others to become the most popular e-commerce applications in the world. From September 2022 to November 2023, Temu's global downloads exceeded 300 million times; from May 2014 to date, SHEIN has accumulated 830 million downloads, with Latin America and Europe contributing 31% and 25% of the total downloads respectively.

Industry insiders analyzed the cross-border e-commerce market in 2024 and said that the four little dragons going overseas will continue to expand their respective advantages. At the same time, emerging markets will further rise, and the focus of competition will be diverted from the high-risk North American market. Next year, in addition to competing on low prices, the giants will also compete on efficiency and logistics. The final winner may not be the one with the lowest price, but will definitely be the one with the highest efficiency.

Price wars are raging between e-commerce platforms, and the same is true between sellers on the platforms. Many sellers say that the current situation of price competition in cross-border e-commerce is unavoidable. Most sellers will encounter price competition from their peers, and 80% of them will "fight back" with lower prices. In the end, the prices are getting lower and lower, and the quality is getting worse and worse. There is no winner among sellers, competitors, and consumers.

To avoid this situation, many sellers have started to build their own small and beautiful brands, focusing on high customer unit prices. One seller said that for a pair of $100 shoes, he would rather spend $50 on promotion than increase sales through a low-price spiral.

In summary, in 2024, cross-border practitioners still need to choose their own track and do it carefully and meticulously, and establish their own threshold. At the same time, they should actively embrace new platforms, not put all their eggs in one basket, but also not put their eggs in other baskets randomly. They should make adequate preparations, and after a small-scale investment trial, they can judge whether the new platform is worth investing in.