Cross-border E-commerce Market Status Industry Chain Structure

There are many participants in the cross-border e-commerce industry, with various types of suppliers in the upstream of the industry chain, various platforms or cross-border big sellers in the midstream, and consumers in the downstream.

Upstream: suppliers, which can be divided into three categories: manufacturers, distributors, and brands. Cross-border e-commerce manufacturers are mainly engaged in OEM production; distributors are mainly involved in store operation by means of platform store and one-key distribution; brand owners control the core aspects of product design and build brand image through refined brand operation to enhance brand premium.

Midstream: cross-border e-commerce platform, according to the different trade directions, can be divided into export cross-border e-commerce and import cross-border e-commerce; according to the transaction mode, can be divided into B2B and B2C mode. B2B cross-border e-commerce platform bypasses agents or multi-layer distribution channels and directly connects buyers and sellers, realizing a significant streamlining of the long traditional foreign trade industry chain and improving supply chain efficiency.

B2C mode is mainly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), featuring high transaction frequency, relatively low transaction amount and high demand for logistics. Downstream: end customers, in B2B mode, the downstream is generally dealers, retailers, enterprises, etc.; in B2C mode, the downstream is generally end consumers. Among them, cross-border export B2B e-commerce has been a major volume provider in the industry scale, maintaining a share of about 70%.

At the same time, cross-border export B2B e-commerce industry entry barriers are higher, compared with retail requires heavier resource investment to obtain enterprise customer resources, and also requires a longer time for information accumulation and channel layout. The future development trend of cross-border export B2B e-commerce will be relatively stable, and the main market will still focus on the relatively mature development of Europe and the United States.

Cross-border export B2C e-commerce will also usher in rapid development, the reason for which on the one hand stems from the B2C industry is more directly affected by the consumer side, the market expansion of emerging countries and regions will be more likely to bring new transaction increment; on the other hand, from the fragmentation of the order and the fierce platform competition trend, many small B merchants and new entrepreneurs will also be a small batch of goods to the retail platform, which will promote the cross-border export B2C e-commerce market volume.