This article is from the WeChat public account: Fly Book Interactive (ID: meetsocial)
At the beginning of the new year, China was hit by a new type of coronavirus. On January 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic was listed as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) . Adjustments and changes have been made to the trade policies of various countries, and changes have been made to the exit and entry policies, shipping and airline policies of various countries.
From the perspective of the cross-border e-commerce industry, the new coronavirus epidemic has had a greater impact on China’s factories and logistics and transportation. Many governments have issued documents stipulating that enterprises must not earlier than 24:00 on February 9th. The previous resumption of work, and at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, the imminent wave of employee turnover is approaching, which has brought greater difficulties to China’s production factories and sellers’ export trade.
In this context, Feishu / Shennuo-related industry experts and many customers held multiple rounds of discussions and concluded that this new type of coronavirus will have a large negative impact on the cross-border e-commerce industry in the short term. The industry will face no small fluctuations. We predict that the most difficult time is in the period from February to April. The turning point should be in May, and the industry enters a stable period from June to July. The recovery period is from July to September. With the outbreak of retaliatory purchases, the industry There will be an outbreak.
So, at this stage, what preparations should cross-border e-commerce sellers make, Feishu / Shennuo will interpret it for you.
I. Product inventory / warehouse / supply chain
The survey shows that most of the domestic cross-border e-commerce sellers can maintain their inventory reserves for only 1-2 months. Some sellers have no inventory because of their own business model. Apparel production areas: The factories in Yiwu, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Wuhan and other places in Zhejiang have all ceased work. So most sellThe home is about to face a situation of being out of stock.
Shenzhen Proposal
1) The seller should contact the factory / supplier as early as possible to maintain continuous communication and lay the foundation for cooperation after the epidemic. At the same time, sort out the inventory and appropriately adjust the inventory sales strategy to ensure that you have a good idea. In addition, for sellers with rich inventory, we recommend that companies still maintain orders and deliver goods, and adjust the delivery cycle appropriately to ensure cash flow.
2) Check the inventory status in a timely manner, and adjust the available quantity and delivery time. For example, the out-of-stock products will be processed, and the undeliverable products need to actively communicate and negotiate with buyers through customer service to extend the receipt. Time or cancel the order; for items that are in urgent stock, you can appropriately increase the price and reduce the order volume.
3) Pay the deposit in advance with the factory in advance to purchase the inventory goods already in the factory.
Second, logistics / shipping
Affected by the epidemic, airlines and shipping companies of various countries have introduced measures to suspend major domestic and foreign routes. In terms of air transport: North American Airlines has suspended its operations until March and April, with a longer grounding period; most of European Airlines has suspended its operations to 2 On March 9th, it was still relatively graceful; most airline companies in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and other regions did not specify a deadline for grounding; ANZ Airways suspended until the end of March.
The change of shipping policy will directly lead to the restriction of the logistics transportation of the belly cabin of the discontinued passenger aircraft, which will seriously affect the timeliness of cross-border logistics. At the same time, the suspension of passenger aircraft will also affect cross-border trade personnel’s overseas inspection trips.
For maritime transport: the main measures are to require health declaration and to prevent ship staff from disembarking. Most countries, including the United States, do not have any hard-and-fast rules regarding the 15-day compulsory quarantine period for China’s cargo ships. However, increasing the various quarantine procedures for people, ships, and vehicles will inevitably prolong the docking time of ships and vehicles, affect the timeliness of cross-border e-commerce delivery, and may cause buyers to issue bulk refunds.
Shenzhen Proposal
1) From a long-term business model perspective, for sellers with financial strength, they can begin to set up overseas warehouses.
2) On the premise that the current order volume is not large, send the goods / goods to overseas warehouses or designated locations in advance, and then ship them to consumers.Extend the promised delivery time and avoid the risk of rejection or return.
3) In terms of customs inspection, it is necessary to pay close attention to relevant policies such as customs inspection and quarantine of various countries.
Data source: Amazon Open Store 2020
Three, cash flow
Under the epidemic situation, although factories and enterprises have stopped working, the cost costs still need to be paid, including plant, office lease costs, raw material costs, cargo storage costs, personnel costs, capital turnover costs, machinery and equipment loss costs, etc. These are the issues that sellers should pay attention to, so the issue of cash flow has become one of the key issues for the life and death of the company.
Shenzhen Proposal
1) At this stage, try to keep the assets as light as possible. If necessary, you can adjust the labor and operation inputs to save costs and get through this difficult stage.
2) Sort out the previous orders and contracts, recover the receivables, and ensure that there are funds in the books.
3) You can seek the help of funds or capital, and pay close attention to the local government’s support policies for SMEs in special periods.
Fourth, adjust the SKU
Garment and fashion products are highly sensitive to seasonal and logistics factors. The production and release of new products will be affected during the epidemic period. Therefore, we believe that the probability that such products will be hit hard at this stage. Larger, it is expected that the sales volume may decrease significantly within at least half a year. Based on this, we recommend that qualified sellers appropriately adjust the SKU during the epidemic cycle.
Shenzhen Proposal
1) If the existing SKU is mainly sellers of clothing and fashion goods, and the goods are already in overseas warehouses, the inventory will be actively digested through promotions.
2) Sellers whose inventory of these products are mainly domestic can cooperate with sellers with overseas warehouses to sell related products on their behalf and withdraw funds.
3) We believe that after the epidemic is under control, consumers ’attention to health will increase rapidly, and products such as health care, medical supplies, outdoor products, and fashion items will be welcomed by consumers and are expected to usher in The outbreak of purchase, so when the epidemic is spreading, sellers can properly adjust the SKU to prepare for the second half of the year.
4) It is recommended to appropriately suspend the development and release of new spring products, especially sellers of clothing and fashion supplies.
Fifth, optimize the website
Under the premise that the supply chain and logistics network are negatively affected, it will inevitably cause delays in the arrival of goods. Therefore, in order to ensure a good customer service experience, we believe it is very necessary to maintain close communication with customers and reduce customer expectations. Expectations for merchandise delivery, through the current difficult times.
Shenzhen Proposal
1) Added tips for product homepages
2) Added tips for delivery information page
3) Instructions for increasing the delivery time of goods
4) Email
5) For customers who place orders during the epidemic period, you can give coupons with long-term validity (recommended for the second half of the year) to enhance customer stickiness and stimulate customers to repurchase.
6) Use the spare time during the epidemic to cultivate internal skills, carefully optimize the experience of each site’s processes, and prepare for the restoration of normal business later, especially the turning point in the middle of the year.
六 、 Customer service
With issues such as shortage of goods and timeliness of logistics and distribution, customer complaints are bound to increase. Experience shows that good customer service measures can effectively reduce customer churn and increase repurchase of goods.
Shenzhen Proposal
Sellers should set up a customer service staff, conduct public crisis training for customer service, and develop professional and unified public relations speech to avoid causing greater panic among overseas consumers about Chinese goods..
In short, the new crown epidemic is still raging, but from the data point of view, there is a trend of improvement. We believe that the epidemic has advantages and disadvantages for China’s cross-border e-commerce industry. The disadvantages will experience a large fluctuation in the short term, but on the other hand, this is also a major reshuffle for the industry and has strength , Branded and visionary sellers believe that after the epidemic, they can recover quickly and achieve their own success in the wave of cross-border sailing to China.
This article is from the WeChat public account: Fly Book Interactive (ID: meetsocial)