Dry goods recommendation: cross border e-commerce supply chain, logistics and overseas warehouse challenges and responses?
The following articles are from the sea going students' Association, and the author is from the sea going students' Association
Source / Overseas Student Association (id:chuhaiwenda)
Edit /martin
01
Logistics Challenges
What are the current challenges of international logistics? How to deal with it?
How to deal with the current high cost of international logistics?
Zongteng group, Licong
Self and company introduction: we briefly introduce the business of zongteng group. One is the third-party overseas warehouse - barn overseas warehouse, which currently has a large number of layouts in the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia and other countries; The other is logistics - cloud transit, including direct delivery of cloud transit special line and other logistics. The company is in a leading position in the industry, including overseas warehouse and logistics, and its scale is relatively large.
Regarding the current supply chain challenges, the first one is price fluctuation, and the second one is unstable operation. At present, we not only encounter some fluctuations and cycles in the development of the industry itself, but also encounter the instability of the external environment, including the closure of some cities or regions caused by the epidemic, which has affected the logistics, the ongoing negotiations among wharf workers on the West Bank of the United States, the sharp rise in oil prices caused by local conflicts, and the rapid change of exchange rates.
For example, the drastic changes in logistics costs between China and Russia. At the beginning of the local conflict, the Russian Ruble plummeted, which affected our exports to Russia. Relatively speaking, the commodity prices and logistics prices exported to Russia are much higher (the freight of a container is much more expensive). The plummeting ruble is beyond the reach of Russian importers, and our exporters do not want to sell it. Recently, the exchange rate of the rupee has risen again and returned to the level before the war, so the logistics cost between China and Russia has dropped a lot: 100000 yuan before the war, 150000-200000 yuan after the war, and now it has fallen to about 80000 yuan. In addition, recently, there are fewer non Russian aircraft, resulting in a sharp rise in logistics costs, and the position of air / rail / road has been alarmed.
In addition, I think a big challenge in the second half of 2022 is the high inventory in the U.S. market, which has been exposed since the fourth quarter of 2021. Coupled with the market fluctuations caused by the epidemic, such "bullwhip effect" will be more obvious in some categories; This also creates greater uncertainty for our logistics.
I have different views on the high cost of logistics. I don't need to look at the absolute price of logistics. It mainly depends on who you compete with. If you are competing with other e-commerce sellers, your logistics situation is similar; If it competes with offline retailer Wal Mart, the logistics situation may be better for e-commerce sellers this year. Last year, the price of a container: the long-term agreement price of Wal Mart shipping is 3000 (US dollars), the price of big sellers is 8000-15000/17000, and the price of small sellers may be 20000. If you deal in the same category of goods as Wal Mart, your logistics cost will have no advantage over Wal Mart. However, this year's situation is different. The overall cargo volume is declining this year, and the cost of shipping containers received by e-commerce sellers in the market is decreasing. This year, the long-term shipping price of Wal Mart has increased, which may be 7500 to 8000. In this way, the difference in logistics costs between e-commerce sellers and Wal Mart this year will not be so large. I think it will be more obvious after June: most of the products sold by Wal Mart before June are those with the shipping price of 3000 last year, and the products sold after June may be those with the shipping price of 8000 dollars, so the prices of Wal Mart products may rise after June. In addition, Wal Mart's inventory increased by more than 30% in the first quarter, and its sales only increased by more than 2.4%.
In addition, I preliminarily judge that the logistics freight rate will not fall further this year. In fact, there are only three major alliances (2m/oa/ta) among the ten mainstream shipping companies. Their strategies are unified. They will reduce transport capacity and ensure prices. After the decrease of cargo volume in March this year, they directly reduced the transportation capacity by 30%-40% in the later scheduling. For them, the base price of long-term agreements signed with Wal Mart and other giants must be kept. It is better to lose transport capacity than to keep the base price. If the reserve price is not maintained, it means that a large number of their initial positions cannot be fulfilled. That is serious. Therefore, the logistics cost will not fall further this year, and it is difficult to break through the long-term association price. Next year, it may be lowered a little, but not too much; Because now the whole logistics industry is undergoing the transformation of double carbon and environmental protection, the transformation cost and various expenses are rising.
Dewei international, jiangshengbo Jason
Self and company introduction: I am responsible for the e-commerce platform business of Dewei group; As a leading freight forwarder between China and the United States, Dewei has been operating on China US routes for nearly 30 years, including routes from all Southeast Asian countries to the United States.
Observations on the industry: I agree with general manager Li Cong of zongteng group just now. I also believe that the biggest challenge for the overseas supply chain this year is stability. According to our boss, we haven't encountered a situation like last year in the past 30 years: the freight rate and timeliness have changed greatly. Moreover, the supply chain itself has many links. At present, it involves the door-to-door supply chain of cross-border e-commerce, and the whole environment is much more complex; Using the "bullwhip effect" method, if you lose control of an early supply chain link, the final "tail flick effect" will have a great impact.
In addition, the current situation and trend of ocean freight rates this year is good news for e-commerce sellers. The difference between the ocean freight rates received by sellers and those received by large shippers such as Wal Mart will not be so great. It turns out that Wal Mart gets lower prices and enjoys better services (including services such as dumping counters and picking up counters at the destination port). However, this year, the long-term association price Wal Mart received has also risen to more than $8000, while the price received by e-commerce sellers has decreased in recent months. But I don't think the sea freight price will continue to fall this year. After tasting the benefits of high freight rates in the past, shipping companies will find ways to maintain high prices. They can maintain prices by reducing the capacity of Sino US routes. In recent years, the transportation capacity (ships and containers) of Sino US routes has increased by 30% compared with the past; You may not be able to see that the main reason is that many ships have been consumed in the dock and voyage. If these transport capacities are adjusted to other routes and the supply of space on Sino US routes is reduced, there will be ways to maintain the price.
Suggestions for sellers: first, sellers should focus on how to stabilize all links of their supply chain this year. Instability in the supply chain will lead to an increase in the hidden costs of the seller. For example, when the container cannot be raised in the importing country, it is placed in the close area, and the seller also needs to pay. In the past, when the supply chain was stable, the seller's control over these hidden costs was ok, but now the instability of the supply chain has amplified these costs.
Second, it is suggested that sellers should pay attention to the overall trends in the industry and not only favor some cities or alliances, such as the ships of the OA alliance. The seller may feel that the OA alliance's ship is more stable, with a better wharf location, faster delivery speed, and less additional costs; In fact, they are almost the same. They are all fair. At present, the shipping companies outside the alliance have also opened a lot of overtime ships, etc.
Third, in addition to uncontrollable shipping costs, sellers can focus more on what they can improve, such as packaging and packing methods. Especially in the final delivery fee, the packaging method may have a great impact on the cost. No matter what FBA is used at the end of the journey, it will be delivered on behalf of the overseas warehouse, and it will be delivered by UPS in its own overseas warehouse. A small difference in packaging may lead to a large difference in the end of the journey delivery fee. The other is the box and material, including the hardness of the box, the level of shock and moisture resistance, etc; A good choice can not only reduce the loss of distribution, but also reduce the weight. I think this aspect may become one of the competitiveness of sellers in the future.
Fourth, it is suggested that sellers should pay attention to the policies of the United States: tariffs and dock workers' strikes. Let's focus on the strike. On July 1 this year, the contract between labor and management expired, and now the labor side has asked to suspend negotiations. Therefore, there will be no strike before July 1 (subject to the contract), but the workers will slack off, so the efficiency of the wharf will certainly decline in June. After July 1, due to the possible strike, the operation efficiency of the terminal will further decline, which may cause congestion in all links and lead to the shipping company to increase the freight rate. And the shipping company will say that I can't enter the ship now, and I will reduce the transportation capacity. Once the transportation capacity is reduced, the impact of July and August will be great, because July and August is the traditional peak season. Moreover, this year's negotiations between the labor and management sides must be very difficult, although the government does not want a strike.
Therefore, for the response in the second half of this year, it is suggested to hedge 3-3-3: 1/3 of the BCO of the shipping company, 1/3 of the NVOCC, and 1/3 of the spot quote. This can achieve a certain degree of risk hedging.
Three state logistics, yefucheng
Self and company introduction: tri state was established in 2007. It mainly has two business segments: third-party sellers and international logistics. We are the top sellers on eBay, Amazon, express, etc; It is also an international logistics company in the area of direct delivery special line packages.
About the trends and challenges of this year: first, the e-commerce platform policy is more stringent. It is recommended that sellers strictly abide by the platform policy. Second, there are challenges in logistics. Local conflicts / epidemics have greatly affected the price and timeliness of logistics. Third, the European and American markets are relatively depressed. It is suggested that sellers should look at emerging markets, such as Southeast Asia and Latin America. I recently communicated with a leading seller in the Latin American market in an industry. They even increased by 170% in the Latin American market this year.
We have had this insight in 16 years. We began to layout the Latin American market, and launched special lines, light and small packages in Mexico, as well as channels to avoid dumping large goods, to meet the different logistics needs of sellers. Another niche market with rapid growth in Europe and the United States is Zhongbao straight hair long tail products, 3-10 kg products. This kind of product may be long tail, so it is impossible to store a large number of products in overseas warehouses, so sellers generally use direct delivery. Our mid package and large package free selling services for central Europe can meet the needs of sellers.
How to deal with the high international logistics cost: first, as a seller of goods, we should pay attention to the logistics cost and time stability. We should reserve more logistics resources, use multiple logistics services and share risks. Second, closed-loop management and monitoring of the entire logistics link, from the beginning to the end. Third, priority management, especially for different platforms and markets; Focus on the management of fast-growing platforms, such as Wal Mart.
Dajian yuncang, liudeqiang, Tony
Self and company introduction: I am the national supply chain director of Dajian yuncang B2B platform. Dajian yuncang is a B2B platform specializing in making large products.
The current situation and challenges of the supply chain: first, the cost of the supply chain has risen. In addition to the reasons shared above, the marine insurance premium has also increased significantly after the European conflict.
Second, the maritime vessels were severely delayed. Basically, 1/5 of the world's container fleet is congested in all ports for many reasons, such as epidemic situation, weather, etc. Then inflation, unemployment, social unrest, etc. will all lead to a large area of container delays in the port. The "Butterfly Effect" is like a chain reaction, and a certain negative factor will be continuously transmitted. Europe has a great impact. For example, the transit time from some Chinese ports to Hamburg, Germany has been extended to 59 days, and the transit time to Britain has also been extended to 55 days.
Third, the epidemic has led to great changes in factory side business, with ups and downs, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Some overseas customers destroyed their orders and abandoned their goods, resulting in a decline in factory orders.
Suggestions for sellers: first, increase the loading capacity to reduce costs. For example, the bathtub can be stacked, instead of each product being packaged separately, so the container capacity is nearly doubled. After the goods are transported overseas, the overseas warehouse company with secondary packaging capability is asked to help with packaging. For example, our overseas warehouse of Dajian cloud warehouse can provide localized services such as overseas secondary packaging, and the price is also good.
Second, we should book the warehouse in advance as far as possible, and let the goods wait for the ship. There should be no waiting for the ship. The epidemic has led to a shortage of labor in all aspects, often with delays in the delivery of goods. Therefore, you must book the warehouse in advance. You'd rather wait for the warehouse after the goods are produced than tighten the time card, otherwise it will lead to loss of warehouse fees.
Third, reduce the proportion of sea freight in the whole circulation link. The sea freight itself cannot be reduced, so we can only choose products with higher customer unit price to reduce the overall proportion. For example, the comparison between furniture and electrical appliances: for a container of sofas, the FOB price is only $10000, but the sea freight is also $10000; For a container of electrical appliances, the FOB price may be USD 60000-70000, which reduces the proportion of the overall freight.
Fourth, pay attention to product differentiation. At present, the supply of overseas markets has exceeded the demand due to the "bullwhip effect", such as panel furniture, E-sports chairs, etc. If differentiated products cannot be provided, it may be unsalable and overstocked.
Fifthly, it is suggested that the factory owner should be safe when receiving orders: try to trade in RMB (the exchange rate is unstable) and be cautious about large orders. It used to be a good thing for factories to receive large orders, but now the supply chain is unstable, we should be as cautious as possible. As far as possible, do transactions with deposit, including batch production of goods, pay attention to the timeliness of goods leaving the port, and adjust the production rhythm during observation.
Lazada, feiqinqin (yueyun)
Introduction to myself and the company: I'm yueyun (Fei Qinqin), head of lazada's cross-border ecology and investment promotion. Lazada is Alibaba's flagship e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia. Many Chinese sellers have brought their products and brands to Southeast Asia through lazada. The sales volume and profits are very good. In 2021, lazada's annual active consumers will reach 130million, the platform Gmv will reach 21billion, and 80% of Forbes Top100 brands have settled in lazmall brand mall. Lazada will also continue to cultivate the e-commerce market in Southeast Asia in the future, provide basic services to buyers and sellers, and help sellers grow.
Of course, there are still many opportunities in the European and American markets, but sellers can also pay more attention to the Southeast Asian market. Lazada is located in six Southeast Asian countries with nearly 600million people and a large consumer market. It is estimated that the Gmv scale of e-commerce market will reach 260billion US dollars by 2025. The culture of Southeast Asia is similar to that of China. We Chinese sellers can make good use of the advantages of the supply chain to make Southeast Asian consumers love Chinese high-quality goods.
From the perspective of logistics and overseas warehouse, lazada, as a platform party, has been trying to help the seller reduce costs and increase efficiency. This year, we will take several practical measures to give priority to protecting the interests of sellers.
First, more third-party ecological overseas warehouses are accepted in the Southeast Asian market, and sufficient competition is introduced to reduce the overseas storage costs of sellers and give sellers more choices. At present, it has been put into trial operation in the Malaysian market and will be extended to more countries in the future.
Second, we will open one warehouse and multiple terminals, that is, the products placed in lazada's official overseas warehouse (or the official cooperative third-party overseas warehouse ecological warehouse) can be sent to lazada's buyers, as well as orders from other platforms. From the perspective of the platform, I hope to provide better services to sellers in an all-round way.
Third, open the multiple choices of the first journey. In the past, the seller can only choose the official channel for the first trip service. In the future, the logistics ecosystem will be opened to more third parties, giving merchants more choices. At the same time, the ban on more categories will be lifted, making it easier and easier to sail to Southeast Asia.
Rusutong, chencong
Introduction to myself and the company: Russian Express provides comprehensive digital services for Chinese brands to go to sea. In 2013, China Russia cross-border logistics began. At present, it extends to cross-border supply chain, overseas and local landing services, brand agency, Omni channel distribution, etc. At present, emerging markets are the main markets (Russia, Brazil and Mexico), supplemented by European and American markets (the United States, Germany and Poland). Customers mainly include three types: e-commerce platforms, such as Alibaba / rookie / JD / Huawei mall; Overseas brands, such as Xiaomi / Huawei /ov; Head cross-border e-commerce sellers, etc.
As for the Russian market, a series of changes have taken place in the market pattern due to the European conflict. Since the end of February, Sino Russian cross-border e-commerce has been temporarily affected. Due to the fluctuation of Russian ruble exchange rate, the blocking of cross-border e-commerce logistics, European and American economic sanctions and other issues, the order volume of Sino Russian cross-border e-commerce has dropped precipitously, but it gradually began to recover in April. On the other hand, Russia's local e-commerce platforms such as tmall, WB, ozon and yandex, because their user groups have stronger consumption power, take advantage of some relative advantages of the local e-commerce platforms, such as rapid logistics timeliness, ruble collection and after-sales service guarantee, but reverse the trend, and Gmv rises rapidly. Therefore, it is suggested that Chinese sellers should operate in the Russian market with "cross-border + local" two wheel drive, so as to maximize the e-commerce growth opportunities in this market. This is the situation of B2C online retail in the Russian market, and the changes in the development pattern of B2B trade between China and Russia are more far-reaching.
As a large number of European and American consumer goods brands withdraw from the Russian market, covering rigid demand categories such as electronics, clothing, home furnishings and auto parts, Chinese brands and sellers have been given huge market space and future development opportunities. In the medium and long term, European and American countries, including Japan and South Korea, may be fully decoupled from Russia in political, economic, supply chain and other fields. The supply chain of Russian light industrial commodity imports is bound to be transferred to China, or China dominated Asia. The Russian market has a consumer population of more than 300million, with an online transaction volume of more than 40billion US dollars. Therefore, it is suggested that China's overseas brands and e-commerce enterprises should not ignore the need to plan their strategic layout in the Russian market.
Finally, it is also a very critical point. It is suggested that enterprises must comply with the regulations in the localization operation. Under the current European conflict, the Russian government will strengthen law enforcement in tax, supervision and other aspects, so overseas brands and e-commerce enterprises should pay special attention to the operation compliance of financial, tax and legal affairs.
Jiewang j-net, caoxiangkun
Introduction to myself and the company: jetnet started from Russia. In 2014, it began to cooperate with express. Now, it is gradually distributed in Israel in the Middle East and Mexico in central and South America. The business model is the overseas warehouse plus special line, which is deeply cultivated in several emerging markets. In terms of operation in emerging markets, it can be said that the industry leaders have been keeping up with each other.
Our overseas warehouse business in the Russian market this year can be described as a V-shaped roller coaster. Since the European conflict in February, the business volume has dropped by more than half; Then it was recovered quickly. In May, our warehouse in Moscow was full, and the orders reached 2-3 times the level of the same period last year. Therefore, it is suggested that sellers should pay more attention to emerging markets, such as Russia, the Middle East, central and South America; You can look at these logistics companies with strong supply chain management ability in the market. Choose more.
In addition, pay attention to the sellers in the Russian market. It is suggested that we should not only look at express, but also look at local platforms, such as the ozone platform that we have connected to. After the war, ozone's sales increased more than twice.
It is concluded that in the current complex and changeable international situation, it is recommended that sellers make a multi-scale layout to reduce the impact of a single market or service partner. At the same time, it combines and balances the supply chain management ability of the logistics company with all aspects of its own digital operation, including: stock cycle, inventory management, etc.
Jingyun logistics, Bryan, Xiaowei town
Self and company introduction: Guangzhou Jingyun Logistics Co., Ltd. is a service provider focusing on the first cross-border logistics in Southeast Asia. The company's business is mainly cross-border sea transportation and land transportation, and provides cross-border first round double clearing and package duty door-to-door service for the overseas warehouse stock of cross-border sellers. At present, the business scope covers 6 countries and 1 region in Southeast Asia: Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Compared with European and American logistics, Southeast Asia has more land transportation. We can transport to Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos through Pingxiang and Dongxing ports in Guangxi. However, affected by the border epidemic, it has been closed since November 2021 and has not been opened until mid May. At present, it still adopts the mode of dumping cabinets for customs clearance, and only a few cars can be passed every day, which has not recovered to 25% of the peak time; So at present, land transportation is also relatively tight.
For some urgent goods in Southeast Asia, it may also be transported by air, but most of them are mainly transported by sea. At present, we are also trying some new channels, such as the new China Laos railway, from Yunnan to Vientiane to Thailand, which can also solve some logistics needs. In addition, we are now gradually going to the front end of the industrial belt to do cargo warehouses, such as Tianjin, Qingdao, Ningbo and other ports to do container consolidation or full container export. These are some attempts and explorations to strengthen timeliness and reduce costs.
Buffalo logistics, Zhang Xin
Introduction to me and the company: Buffalo focuses on African logistics, China to Africa and local logistics distribution in Africa: domestic cargo collection, space booking and customs declaration, overseas customs clearance, overseas warehouse and local distribution.
When doing e-commerce in Africa, we should also pay attention to product packaging. The logistics volume calculation in Africa is somewhat different. Express includes 5000; Large cargo parcels (such as 20-30kg trunk line cargo) are calculated as 4000; Air freight will be calculated as 6000 or 8000. In addition, with African characteristics, due to the lack of skilled workers, logistics costs often increase rather than decrease with the increase of cargo volume. For example, when the local logistics provider you cooperate with increases your shipment volume from 1000 tickets per day to 2000 tickets per day, he does not reduce the price for you, but says that I want to increase the price, and I am too busy.
In addition, the logistics investment rate in Africa is unstable, and the proportion of users' cash on delivery is relatively high; Therefore, we need to choose reliable logistics providers to cooperate in South Africa to solve the problem of proper investment rate and collection.
Other understandings about African e-commerce: first, as long as the product selection is good, the sales volume is guaranteed. Because in general, telecommunications (mobile network) is relatively fast in infrastructure construction, and users have both awareness and demand for commodities. Second: when doing e-commerce in Africa, you should pay attention to safety. The probability of warehouse being robbed is very high. Basically, wig warehouses have been robbed because wigs are very popular in Africa, with fast turnover and high gross profit. Third, the management mode of local employees in Africa, whether they are logistics / warehouse / e-commerce personnel, must be combined with the local mode. If it is managed according to the Chinese model, there may be personal safety risks.
02
Warehousing challenges
Difficulties in the selection, construction and management of overseas warehouses?
Effectively plan inventory / transfer, improve turnover / prevent out of stock?
Yi Dayun, dengyanfang
Introduction to myself and the company: Eltek cloud was established in 2014. The company's main business modules include one-piece consignment of overseas warehouse, first-trip sea and air transportation, FBA special line, etc. at present, the overseas warehouse is 80W flat +, covering 12 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, etc.
Some points for attention of sellers in self built logistics and overseas warehouse: in recent years, some sellers have considered self built warehouse, including self built logistics channels. In the long run, it may coexist and complement with third-party overseas warehouses. It is suggested that the seller should focus on the following points:
First, focus on analyzing the stability of business demand and the distribution of order volume. If the stability of order is not guaranteed, the warehouse will face various thorny problems such as idle period, empty warehouse rate and unstable storage capacity.
Second, it is not necessary to build warehouses in all areas covered by orders. Warehouses can be built in areas where orders are highly concentrated. Third party warehouses can be used in other areas to provide solutions.
Third, when building warehouses, it is necessary to start the self built tail logistics plan at the same time. Especially for large goods, the tail freight has a large impact on the cost of orders, and it takes more time and cost to cultivate a logistics channel with better prices.
We do not object to the seller's self establishment, but we do not easily suggest the seller to self establish, because the overseas warehouse is a heavy asset, and it is not enough to find an overseas warehouse to open it. The self built warehouse needs to cooperate with the establishment of a complete warehouse management system, a relatively complete tail logistics system, a complete set of storage equipment, and the establishment of a local team to solve the problems of remote management, warehouse management risk, fire safety, employment safety, etc. The overall investment is large and the return cycle is long. It is recommended that the seller carefully analyze the cost and feasibility before making a decision.
Suggestions on the selection of third-party warehouses: first, we should first look at the comprehensive strength of overseas warehouses. For example, whether the overall layout, anti risk ability, scheme ability, service and management are standardized, and the ability to cope with force majeure factors such as epidemic situation.
Second, choosing an overseas warehouse with a relatively complete warehousing network will help the seller prepare goods in different areas and reduce the final cost. For example, we have more than 40 positions in the United States, covering 13 positions in the East, 15 positions in the West and 7 positions in the south. Other positions are distributed in New York and Middle America. It basically covers the whole U.S. region, and the stock up by warehouse scheme can control the final shipment within zone 3.
Third, whether it can provide the seller with corresponding value-added services and customized solutions, such as one-to-one exclusive warehouse package, labeling and changing, product testing, return and other comprehensive services.
Fourth, whether it is beneficial for the seller to reduce the cost, such as providing the first journey transportation service with good price and stable service, and the end journey logistics that is very matched with the product delivery and competitive in price.
Yi Cang, Xiao Yun
Self and company introduction: we provide SaaS software services for the cross-border e-commerce industry, including ERP software for sellers and WMS management software for customers of warehousing services in the industry.
We communicated with the sellers or overseas warehouse companies. According to our feedback, one of the more difficult points is the management of overseas employees, including personnel selection, employment and overall process management. They said that the cooperation of local personnel was low, skills and experience were lacking, and it was difficult to communicate with domestic teams. However, the management problem is an internal process problem. Basically, after finding suitable local managers, the ready-made experience in the industry can be learned and discussed. In addition, the compliance of local companies with overseas warehouses is also a difficulty.
Let me focus on the seller's suggestions on inventory management: first, it is necessary to effectively connect with the factory (Supplier). In the production process, it is related to whether the settlement, delivery and material management will be done in advance.
Second, manage the inventory of the whole chain. It includes the inventory in the supplier's production, the inventory in the seller's domestic warehouse, the in transit inventory delivered to the logistics provider for transportation, and the inventory in the overseas warehouse (FBA warehouse / self built warehouse / third-party warehouse). All inventories are capital, and the slow turnover of any link will have a great impact.
Third, establish their own clearance channels.
Fourth, make all data accurate and clear through effective management software and processes. Our e-warehouse is to provide relevant software and services to help sellers manage the data of all channels and chains, so as to be more accurate and predictable.
Fifth, lay out more platforms. At present, we see that many sellers are laying out other platforms besides Amazon to spread risks and speed up the turnover of overseas warehouses.
Zongteng group, Licong
In fact, it is not recommended that sellers build their own overseas warehouses before the scale reaches a certain volume. First, the comprehensive cost is quite high. If you want to build overseas warehouses with high quality, there are many hidden costs to consider: software and hardware of warehousing information management, local labor, compliance and other costs. Second, at present, the growth rate of sellers' traffic and orders in the next few years will not be as fast as in the past. It is difficult for a new platform to give sellers the opportunity to grow at a high speed as Amazon did a few years ago. Including the overseas warehouses built by some platforms, it has also begun to open.
With regard to inventory planning and management, at present, we see that many sellers' strategy is to sell multiple platforms with one inventory. The company should do a good job in overall inventory management and scheduling. In addition, it is difficult to increase the increment to C in the short term. Some sellers are also considering the increment to B, including supplying offline physical retailers. In addition, it is suggested to carefully handle sudden large orders from a single channel. Because according to the "bullwhip effect", after taking a lot of goods from this channel, they may not be sold immediately. They may have a large backlog of inventory. They will not order a lot from you in the short term, and may also affect the sales of other channels. Therefore, it is recommended that sales should exercise restraint, follow the plan and discipline, and not blindly expand the back-end capacity and inventory because of the rapid growth of sales in a certain channel.
Jiewang j-net, caoxiangkun
I think the difficulty of overseas warehouse is also the sudden change of international situation. Our business is affected by the change of Russian ruble exchange rate. Now that the Russian Ruble has appreciated again, the operating cost of overseas warehouses in Russia has increased. Now it is more necessary to consider the investment in fixed assets and the improvement of human efficiency.
In addition, we still focus on providing better services to sellers and reducing their costs in the long run. For example, we have now strengthened the efficiency of trunk lines and customs clearance, and also helped sellers speed up their inventory turnover. Recently, we have reached a cooperation with rookies, which allows sellers to distribute products from overseas warehouses to more platforms, such as ozone, wildberry, yandex Market, etc. to speed up inventory turnover.
At the same time, we use our digital operation ability to help sellers analyze their inventory, stock, etc., improve sellers' operation efficiency and reduce inventory and capital pressure. In order to better serve sellers, many new national markets have been opened, such as the Israeli market. We are the official cooperative warehouse of rookies in Israel to better get through the logistics data of the platform and improve the user experience and the efficiency of sellers.
Lazada, feiqinqin (yueyun)
Share some suggestions on inventory planning and control: first, based on a full understanding of the local market. Only with in-depth understanding can we predict the needs of consumers and control the pace of sales, including the pace of warehousing. In order to better and advance the combination of market and inventory data than other sellers.
Second, optimize the seller's own supply chain capability. The flexible supply chain that we talked about more. How to make your supply chain respond to market changes faster, including some data level optimization, as well as the combination of various supply chain modes, including the mode of no source of goods, etc.
Third, we need to establish our own supply chain sewer to digest the overstock inventory. No matter how advanced the supply chain is, there must be overstocked inventory more or less. Therefore, we should think about digesting the overstocked inventory from the first day of sailing. Lazada platform itself will also consider solutions such as helping sellers digest inventory.
03
Prospect Discussion
What should sellers pay attention to in the second half of this year?
How do sellers optimize logistics and overseas warehouse?
Dewei international, jiangshengbo Jason
First, the current trend is that global trade, supply chain and logistics are becoming more and more regional and fragmented. Therefore, we will make some adjustments in the layout of resources, traffic and orders. We should not only focus on one country, but on the whole world.
Second, in the future, the seller is required to have higher localization ability, whether it is brand, marketing management, performance ability, or finance and taxation. The global e-commerce tax has changed a lot in the past two years, including European VAT and the United States. Now, e-commerce tax is also required. If the seller has strong localization ability, many taxes and other costs can be deducted in the operation of local companies. Compared with cross-border sellers, local companies have a lot of expenses: Overseas warehouse costs, final freight, etc. These expenses can be used to deduct taxes and reduce comprehensive costs.
Third, sellers should pay more attention to the cost of overseas segments. The domestic competition is very large and transparent, including the first trip cost; However, there is still a big gap in the overseas warehouse segment, including the cost after Hong Kong.
Fourth, in the future, sellers should combine online and offline, to C and to B businesses to break through the bottleneck of current traffic growth and find a path suitable for their own development.
Yi Dayun, dengyanfang
Suggestions for sellers in the second half of the year: first, fine operation: timely pay attention to the product turnover rate and the dynamic sales of each SKU. Some sellers' operation teams are scattered, lack of overall operation analysis, and fail to grasp and pay attention to the dynamic sales situation in time to adjust as soon as possible, resulting in a significant increase in management costs and marketing costs after unsalable.
Second, stock the goods reasonably and refine the replenishment plan as much as possible. Affected by the explosive growth of the epidemic, European and American countries have been ahead of schedule in consumption. In addition, after the release of the local epidemic, online and offline impact has affected orders. But don't be too pessimistic. In the past two years, consumers' online shopping habits have been cultivated, and online consumption has become the mainstream direction in the future. From May and June, the overall stock up and orders of the industry are still slightly recovered.
Third, focus on the product itself. The essence of e-commerce will still return to products. Platforms of all parties are also advocating that sellers should focus on products and services, and make efforts in the direction of vertical and high-quality products.
Yi Cang, Xiao Yun
Some trends of overseas warehouses at present: first, there are more overseas warehouses serving large items (furniture, etc.), mainly because it is more difficult for large items to enter FBA.
Second, the seller also considers the distribution of multiple warehouses when choosing overseas warehouses, and comprehensively balances the tail cost and management difficulty. Therefore, self built warehouses and third-party warehouses can better solve the problem of multiple warehouses.
Third, the categories of overseas warehouse services will be more vertical, such as the warehousing of electric vehicles. Because the unit price of e-commerce customers is very high, maintenance can not be transported back to China, but can only be carried out locally. Therefore, overseas warehouses with special maintenance and service capabilities for electric vehicles have developed.
Fourth, the way for sellers to transport to overseas warehouses will be a combination of various modes. For example, when electric vehicles are transported to Europe, some choose the mode of sea transportation and some choose the mode of railway for the first journey, so as to comprehensively evaluate the timeliness and cost.
Three state logistics, yefucheng
Suggestions for sellers in the second half of the year: first, it is suggested that they should invest more carefully. For example, when expanding to new platforms or countries, we must focus on a certain platform or country in combination with our own strength.
Second, try to be compliant and avoid account freezing and other problems caused by policy changes on the platform (including independent stations). The environmental challenges are great, so it is even more important to reduce these unnecessary losses.
Third, continuously improve their internal processes and strength. For example, only by solidifying successful experience into processes and upgrading it capabilities / management tools, including APIs, can we better improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase efficiency.
Source / Overseas Student Association (id:chuhaiwenda)
Edit /martin