In 2022, cross-border e-commerce is still developing in full swing. Although some people continue to criticize the Amazon platform, it is difficult to stop a large number of sellers from entering the game one after another. Among them, there is no shortage of treasure mothers who have a more trivial time, or want to find a sideline subsidy in their spare time. Small sellers such as home office workers. Today, Damai will take you to take stock of the bumpy encounters that have been mentioned the most times by small Amazon sellers. Cross-border Xiaobai expressed regret for not seeing it earlier!
1. Control time cost – difficult
There are some full-time entrepreneurial sellers who do not need to clock in and out of get off work. Their work and rest become very irregular, and their work becomes procrastinated. What could have been done in an hour actually took an afternoon. And I don't have the mind to improve myself after doing the work that I should do, such as paying attention to best sellers and tracking competing products. Although people are lazy, it is still necessary to avoid the return on investment from becoming lower and lower due to waste of time and money.
In addition, a data report pointed out that although cross-border e-commerce companies prefer to recruit young people under the age of 25, 72.22% of sellers who enter the industry on their own are over 25 years old (as of March 2022). The situation of increasing social pressure has made more people feel the arrival of the mid-life crisis in advance, and they have to make new plans for themselves or their families early.
These people call themselves small sellers on the forum, and most of them work alone or in partnership of two or three people. Due to the usual work, time and energy constraints, the panel is concise but can smoothly complete complex operations. The auxiliary system has become the best choice for such sellers.
2. Controlling the cost of money – difficult
After I opened my own store and became the owner, I realized that every aspect of doing business requires money. The platform has to charge platform fees, and it has to press funds to stock up. The advertising fee is also a lot of expenses. These are fixed expenses and there is no way to save them. Perhaps the most troublesome is the logistics cost. We are personally engaged in cross-border e-commerce, and we cannot solve transportation problems without relying on freight forwarding companies. However, the freight forwarding on the market is mixed. Large companies with guaranteed prices have high prices, while those with low prices have poor supporting services. compensation.
In the community chat of a cross-border e-commerce company, most sellers said that they may have to send many batches of small packages for testing before they dare to decide to reach a long-term cooperation with a freight forwarder. For small sellers, it is undoubtedly crucial to find a cheap and responsible logistics company. The cost savings can ultimately allow their products to gain more profit margins to compete with competitors.
3. Selection – difficult
Although most of the sellers who are Amazon started from distribution, but the platform has developed so far, the industry consensus is that the distribution method is dying with the disappearance of Amazon's bonus period, and the companies that are still doing distribution are just in Grabbing the last piece of the pie, and most of them have also been converted to boutiques, the purpose is to select products for boutique teams. Amazon, a mature platform, will be more inclined to build itself into a platform with high-quality products after it has passed the stage of urgent development in the early stage, leaving less and less time and space for distribution sellers. And if you want to make high-quality products, or even fine shops, the ability to select products is very important. Because sellers can no longer randomly put all the products they can see on the shelves, but must examine the needs and markets of buyers. Although there are already a lot of tools to help with product selection, according to the survey, most Amazon operations believe that product selection software can only play a supporting role. Works. If a distribution seller wants to transform, in addition to reading more articles on selection, they can only improve their selection logic in practice, and use it to verify it on the shelves again and again.
4. Operation method – difficult
Many novice sellers who rashly start Amazon will encounter difficulties. After the store is applied, it can be described as a smear.
There is an unwritten rule in the cross-border e-commerce industry, that is, after a newbie joins the company, he will be equipped with a mentor to teach them hand-in-hand, so that the newcomer can grow rapidly. The sellers who have entered the industry themselves can search a lot of information on the Internet, but when it comes to specific problems, they still seem powerless. I suggest that if you want to truly have a systematic understanding of the platform operation method, it is best to find a cross-border "old driver" for consultation. Just like when students are studying, if there is something they don’t understand, they should understand it in time, and don’t accumulate problems. This will greatly help the follow-up operation.
5. Language barrier – difficult
Many people have a misunderstanding before doing foreign trade, that is, they have a natural sense of awe for unfamiliar things. People who don't speak English think that they can't communicate with buyers, and they will definitely not be able to do foreign trade. People who can speak a little English think that communication is sluggish, let alone doing business.
People who think like this have not really understood the current situation of this industry. In fact, Google Translate, Ali Translate and other software can already translate most of the semantics. Although it is not as accurate as manual work, it has been proved by practice that whether it is in B2B or B2C scenarios, using translation software whether it is replying to emails or making productions listing is absolutely sufficient. What sellers have to do is to increase their motivation, show their determination, and don’t set up obstacles for themselves.