AliExpress Cross-border Talent Finals: The first batch of fully managed sellers took the stage

On August 30, AliExpress held the 2023 "AliExpress Cross-border Talent Competition" finals in Hangzhou. Eight contestants who had passed layers of selection took the stage to tell their super exciting cross-border entrepreneurial stories.

Photo: Contestants Ye Tao and Ma Jianping won the first and second place in the AliExpress Cross-border Talent Competition respectively

Photo: Ye Tao, Ma Jianping and Xie Yi won the top three places in the national finals. Zhang Haiying won the most popular player in the national finals. Other contestants won the Sharing Star Award.

Moms born after 1985, second-generation factory owners born after 1990, entrepreneurs switching from domestic trade to foreign trade... In the past few years of the wave of going overseas, these "new cross-border experts" have doubled their sales through cross-border e-commerce and full trusteeship. "Full trusteeship", "second-generation factory owners", and "new markets" have become high-frequency keywords in their stories.

The first batch of "full-hosting" sellers took to the stage

Xie Yi, the founder of Hangzhou Baimu , started to engage in e-commerce in 2011, but encountered a bottleneck in the domestic market in 2018. Hearing a friend talk about cross-border e-commerce by chance, Xie Yi started his e-commerce journey "from the inside out".

In 2019 , Xie Yi officially led the brand to enter AliExpress and chose to focus on remote control toy products. Relying on the experience accumulated in domestic e-commerce, he quickly became the top in the industry and thus established a firm foothold on AliExpress.

Photo: Shared by Xie Yi from Hangzhou Baimu E-commerce Co., Ltd.

In 2022, Xie Yi decided to develop the two major categories of outdoor lighting and kitchen supplies that he was optimistic about, which required opening new stores. Originally, opening up two new tracks required investing more team and energy. At this time, Xie Yi caught up with the "full-hosting" service launched by the AliExpress platform at the end of 2022. "Full-hosting" can operate with less energy, and sellers can focus on products.

The rapid growth of the new store soon proved Xie Yi's foresight. Due to changes in the overseas energy market, an LED outdoor searchlight launched by Xie Yi became a big hit on "Full Trusteeship". More than 50,000 orders were sold on Full Trusteeship in one month.

Xie Yi also has his own understanding of "full trusteeship". Full trusteeship is not only suitable for factories, but also for large-scale trading merchants like himself who are close to the source. The characteristics of full trusteeship that makes it easy to operate and be a "hands-off shopkeeper" can also allow him to better manage multiple stores at the same time. At present, 60% of the business of his new daily necessities store is under full trusteeship.

The "second generation of factory owners" "going overseas to save themselves"

Among them , the young "second generation of factories" are also transforming from domestic e-commerce to cross-border e-commerce by leveraging full trusteeship .

Before joining AliExpress, how to "find a way" to revive his own factory that was on the verge of bankruptcy was a question that Zhang Haiying, head of the supply chain at Qingdao Kuanshida, thought about every day.

As an ordinary small town girl, Zhang Haiying originally lived a "peaceful life" in her hometown of Linyi. However, the global epidemic disrupted the domestic trade business of her own factory. As the eldest daughter, she resolutely transformed into a cross-border e-commerce company in order to help the factory find a new way out, and persuaded her family to start their own business adventure on AliExpress.

Over the past three years, the global economy has been severely affected, but with an unyielding spirit, Zhang Haiying used AliExpress to accurately target the needs of overseas markets. Relying on the factory's many years of production experience , she tailored a "localized umbrella" for the Korean market - the golf umbrella, which became a hot-selling product as soon as it was launched in Korea.

Photo: Shared by Zhang Haiying from Qingdao Kuanshida Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd.

From trying AliExpress a little bit to becoming a cross-border expert, Zhang Haiying led his own umbrella factory to meet one challenge after another. After the scale of the enterprise gradually expanded, the shortage of local cross-border e-commerce talents in Shandong once again became a bottleneck for Zhang Haiying's company's "going overseas" development.

However, these problems were solved at the end of 2022, when AliExpress launched a fully managed service focusing on "simple overseas expansion", which not only allowed her to develop new product categories such as mechanical keyboards, but also solved the talent dilemma.

Today, 90% of Zhang Haiying's business comes from AliExpress. She has become a million-level seller on the platform. Not only has she saved her factory, but she has also encouraged her relatives and friends to start their own businesses on AliExpress.

Finding a "New Market" on AliExpress

It is worth noting that many of the top eight finalists come from inland cities, but they are able to sell their products to Europe, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Latin America, the Middle East and other regions in a timely manner. This development mainly comes from the continuous increase in logistics infrastructure at home and abroad by AliExpress and Cainiao.

Gao Yan, a cross-border expert born in 1996 from Luoyang, is the youngest contestant in this competition. Although she is young, she has more than 7 years of cross-border entrepreneurial experience.

In 2022 , she keenly captured important information at the AliExpress industry conference: the logistics channels for large items have been optimized and the prices are lower. Next, the platform will focus on several new markets in South Korea, Brazil, and the Middle East.

Therefore , she, who had always firmly followed the platform strategy, began to adjust her strategy and actively expanded competitive large furniture products into new markets. With the help of the platform and the store manager, the store's monthly turnover soon exceeded US$500,000.

After the launch of full custody service , Gao Yan also quickly followed up and actively prepared goods for the Shandong warehouse for promotion in the Korean market. The 3-5 day delivery time experience from Shandong to South Korea was very popular among consumers. The sales of a multifunctional coat rack that focuses on large single furniture products exceeded 4,000 orders.

“A cross-border platform more suitable for Chinese sellers”

In the view of Li Ting, a mother born after 1985, the reason for choosing AliExpress as the first stop for overseas expansion is “because AliExpress is China’s own cross-border e-commerce platform, which is simple and safe enough.”

"I think AliExpress is the most suitable cross-border platform for Chinese sellers. AliExpress's local service should be unique among cross-border platforms. In order to better follow up the platform strategy, I moved my office directly next to the Qingdao local center." Qingdao expert Zhang Haiying said in an interview with reporters.

"AliExpress is a cross-border platform that is more suitable for Chinese sellers." This sentence was repeatedly mentioned in the sharing of experts. As a local cross-border e-commerce platform in China, AliExpress has established local merchant operation teams in the core industrial belts across the country in recent years to provide merchants with one-on-one and personal overseas services.

In order to help merchants better attract and retain consumers, AliExpress has made user experience a top priority this year, continuously improving delivery time and improving after-sales service. Currently, AliExpress has launched the Choice channel in 55 countries around the world, providing services such as 3-5 day delivery, free shipping, and free shipping returns. Data shows that Choice has driven AliExpress into a rapid growth track, with order growth exceeding 50% year-on-year.

In terms of logistics and supply chain construction, AliExpress has been booming. On the one hand, it has announced together with Cainiao that it will launch a "Global Five-Day Delivery" product this year. At the same time, it has continued to expand its domestic Shandong warehouse, opened multiple warehouses in the Middle East, Latin America and other regions, upgraded its logistics model, and helped merchants enhance their competitiveness in new markets by improving delivery time.

Jin Ke, general manager of industry operations at AliExpress, said that AliExpress will continue to upgrade its services to provide escort for more cross-border merchants who dream of going overseas.

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