As the saying goes: "A husband and wife are of the same heart, and their profit is broken." In modern society, a husband and wife can not only overcome difficulties, but also make money together, which is called a "mom and pop shop". Throughout the country and abroad, "mom and pop shops" are the golden model of early entrepreneurship.

Abroad, the cross-border e-commerce unicorn Amazon was originally created by Bezos and his wife MacKenzie from scratch. In China, Dangdang, once known as "China's Amazon", is also the crystallization of Li Guoqing and his wife Yu Yu.

A 2017 statistics on the kinship of listed family businesses in mainland China shows that more than 50% of family businesses are related to husband and wife. In the 2022 Hurun Global Rich List, there are 36 Chinese billionaires, of which 10 are married couples.

In the field of domestic cross-border e-commerce going overseas, there are more examples of this combination of swords, and it can even be said to be the most common entrepreneurial combination. One of them manages the operation and the other manages the supply chain, so they can quickly accumulate wealth, and some have even listed their companies.

Husband and wife starting a business together can share the risk of failure and reduce operating costs. Especially in the cross-border e-commerce industry, this model also has natural advantages: preventing core data and data leakage.

Not only husbands and wives, but in the cross-border e-commerce circle, there are a large number of small teams of a few or a dozen people, but the revenue and even the profits they create every year are very considerable, and the small days are also very nourishing. .

$800 leverages $500,000 in monthly revenue

In the field of cross-border e-commerce going overseas, "getting rich overnight" is often more associated with Amazon. Many couples who do cross-border business have also made their first pot of gold in their lives on Amazon.

Although there are many cross-border e-commerce platforms, Amazon's unicorn status is still unshakable. For example, in the United States, where major cross-border e-commerce platforms are fiercely competing, the largest market share is still firmly in the hands of Amazon. According to eMarketer website data, by 2022, Amazon will account for 39.5% of total e-commerce retail sales in the United States, that is, nearly $2 of every $5 spent online will come from Amazon, while Walmart, eBay and other 14 largest of online platforms only get a 31% share of the pie.

In addition, Amazon has 310 million active users worldwide, which is almost equal to the total population of the United States. Of those active users, 90 million are Amazon Prime members , who spend an average of $ 1,300 a year on the platform , and the remaining 220 million non-Prime members spend an average of $700.

MarketPlace Pulse data shows that in 2021, there will be 60,000 third-party sellers with sales of more than $1 million , and about 350,000 sellers with sales of more than $100,000.

And the cost of leveraging that sale may not be high for many sellers. Jungle Scout data shows that most small and medium-sized sellers (69%) spend less than $ 5,000 (about 32,000 yuan) on Amazon to start a business , and 32% of sellers spend less than $1,000 (6,400 yuan).

Many mom-and-pop shops also rely on a small amount of start-up capital to drive tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan in annual revenue.

In 2016, a Florida couple (Nate Jackson and Alysha) started Amazon with $100 in startup capital. Two and a half years later, their sales had surpassed $1 million, and net profit accounted for about 25 percent of total sales, or $250,000 in two and a half years.

Before Amazon, Nate Jackson and Alysha were elementary school teachers, but after having children, it was difficult for teachers to earn enough money to support their family, so husband Nate started researching other sources of income and stumbled upon information on Amazon retail arbitrage. Based on factors such as low entry cost and great scalability, they began to sell women's underwear on it.

In an interview, the couple said they hoped to be able to work full-time at home at Amazon and earn enough to retire by age 35 (28 and 29 at the time).

In Nevada, Texas, another young couple also started their Amazon business with very little money. In 2015, the 25-year-old couple Justin and Channing Dyson placed their first order on Alibaba's purchasing website with $800, and they sold 10 products the day after they were listed on Amazon. By 2019, their monthly sales were The amount has exceeded 500,000 US dollars, with sales reaching 4 million US dollars in 2018, and the growth rate has accelerated in 2019, with annual sales reaching 6 million US dollars!

In fact, before working full-time at Amazon, Justin was in college while working for his father, while Channing was a hairstylist. They work more than 50 hours a week, but they still struggle to make ends meet, and they can't afford to buy a house on their own. While trying to figure out how to make money, I stumbled across Amazon. With the take-off of the business, the couple not only no longer have to work hard for life, but also have more time to spend with their families. At the same time, better economic conditions allow them to travel with their children often.

Not only in the United States, such successful "mom and pop shop" cases are not uncommon in China. There was once a fan of Yien.com who said that his friend and his wife were Amazon, and they could earn 300 to 400 million yuan a year. Another seller said that he and his wife are also working on Amazon, and the two currently earn 20 million yuan a year. Another couple working in the Amazon clothing category in Shenzhen also said that their gross profit reached 1 million yuan last year.

A similar case has also been sent to Amazon’s global store opening. There is such a couple. Before, the husband ran a domestic e-commerce company, and then the company began to decline, so the husband decided to transform into a cross-border e-commerce with his wife, and came from Shanxi. Go to Shenzhen to be Amazon, and in 2020, their products have already ranked among the top three in Amazon's related rankings.

"He writes listings and selections, and I am responsible for packaging and shipping. I may understand what he doesn't understand, but he doesn't understand what I understand. The two just support each other and help each other." Just last year, they started to transform from a physical entity to become an Amazon partner. The couple said as they introduced their division of labor.

In fact, many Amazon mom-and-pop stores have supported each other in this way. Their scale is not large, but their profits are very considerable. "Because the labor cost of the mom-and-pop shop is low, the small hits that you choose are very profitable. If it is good, it will not be a problem to make more than 100 orders a day. The big sellers are disdainful to make these products, but this gives the mom-and-pop shop a living space, and the competition is also small, so It's not surprising that the couple makes tens of millions of profits a year." said a seller with 20 years of experience in cross-border e-commerce and foreign trade operations.

At the same time, Amazon mom-and-pop stores have come to the present, and there is another monetization model, that is, selling their own brands /stores to aggregators. For example, David Stephen sold the gardening tool brand he and his wife founded to Heroes, an aggregator, at several times the annual gross profit.

On Amazon, not only couples, one person, or a small team of three or five people, the profit margins created are also very considerable.

Small team size is not big, but "really fragrant"

In Amazon, the number of people and revenue, or profit, are not necessarily proportional. Sometimes a large-scale sale with a few hundred people is not necessarily as high as a small team of more than a dozen people. Among these small teams, such as a mom-and-pop shop, there are many people with annual sales of several million , and it is not uncommon for a five-person team to have annual revenue of hundreds of millions.

Someone once visited an Amazon company with a total team of 10 people (6 people in operation, 2 people in product development, and the other 2 people are finance and boss), and they started to enter the market in 2019, three years down, to 2021, annual sales It has reached 500 million yuan, and the profit rate is about 20%, that is, 10 people can create a net profit of 100 million yuan per year, and the human efficiency is very high. And according to the person in charge, the current annual revenue is far from reaching the ceiling.

It is also a 4-person team that started to deploy Amazon in 2019. They are mainly engaged in musical instruments, home textiles, sporting goods and other categories. After one year of operation, the annual sales have reached tens of millions. In terms of category layout, the person in charge has a very clear goal, starting with the harmonica category that he is familiar with, and expanding other categories after this category is profitable.

There is also a 4-person team that is also very powerful, with monthly sales reaching 2 million yuan. It is reported that although the number of them is small, the division of labor is very clear: one is responsible for finding the supply chain, integrating the product supply side, and other supporting resources; , optimize product listing, etc.; the other is responsible for auxiliary operations, as well as product labeling, contact freight forwarding and delivery, etc., and the last one is responsible for product design optimization, visual effects, image design, etc.

The editor also learned that there is an Amazon boutique team in Shanxi, with 5 people, which can sell tens of millions a year. Among them, there are 3 stores with monthly sales of 180,000 US dollars, but they have not many products, and their performance growth has always been the main reason. Relying on this sector: product innovation and R&D, data-driven operation, and supporting overseas marketing.

Compared with big sales, small teams of a few to a dozen people are more common in the industry, and they are also the number of entrepreneurs recognized and chosen by many people. These small teams have significant advantages, they can attack and defend, and have little financial pressure. In contrast, the large-scale sales with a large number of personnel is facing a very big test in terms of management ability and management efficiency. In addition, there is also a lot of pressure on capital replenishment and personnel reconciliation. There is no performance, but the wages of employees are still paid as usual. , the shell on the enterprise is very heavy.

Regarding profits, an Amazon seller once said: "Hiring one person does not necessarily bring profit growth to the company, but laying off one person can save hundreds of thousands of costs every year." It can be seen that cross-border electricity In this business, the number of people and revenue and profits are not necessarily positively correlated. This we can also be confirmed from some big sellers.

A few days ago, the cross-border e-commerce "big guy" Anker Innovation just released its 2021 financial report, which shows that as of December 31, 2021, Anker Innovation has a total of 3,532 employees, but the huge team of thousands of people will only leverage The revenue of 10 billion yuan was moved, and the net profit was 982 million yuan. There is also Yibai Network, which has successfully listed on the backdoor. In 2020, it will achieve a revenue of 4 billion yuan and a net profit of 370 million yuan , but it has used 2,789 people.

Among cross-border sellers, Anker Innovation and Yibai Network have considerable net profit margins. In many big sales, the revenue looks very good, but the net profit margin is pitiful.

Those cross-border big sellers from "husband and wife"

Husband and wife partnership is indeed a golden entrepreneurial model. In the cross-border circle, there are many well-known big sellers who came out of this model. Now Xiaobian lists some of these types of big sellers, and introduces their current development.

Chain of Price

When it comes to the big sales of husband and wife, most people first think of the price chain founded by Gan Qingcao and Zhu Ling. "Peking University tyrant", "failure in gambling", "compensation of 1 billion", "running"… These words are the reasons why people pay attention to this couple and the chain of prices.

In 2017, Xunxing announced a 65% stake in the chain at a purchase price of 1.01 billion yuan. According to the agreement, Gan Qingcao and his wife promised that from 2017 to 2019, the net profit of the price chain will not be less than 100 million yuan, 160 million yuan and 250 million yuan respectively.

"As the first stock in cross-border ecology", the price chain has attracted widespread attention, but unfortunately, everyone knows the ending. The bet failed. Xunxing issued an announcement saying that Gan Qingcao and Zhu Ling were stranded in the United States with their young son. At the same time, Gan Qingcao and his wife need to pay Xunxing shares 1.014 billion yuan in performance commitment compensation. In addition, 100% of the equity of the price chain is held by Xunxing shares.

As of September 30, 2021, Xunxing has received a total of 121,637,672 yuan in execution funds. A few days ago, it was reported that Gan Qing, who had been stranded in the United States until now, has returned to China.

Tongtuo Technology

When Tongtuo Technology was established, Zou Chunyuan and Liao Xinhui agreed that Zou Chunyuan, Liao Xinhui and Li Xuehua would jointly fund the establishment, and Liao Xinhui and his wife would be responsible for the operation and management of the company. On April 15, the parent company Yiwu Huading Nylon Co., Ltd. announced that the legal representative of Tongtuo Technology was changed from "Liao Xinhui" to "Zou Chunyuan". The actual helm of Tongtuo Technology "changed hands".

Tongtuo Technology's listing bet also failed. In the equity transfer agreement signed with Huading, Liao Xinhui, Zou Chunyuan and Shenzhen Tongwei Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) promised that Tongtuo Technology should complete a cumulative net profit of 872 million in 2017, 2018 and 2019. But at the end of the three-year period, Tongtuo Technology only completed 710 million yuan, with a difference of 162 million yuan. On July 6 last year, Huading Co., Ltd. received a letter of concern from the Zhejiang Supervision Bureau, requiring Huading Co., Ltd. to urge Tongwei Investment, Zou Chunyuan, and Liao Xinhui to pay Huading Co., Ltd. the promised compensation amount of 349 million yuan, and the number of shares equivalent to compensation is 37.3288 million shares.

As a big seller, Tongtuo Technology sells products in many categories such as 3C electronics, outdoor home furnishing, photography, video, and beauty apparel. In 2021, Tongtuo Technology will start a diversified layout, start horizontal development, and propose a troika development strategy of "talent training + project incubation + investment fund". In July last year, Tongtuo announced the establishment of the Cross-border E Academy, launched a one-stop cross-border incubation training service, and has opened several sessions. In December of the same year, Tongtuo set up a cross-border e-commerce equity investment fund, focusing on investment and incubation of small and beautiful cross-border e-commerce teams.

Best Western

Xu Xinhua, the actual controller of PepsiCo, is in a husband-wife relationship with the company's director Xu Xin (who quit in July last year). Bestay is currently listed on the New Third Board. A few days ago, Netease released the "2021 China Cross-border E-commerce "Top 100 List", and PepsiCo is on the list. Also on the list are "big guys" such as SHEIN, Anker Innovation, and Banggu Technology.

Compared with other "big guys" in the circle, many people may not be very familiar with PepsiCo. Relying on third-party e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and Rakuten, PepsiCo is mainly engaged in automotive electronics, power supplies and digital peripheral accessories, and has transformed from the early F2B and B2B (traditional factories) to the export business of cross-border e-commerce F2C and B2C. .

The financial report shows that in the first half of 2021, PepsiCo’s revenue was 91.1685 million yuan. Although the revenue decreased year-on-year, its net profit increased by 40.07% year-on-year to 10.2061 million yuan.

PepsiCo is also highly dependent on Amazon. In 2020, its revenue from Amazon will be 180 million yuan, accounting for 80% of its total revenue. However, in recent years, PepsiCo’s performance has been actively deploying new markets, new platforms and new categories. For example, Pepsi is currently sold in Rakuten Japan and Yahoo Japan. At the same time, it will further expand the field of home medical and health care in 2020, and sell its own brand of power supplies, smart power strips and household medical equipment products to Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries. The "BESTEK" brand has a certain reputation overseas. popularity.

Cross-border communication

In 2014, Yang Jianxin spent more than 1 billion yuan to get all the shares of Global E-Commerce from Xu Jiadong and others, and changed its name to Cross-border. One swipe" to complete a gorgeous turn. The predecessor of Cross Border Link was Baiyuan Pants, an A-share listed company, which was brought up by Yang Jianxin and his wife Fan Meihua.

In recent years, the cross-border pass can be described as entangled in Pepsi, not only by *ST, but also the stock price has been declining. In the second half of 2017, the price of cross-border pass once exceeded 24 yuan per share, and the total market value exceeded 34.5 billion yuan, but now, as of April 2022 At the close of the market on March 13, the price per share was only 3.15 yuan, and the total market value was 4.768 billion.

On May 17 last year , the cross-border communication announced that the Shanxi Regulatory Bureau issued a warning letter. The company's performance in 2020 was actually a loss, but the false record changed the loss to profit, the information disclosure was inaccurate, and there were violations of laws and regulations. Cross-border Express stated in its 2020 performance forecast on January 30 last year that it expected a profit of 100 million to 150 million in 2020, but then it released the "Revision Announcement of Performance Forecast", saying that the net profit in 2020 is expected to lose 3 billion to 3.8 billion. .

In fact, it is not the first time that the performance of Cross-border Express has changed its face. From 2018 to 2020, Cross-border Express issued an announcement on the revision of the performance forecast every year. Each time, the net profit was revised downward. In 2018, the profit decreased, in 2019, the loss increased, and in 2020, it turned from profit to loss.

However, compared with the above, its subsidiary, Global.Com, owes suppliers hundreds of millions of payment for goods, which is even more noisy. In this incident, the news of suppliers kneeling and jumping off the building continued to spread. Many suppliers from Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Yiwu, Xiamen and other places have gathered at the offices of Global.Com to collect payment for goods.

At the same time, the number of new lawsuits filed by Cross-border Express and its affiliated companies has also increased rapidly.

In addition to the above-mentioned big sales, Anker Innovation , the leading boutique and the first stock of cross-border e-commerce, its major shareholder and actual controller Yang Meng and shareholder He Li are also husband and wife, and the two hold a total of 47.74% of the company's shares. A few days ago, Anker Innovation also released its 2021 financial report. According to the public financial report data, in 2021, Anker Innovation achieved a revenue of 12.574 billion yuan, an increase of 34.45% compared with the same period of the previous year; realized the net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company 982 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.70%.

The other is Tristate Shares , which is sprinting for A-share IPOs . The largest shareholder of Sanstate Shares is Shenzhen Ziwu Kangcheng Information Technology Co., Ltd., and its former controlling shareholder and executive director Xu Yiwei and the current chairman of Sanstate Shares, ZHONGBIN SUN, are husband and wife. From 2019 to the first half of 2021, the revenue of Tri-state shares was 1.567 billion yuan, 1.993 billion yuan, and 1.229 billion yuan respectively, and the revenue in two and a half years was nearly 5 billion. At present, the review status of "Three State Shares" GEM IPO has been changed to "suspended"