1. We are not willing to take a look at the end of life, we chose to start a business

The post-90s generation is destined to be a restless and unwilling generation.

The three partners of Mai Shi Electronics all graduated from the School of Management of Xiamen University, and after graduation, they entered the state -owned enterprises and started their career as "workers with iron rice bowls". However, under the influence of the educational environment, cultural environment and the background of the times, the post-90s generation is destined to be a restless and unwilling generation. After two years of working as migrant workers, they saw the general development direction of their future careers, and began to get tired of such a life that looked to the end.

During a work abroad, Mr. Zhong, one of the partners, accidentally saw the big smiling face sign on the outer wall of Amazon's warehouse, and a client of his peers introduced the current situation and development prospects of Amazon's cross-border e-commerce to him. In this way, the three partners met Amazon by chance. After returning to China, the three of them immersed themselves in research, hit it off and decided to start preparing for Amazon in their spare time.

As for why it's not all in Amazon full-time, partner Liu said that being a conservative won't kill you too badly.

After half a year of perfect preparation, the three partners resigned one after another and started all in Amazon full-time.

From the initial preparations in 2015, to allin half a year later, to the tens of millions of dollars per item sold on North American sites in 2022, Maxi Electronics has spent 7 years exploring its own avenue of stars!

2. When I was the boss for the first time, I didn’t know much about it.

From a worker to a boss, the change is not only the identity, but also the mentality.

Worker → boss, no one has assigned me tasks

Usually when talking about the difficulties of starting a business, most people's troubles are lack of funds, no customers, and few employees, but Mr. Liu's first difficulty in starting a business is the change of identity.

Mr. Liu of Mai Shi Electronics

It took me a long time to get used to the transition from a part-time worker to a freelancer and then to a boss. No one assigned me tasks or set goals, it was all self-driven.

After leaving his status as a worker, Mr. Liu began to arrange tasks and set goals for himself, and plunged into store operations. It is the norm to work 80-90 hours a week. With the development of the business, the 3-person team gradually expanded to more than 30 people, with operations , supplier management, brand planning, finance and taxation, human resources, and all functional positions fully equipped. Mr. Liu gradually separated from the specific work content and began to do Leading and managing work, and therefore living a nine-to-six life.

Faced with the prevalence of overtime work in the cross-border industry, Mr. Liu said that I do not encourage overtime work. Efficiency is the correct solution.

Post-95s don't care so much about salary

80% of the employees of Maxi Electronics are post-95s, and only some of the management are post-80s and pre-95s. The whole team is young and dynamic.

Although Mr. Liu was born in 1991, he found that he was different from those born in 1995 at work. For post-95 employees, the most important factor in choosing a company is not salary, but the company's corporate culture and business philosophy.

Mishi Electronics has always adhered to the concept of "doing the right thing", insisting on differentiated development of products around consumer needs, with quality and user experience as the core, and constantly improving the requirements for products and teams. It is this kind of corporate culture that has been recognized by the post-95 employees, and everyone is very willing to grow up with Maishi Electronics.

"I communicate with them on an equal footing, and jointly discuss reasonable goals and formulate appropriate plans." This is Mr. Liu's management secret.

3. To do cross-border e-commerce, a stable start is the key

Choosing Amazon was not just a coincidence, it was the result of careful consideration.

Mr. Liu said frankly that he chose Amazon mainly because the services provided by Amazon are very comprehensive, the threshold is low, and it is easy to start . The start-up team has few people and cannot take care of all the content. Amazon FBA undertakes warehousing, logistics, customer service , returns and exchanges, etc., and solves a series of problems in the back-end. The operation team can concentrate on products and operations, so it can be achieved Part-time "going to the sea".

In addition to FBA, Amazon's constantly updated tools also provide sellers with great operational support. Mr. Liu listed several tools that he thinks are useful:

01Data report

In the inventory and sales reports, there are all the data of the entire store, which is convenient for store operation analysis. Especially at the start-up stage of the store, understanding and proficiently using data reports to guide sales strategies can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

02Brand Module

Brand registration and protection are getting better and better, and brand analysis, experiments, buyer reviews, etc. that have been added in recent years are also very useful.

03Advertising campaigns and promotions

Throughout, more and more refined and diversified.

At the same time, Mr. Liu is also a loyal recommender of Amazon's official courses. As a visitor, he was very emotional: "At that time, when we went to Shenzhen to listen, we went to Hangzhou to listen, and everyone in the team seized some opportunities to learn operational knowledge. Now it is much more convenient, and there are many online and offline channels for learning."

4. Is it really sensible to still make professional clothes during the epidemic?

Subdivide different positioning, focus on the needs of the crowd, clarify your own strengths and weaknesses, and make breakthroughs at a single point, and the red ocean can also turn blue.

Casual professional women's clothing is not the first choice for Mai Shi Electronics to enter the cross-border e-commerce. Relying on the advantages of the South China sanitary ware industry belt and the supply chain resources accumulated when working in state-owned enterprises, Mai Shi Electronics started from the existing resources and used the sanitary ware category to open up the whole process of Amazon's operation. With the right time and the right place, Maxi Electronics quickly achieved profitability.

But sometimes quick success is not because of how hard you work, but because the ceiling of success is not high.

After the store operation is on the right track, although sales are becoming more and more stable, it is difficult to have a more obvious increase, and Mai Shi Electronics began to encounter operational bottlenecks. After research and analysis by the three partners, they found that bathroom standard products are relatively fixed, and small brands have a small market share in the bathroom market segment, and it is difficult for them to develop greatly in the future. Maxi Electronics has no self-operated factories, and it is not practical to invest in technology development and patents.

As a result, the stable development of Mai Shi Electronics began the road of secondary selection.

Affected by the epidemic in 2020, the global apparel market has ushered in a trough period, with the scale shrinking by nearly 1 trillion US dollars *.

At this time, Mai Shi Electronics began to devote itself to the casual professional women's clothing category. This choice can't help but be confusing. The epidemic has led to home isolation, and the popularity of "formal" clothing such as suits has declined. Is it a gamble to choose casual professional women's clothing under such circumstances?

But Liu always has his own predictions.

Staying at home is temporary, and people will go back to the office when the situation subsides. After the experience at home during the epidemic, everyone pays more attention to comfort. At this time, casual professional wear with both comfort and workplace attributes will become the first choice for workplace people .

According to the white paper "Women's Fashion Trend Insights in Key Markets" released by Meta, 82% of respondents in key markets agree that working from home has increased women's demand for clothing suitable for work, fitness and leisure scenarios.

Although clothing is the Red Sea market, as long as you differentiate and position yourself, look at the needs of the crowd, clarify your own strengths and weaknesses, and make a single breakthrough, the Red Sea can also turn blue. Not relying on traffic thinking, operating stores with user thinking, analyzing the market and user needs, this is Mr. Liu's winning strategy.

In 2021, the global economic trend will gradually pick up, consumption power will continue to be released, and the global apparel market will also usher in a new wave of development opportunities. Among them, women's fashion is one of the most popular and fast-growing sub-categories in clothing. The women's clothing market will grow by 19.3% year-on-year in 2021, leading the global clothing market*.

This time, Mai Shi Electronics won the bet.

* (Data source: Meta "Key Market Women's Fashion Trend Insights")

Five, the brand, I will always stick to it

The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, followed by now.

In the first few years, Mai Shi Electronics also helped some factories to operate Amazon stores and build brands. The early stage was very smooth. The factory owner felt that the cross-border e-commerce model was new, so the cooperation was very high, and the store once achieved the top few categories. However, when the overall turnover and profits were counted later, the factory owner felt that the annual turnover of tens of millions was just a small matter, even though this turnover was already a good result on Amazon. President Liu was also helpless.

Mr. Liu of Mai Shi Electronics

The factory owner thinks that if he develops one more new customer, he can get the turnover of your store for a year, so why bother. Over time, factory owners began to go back to the old model.

Mr. Liu felt sad. The Chinese have been working on improving production efficiency and researching better quality products, but because there is no good brand, the brand premium cannot be achieved, so they can sell higher prices. Even though the world is using products made in China, they are not recognized by consumers.

In order to continue the brand road, Mr. Liu began to change his thinking, from operating auxiliary factories to factory auxiliary operations, establishing a brand department, starting market research, reorganizing the positioning brand, consumer portraits, brand stories, and VI, with a brand new Gestures begin the brand's long journey.

Mr. Liu laughed at himself, probably because he read too much and was somewhat idealistic. The road to building a brand is long, arduous and requires a lot of investment. Perhaps the seeds of my generation will start to grow, and the next generation will have to wait for the next generation to bear fruit. But I believe it's worth it because the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, followed by now.

6. Let's do the right thing together

Although we still have a long way to go compared to our better peers, we are now more steadfast and steady, and the long road is still bright.

From 2015 to the present, Mai Shi Electronics has been developing through stepping on the pit, improving and learning. Mr. Liu said that although we still have a long way to go compared to our better peers, we are now more steadfast and steady, and we have a long way to go.

In the process of entering cross-border e-commerce from 0 to 1, Mr. Liu has accumulated some operational experience, hoping to help some sellers who want to enter the market:

01.01 Compliance operation, long-termism

Adhere to customer first, long-termism, compliant operation, and fair competition. Strictly abide by Amazon rules, keep your feet on the ground, and achieve sustainable growth.

02. Brand orientation, user thinking

Do not rely on traffic thinking, be brand-oriented, pay attention to the cultivation of user thinking, find the right vertical subdivision track, upgrade and accumulate products and user experience, and explore and dig deep on the brand road.

03. Interpret the orientation and follow the trend

Always pay attention to Amazon's trends, actively participate in activities, and adhere to the road of branding.