When the domestic e-commerce market tends to be quiet no matter how stimulated, the growth scale of overseas e-commerce has gradually become considerable. According to the Ministry of Commerce data in June, China's cross-border e-commerce enterprises have exceeded 120,000, and the cumulative number of registered trademarks overseas by cross-border e-commerce enterprises has exceeded 30,000.

In the past five years, the trade scale of China's cross-border e-commerce has grown more than 10 times. Whether it is platform-based players led by the "Four Little Dragons" or cross-border sellers who have been cultivating overseas for more than ten years, they seem to be thriving on another land. The "Four Little Dragons" of cross-border e-commerce have become the template of the entire industry.

The penetration rate of merchants in overseas markets is also not to be underestimated. The "Report on the Share of Chinese Sellers in Global E-commerce Platforms" shows that the proportion of total merchandise transaction volume of Chinese sellers on Amazon has been increasing year by year. In 2017, the GMV of Chinese sellers on Amazon was 48 billion US dollars, accounting for 18% of Amazon's total GMV.

By 2023, the GMV of Chinese sellers will reach 238 billion US dollars, accounting for 28% of Amazon's total GMV. However, behind the calm, things may not be as smooth as they seem. After all, currently, there are more and more examples of cross-border e-commerce enterprises running while bleeding.

Cross-border e-commerce, collectively "premiumizing"?

In the cross-border e-commerce industry, losses or shrinking profits have gradually become common in the past two years, especially for merchant-type enterprises. A survey showed that in 2023, 31.92% of cross-border enterprises had annual revenue of less than 1 million yuan. As of December 2023, nearly 60% of sellers' main platform revenue has declined compared to last year, with 20.76% of sellers experiencing a revenue decline of more than 40%; over 60% of sellers' main platform sales profits have declined, with 35.15% of sellers' profit decline ranging from 0% to 30%.

Shenzhen's cross-border e-commerce giant "Youkeshu" suffered a net profit loss of up to 485 million yuan last year, a year-on-year decrease of 32.10%. From 2020 to now, Youkeshu's annual reports in the past four years show that the company's total revenue has been in a loss state, with a cumulative loss of over 4 billion yuan in four years.

Similarly, Xinghui Precision Manufacturing's performance last year was also worrying, with total revenue of only 1.626 billion yuan, a significant year-on-year decrease of 30.85%, and an annual loss of up to 76.0925 million yuan. "Zibuyu", the "first stock of cross-border footwear and clothing," suffered a first loss of 266 million yuan in 2023, marking the first decline in revenue since 2019.

Overall, while cross-border sellers continue to gain reputation and scale overseas, they also have to face revenue setbacks. Regarding the reasons for the losses? From a certain perspective, most enterprises are in similar situations.

The first is the severe decline of the main platform, especially Amazon. Previously, Amazon "killed" a large number of domestic illegal cross-border merchants, causing significant losses to enterprises that followed the stock distribution model. Domestic leading cross-border sellers such as Zebao and Youkeshu were among them. Data shows that due to Amazon's account closure wave, over 100 million yuan of Youkeshu's store funds were frozen.

In 2023, Youkeshu's revenue on Amazon was only 100 million yuan, almost half of the 200 million yuan in 2022; its revenue on AliExpress also dropped from 180 million yuan in 2022 to 79 million yuan. Zebao's six major branded stores were banned by Amazon, and its revenue also plummeted.

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