From traffic to user thinking, realize brand transformation.

After more than a decade of development, the development of cross-border e-commerce in China has begun to take shape. In 2020, when the global economy is generally down, China’s cross-border e-commerce retail has bucked the trend and rose.

According to the statistics of China Customs, in 2020, the import and export list approved by the customs cross-border e-commerce management platform will reach 2.45 billion, a year-on-year increase of 63.3%, which is four times that of 2017, which was less negatively affected by the international macro environment. Calculated in terms of amount¹, In 2020, China’s cross-border e-commerce imports and exports increased by 31.1% year-on-year, of which the growth rate of exports was 40.1%, much higher than imports. ²

The good situation of cross-border e-commerce is benefited from the support of enterprises and domestic policy resources, and it is also inseparable from the mature supply chain, manufacturing and talent advantages accumulated in the long-term development of the industry. Domestic cross-border e-commerce companies have not only accumulated strong products, but are also actively exploring how to use new technologies and new channels to better meet consumer needs. With the leadership of their predecessors, more and more e-commerce companies have the dream of becoming a popular consumer brand worldwide, and are working hard for it.

The good situation of cross-border e-commerce is benefited from the support of enterprises and domestic policy resources, and it is also inseparable from the mature supply chain, manufacturing and talent advantages accumulated in the long-term development of the industry. Domestic cross-border e-commerce companies have not only accumulated strong products, but are also actively exploring how to use new technologies and new channels to better meet consumer needs. With the leadership of their predecessors, more and more e-commerce companies have the dream of becoming a popular consumer brand worldwide and are working hard for it.

At the same time, the market environment is also transmitting similar signals to all e-commerce companies-the market environment is becoming more and more mature, and companies need to find a sustainable development model. In 2019, the global penetration rate of cross-border online shopping has reached 51.2%. ³ After 2020, catalyzed by the epidemic, changes in consumer groups and shopping psychology are accelerating, and the global e-commerce market is accelerating its development and gradually evolving into a “new normal”, which also requires cross-border e-commerce It may be necessary to adopt new methods to maintain its own sustainable development and gain more long-term vitality.

Brand building: A new turning point for cross-border e-commerce

Under the influence of the epidemic, a large number of global consumer shopping behaviors have shifted from offline to online, which not onlyIt has brought excellent development opportunities for cross-border e-commerce, and also profoundly changed the competitive landscape of cross-border e-commerce. Although user growth seems to have become easier, how to retain users has even more exposed the shortcomings of the traditional business model of distribution and flow monetization. If the growth of brand sales is centered on traffic and products, communication and connection with consumers are neglected. Conversely, for consumers, the contact with the brand will be limited to the purchase behavior, and does not leave a deep shopping impression and experience. As a result, it is difficult for brands to achieve user precipitation, which means that it is difficult to achieve sustained growth. When industry dividends gradually recede and competition shifts from incremental to stock, if you want to achieve long-term sustainable development, how to drive growth from users and build brands to accumulate consumers has become the top priority for cross-border e-commerce companies. .

The purpose of building a brand is to build the ability to open up the market, occupy the market, and make profits. Only by relying on strong brand influence can we build obvious loyalty among consumers. It determines the customer’s preference for the brand, and more importantly, it determines the customer’s attention and trust in the brand, so as to avoid falling into repeated price competition, avoid business risks, and at the same time enjoy the value brought by the brand. On the other hand, as users have accumulated and improved their own cross-border online shopping experience, users’ recognition of brands has also continued to increase, and cross-border e-commerce has ushered in a key turning point for brand-based development.

In order to jointly build a sustainable brand development model with cross-border e-commerce, Google and Deloitte have jointly released the “2021 China Cross-border E-commerce Development Report” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”).

This article will analyze consumer groups and race tracks, hoping to provide some thoughts for cross-border e-commerce in the direction of sustainable brand building under the new normal.

Consumers: In-depth online shopping and brand awareness

The changes in the current business environment and shopping patterns will have a greater impact on e-commerce consumers and the track in 2020. On the one hand, the main consumers of e-commerce have gradually matured their brand awareness and are willing to recognize the value of the brand; on the other hand, although the categories of e-commerce have not changed much, they still focus on clothing fashion, home gardening, and 3C products. Hemei makeup is the main track, but there is more room for brand development in the subdivisions of some tracks, and the customer unit price has increased.

In 2020, the epidemic will not only bring about “social distancing”, but also bring about phased “city locks” in some economically developed countries due to epidemic prevention, and consumers’ living conditions have undergone tremendous changes. In order to understand the changes in online shopping consumers’ shopping behavior and mentality, the researchers of the “2021 China Cross-border E-commerce Development Report” based on the mature cross-border e-commerce markets represented by the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Spain, etc. Questionnaires were issued to online consumers who had made purchases on independent e-commerce channels in the past 12 months, A total of 5005 questionnaires were collected.

2019-2020 three types of consumer age distribution, income, and purchase categories (Source: “China Cross-border E-commerce Development Report 2021”)

From the results of the questionnaire survey, we can see that changes in consumer lifestyles have had a more direct impact on the growth of cross-border e-commerce retail. The report shows: “From 2019 to 2020, the overall retail sales of e-commerce in major countries in Europe, America and the Asia-Pacific region have experienced rapid growth of more than 15%.” Such rapid growth comes from three types of people, which are originally not buying things online. “Online shopping trainees” who have started to try online shopping; have rich online shopping experience, and now they are “online shopping gifted students” who have expanded their consumer brands; they have rich online shopping experience and have not expanded categories but increased their consumption amount. “Online shopping conservatives”, these three types of consumers represent different consumption behavior patterns, but they undoubtedly all contribute to the rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce.

The changes in consumers in the new normal are lasting, and are also reflected in the report: On average, 75% of consumers who shop online for the first time during the epidemic in various categories said they will continue to shop online after the epidemic is over. It also indicates that the strong growth momentum of global e-commerce in 2020 will continue.

At the same time, the changes in consumers in the new normal are also deep-seated. Consumers spend more on the brand’s official website or APP. 75% of these consumers have increased their shopping frequency on the brand’s official website or APP, 68% have increased the amount of a single purchase, and are more willing to try new brands. Not only that, we also found that consumers are more prone to “impulsive consumption”. Compared with 2019, the proportion of American fashion online consumers’ impulsive consumption rose from 31% to 42%, and both promotional information and advertisements can produce certain effects on consumers. Degree of stimulation.

On the other hand, emotional factors are still one of the important factors for consumers to repurchase. Cross-border e-commerce, while continuously improving functional value, establishes emotional connections with consumers through specific brand values ​​and values, and helps brands build “personal settings”, so as to bring sustainable development opportunities for brands. In the post-epidemic era, for cross-border e-commerce companies to achieve sustained growth, brand building is the most direct and effective way.

Brand track: Looking for space in customer unit price and segmentation field

The epidemic has not only changed the purchasing behavior and minds of consumers, but also promoted the growth of e-commerce retail categories. The report shows that apparel fashion, home gardening, 3C, and beauty will be more prominent overseas tracks in 2020. Because the above products are originally in terms of shopping frequency, logistics, customer unit price and other factors, they are in line with the operational needs of cross-border e-commerce It fits well, so it has long-term incremental space. From this perspective, it is not surprising that there is such a trend.

2020 U.S. Consumer Goods Industry Overview (Source: “2021 China Cross-border E-commerce Development Report”)

Apparel and fashion categories:

The characteristics of fashion fashion are the supply chain is relatively mature, the logistics is convenient, there is a relatively stable profit margin between the customer unit price and the cost, and the demand is stable. For cross-border e-commerce, the sales risk is relatively low, and it will be one of the important tracks of the entire cross-border e-commerce before 2020. During the epidemic, the apparel and fashion track received significant traffic dividends and became an opportunity track for cross-border e-commerce companies. Among them, the independent station Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) brand currently mainly exists in the apparel fashion track with a customer unit price of less than US$50. Market.

Currently, the apparel and fashion categories are still the main source of traffic on the web, but the top DTC brands are more prominent on the APP. The women’s clothing category is relatively calm due to the broad market, and brands can still look for opportunities in it.

2020 U.S. apparel and fashion industry leading brands online channel segmentation category opportunity map (Source: “2021 China Cross-border E-commerce Development Report”)

Home gardening brand:

A batch of vertical DTC brands focusing on home and gardening categories have emerged, and they are changing the situation where retailers and third-party platforms dominate. Due to the characteristics of home gardening products, the frequency of repurchase is not high, and the web side of this category is still the main channel for obtaining traffic. In the sub-categories, food and kitchen supplies are worthy of attention. Not only has the overall retail sales been close to the furniture category, it has achieved greater growth, but its competitiveness is relatively small.

2020 U.S. home gardening industry breakdown category map (Source: “2021 China Cross-border E-commerce Development Report”)

3C vertical brands:

The overall growth of the 3C market is strong, with brand e-commerce already occupying a dominant position, and many vertical categories of DTC brands are growing rapidly, such as vacuum cleaners, hair dryers, and air purifiers. At the same time, the report found that because these brands are deeply involved in different market segments, the overall competitive environment is relatively relaxed. In particular, the segmented track of home electronics brands has a high growth rate and industry competition is relatively low.

2020 U.S. 3C industry segmentation category map (Source: “2021 China Cross-border E-commerce Development Report”)

Beauty and personal care products:

On the beauty track, retailers still dominate. However, under the epidemic situation, brand e-commerce, especially DTC brands, are showing a trend of rapid growth. Some brands have broken through the core price of US$50 and developed to a medium-to-high unit price, showing strong competitive potential in the beauty and personal care products category. Among the sub-categories, personal care products enjoy high retail sales while maintaining a high growth rate; the growth in demand for skin care and sunscreen products far exceeds that of cosmetics and personal care products, and the relative competition is relatively low.

2020 U.S. beauty and personal care industry breakdown category map (Source: “2021 China Cross-border E-commerce Development Report”)

Sustainable solutions: the linkage of brands, users and products

For cross-border e-commerce, when we talk about “brand building”, we do not mean pure brand marketing, but should be called a sustainable e-commerce business model. It takes users as the core and a single brand site as the carrier to provide customers with products with dual connections between emotions and functions, forming a linkage between users, products, and brands, so that cross-border e-commerce can achieve continuous growth.

Affected by changes in lifestyle, the market structure and changes in consumer behavior and mentality have brought unprecedented development space for cross-border e-commerce, and the official website of the brand has ushered in a new round of development opportunities. In addition to the functional performance of products, brands can gain the favor of consumers. How to build brand awareness through effective channels, continue to optimize the operation of the brand’s official website to enhance consumer trust, and ultimately achieve conversion and repurchase is also in the pursuit of long-term sustainable development. An undeniable important part.

Along with changes in consumer behavior, the competitive landscape of the global retail market is also changing rapidly. In the four major opportunities of apparel and fashion, home gardening, 3C products, and beauty and personal care, we will continue to attach importance to customer unit price and subdivision of the track as consideration factors for brand development. The DTC brand has a broad development space in the apparel and fashion category. In the home gardening track, individual vertical category DTC brands have grown rapidly, and the future can be expected. The overall 3C market has strong growth and relatively low competition, which provides more opportunities for brands. The DTC brand has also shown strong competitive potential in the beauty and personal care products category, with many brands breaking through the US$50 core price band.

In order to seize market opportunities and achieve long-term sustainable development goals, in addition to improving repurchase with good user experience and refined operations, brands need to guide product planning with user needs and data insights, but also with users and products To rely on, shape and deliver the brand spirit and value. Starting with brand building, it will truly occupy the minds of consumers, gain loyal users and continue to grow space, and gradually build a Chinese cross-border e-commerce brand recognized by global consumers.

If you want to learn more about how cross-border e-commerce can achieve brand transformation, you can click on the link to go toCross-border e-commerce developmentQuestions.

Data source:

1. The General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China: In 2020, the import and export list will increase by 63.3% through the customs cross-border e-commerce management platform. http://www.customs.gov.cn//customs/xwfb34/mtjj35/3500028 /index. html, January 5, 2021

2. Chinese government website: my country’s total cross-border e-commerce imports and exports in 2017 increased by over 80% year-on-year http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2018-02/09/content_5265322.htm, February 2018 9th

3. The General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China: Exports grew by 40%, reaching a record high, and cross-border e-commerce is growing rapidly (China Online), February 22, 2021

4. Google x Deloitte “2021 China Cross-border E-commerce Development Report”