Sellers deliver cars to customers, cross-border logistics booms

At present, cross-border e-commerce sellers are busy preparing for the peak season. After a period of increase, the current European and American shipping prices have fallen again, which is good for shipments. In order to win over sellers, the cross-border logistics circle has set off a new round of fierce internal competition, including but not limited to shipping cars and no-reason compensation. Sellers seem to have completely mastered the market initiative.

But a new outrageous operation has come again. In May, Amazon just cracked down on the rampant long-distance warehouse and short-distance delivery. This week , a logistics company announced that it can legally carry out long-distance warehouse and short-distance delivery. The goods that sellers have built in other warehouses can be sent to a designated warehouse, which is shocking. The industry is in an uproar. Is this a golden ticket from Amazon?

It is not difficult to understand that under extreme internal competition, some logistics companies will look for new opportunities to reduce costs, but the market is already highly transparent, and the so-called low-cost operations often involve violations. Once the problem is exposed, sellers will be forced to pay for it together.

The seller sends the car and the freight forwarder pays a lot of money to attract customers

Cross-border logistics freight rates have remained low this year. With the arrival of the peak season, sellers' shipments have increased, and the freight forwarding industry has finally waited for the year-end "peak season". However, the market competition is fierce, and in order to attract more seller customers, freight forwarding companies have made moves.

A freight forwarding company in Shenzhen said that in order to help sellers ship goods during the peak season, the company is carrying out a one-month "2 million profit subsidy" campaign, which not only provides 2 million freight subsidies, but also gifts such as cars and televisions.

If the total shipment volume reaches 888 tons, you will get a Wuling Hongguang MINI car, if it reaches 666 tons, you will get a Huawei TV, and if it reaches 555 tons, you will get the hot Huawei Mate60 Pro mobile phone. During the event, if the cumulative shipment volume of the same customer reaches the corresponding level, he or she will get the corresponding prize. This game is more suitable for sellers with a considerable scale.

In addition, sellers can also reduce or waive shipping costs if they reach a certain cumulative volume of goods within a week. For example, a 100 yuan shipping reduction will be provided if weekly shipments reach 500kg. Sellers who ship 5 cubic meters or more within a week can also participate in a lottery, with prizes including electric cars, tablet computers, shopping cards, etc.

It is understood that the company's total revenue in 2021 was nearly 1 billion yuan, and its main businesses include North American shipping, European transportation, full container consolidation and overseas warehouses. Even logistics companies that have reached a certain scale must show more sincerity during the peak season to attract sellers.

In addition to giving gifts, another major logistics company in the industry chose to start with service. It launched New York Kapai Time-Limited Delivery, claiming that it is the "first company in the market to provide compensation without reason" . Whether it is the shipping company's failure to release the contract, the abandonment of the container, the delay in unloading, or the terminal's failure to dock, the container entering the closed area, or the inspection delay caused by reasons other than the customer, compensation will be provided. This promise, on the one hand, makes sellers more confident about their timeliness, and on the other hand, even if there is a delay, there will be appropriate compensation, which is indeed attractive.

In the first half of 2023, the scale of the cross-border e-commerce logistics market is about 1.1 trillion yuan, and it is expected to reach 2.28 trillion yuan for the whole year, a year-on-year increase of 19.92%. The market pie is bigger, but judging from the current situation that freight forwarders are working hard to develop customers and repeatedly lowering prices to retain customers, cross-border logistics is becoming more and more competitive , and the number of players is still increasing.

This week, Amazon launched a fully managed supply chain service that provides sellers with a complete end-to-end solution - extracting inventory from manufacturing plants around the world, shipping across borders, handling customs clearance and ground transportation, storing inventory in bulk, managing replenishment on Amazon and other sales channels, and delivering directly to customers around the world.

Amazon is no longer targeting Amazon sellers, but sellers outside the site. It is not satisfied with providing FBA services to sellers on the site, and hopes to gain more market share in cross-border logistics. This will be a big blow to logistics companies in the industry.

Cross-border logistics competition has become fierce. Low price is the best weapon, but some companies have taken a different approach and used unique operations.

A freight forwarder launched a "compliant" long-distance warehouse and short-distance delivery service

In the first half of the year, "far warehouse, near delivery" became a hot topic in the industry. Since the backend does not display the specific warehouse where the goods are registered, the goods created by the seller will be delivered to the nearby warehouse by some freight forwarders. On the one hand, it is faster, and on the other hand, it has cost advantages, but this has brought a lot of unnecessary transshipment work to Amazon.

In May, Amazon modified its policy, requiring carriers to increase their attendance defect rate and PO accuracy to more than 85%. PO information cannot be modified temporarily, otherwise it will affect the use of the account. This move has an immediate effect, but the seller's shipments have also been regulated. For example, the same shipment cannot be distributed or mixed, etc.

But in the past two days, a logistics company openly announced that it can deliver goods from a warehouse other than a certain one to this warehouse, which is another form of far-warehouse nearby delivery, and claimed that this is the company's exclusive Amazon warehouse service.

The freight forwarder said in the notice released: This channel service cooperates with the US Amazon Logistics and provides an exclusive service warehouse. Therefore, standard goods can be delivered to the exclusive warehouse according to the operation requirements, so there are obvious advantages in timeliness and cost. After a series of operational matters, it was emphasized again: This product is a company's exclusive Amazon warehouse service, GYR2 is our exclusive warehouse, and goods that are not in this warehouse can be delivered to this warehouse.

If they can directly promise to build a warehouse for that company and give it to that company, either Amazon’s new policy has made special arrangements for this company, or this company has discovered some new tricks.

An industry insider asked the American team about this, and they said that this was an open delivery to the warehouse, and the bet was whether the customer's account would be warned . If there was a warning, the carrier would open a case and explain that it was the carrier's fault rather than the customer's, so that the customer would not be penalized. "There are more appointment accounts now."

If a seller is found to have violated shipping regulations, he or she may be warned at the very least, or even have his or her FBA shipping function shut down. This is like a bolt from the blue for sellers operating normally.

When sellers choose freight forwarders, they usually consider a few criteria, including price, timeliness, and service, with price being the most important. But in a highly transparent market, how are some extremely low prices achieved? Freight forwarding companies cannot ship goods at a loss, so they start to use operations such as sending goods from far warehouses to nearby warehouses, using fake accounts, and underreporting. When sellers hear the inside story, they feel dizzy, and regret it even more if they accidentally step on a landmine.

In the rush for goods, prices in the logistics market are constantly being pushed down. Low prices within a reasonable range are good for sellers to reduce delivery costs, but low prices that break the safety line are bound to have risks. People in the logistics industry lament that people who make money now do not brag about their great products, operations and processes, but about their super cost advantages, that is, low prices. However, many thunderstorms have repeatedly verified that low prices that ignore safety and stability are traps.

From long-distance warehouse and short-distance delivery to water leakage accounts, and then to the eye-opening "compliant" long-distance warehouse and short-distance delivery today, the cross-border logistics industry continues to spawn black technologies that are being exposed one after another. What will be the next one?