Hello, I'm Jack. Recently, I saw a question in Zhihu: what is the development prospect of the cross-border e-commerce industry? As a cross-border e-commerce seller, what are the prospects?
The discussion was intense and aroused my desire to share, so I wrote this question and answer of more than 4000 words last weekend. But last Saturday, when I climbed down to Wutong Mountain, the whole people were tired. There was no energy and desire codeword. I just wanted to lie flat, so this question and answer will be updated this weekend.
Part I: development stage of the cross-border e-commerce industry
The topic of cross-border e-commerce has been very hot in recent years, because it is still on the tuyere, where pigs can fly, not to mention people?
Many people become rich and start to show off their wealth in the short term, so they begin to envy and want to come in for gold.
So that's why everyone is very interested in this issue and is willing to participate in the discussion.
In fact, there is nothing new under the sun. Many industries have been brilliant, such as the real estate industry and its industry. At that time, the heat of discussion was higher than that of cross-border e-commerce.
Let's return to the prospect of the cross-border e-commerce industry.
Economics has an economic cycle theory, which says that industry will experience four stages of prosperity, recession, depression, and recovery in an economic cycle.
Cross-border e-commerce is now in the stage of prosperity. There will always be many more development opportunities in the prosperous industry, so a lot of capital will be invested in this industry.
For example, there is a hot topic in the cross-border circle recently: whether it is convenient for the later listing of Shen headquarters in Singapore and the supply chain headquarters in Guangzhou.
It shows that the recent development trend of cross-border e-commerce is still very fierce.
Those who do cross-border e-commerce will basically deal with Google, such as Google trend, Google search, Google analysis, Google Webmaster tool, Google document, youtube video promotion, Google conference, Google Advertising, Google browser, Google application market, etc.
In this process, Google has also accumulated a lot of data, which is also helpful for cross-border sellers to do data analysis.
For example, many friends will use Google Trends to judge the search trend of a product in the past few days, weeks, months, or even years, to judge the development trend of the product and whether to enter this category.
Some friends also use Google keyword planners to further judge the specific monthly search volume and CPC cost of a product to evaluate the monthly Google Advertising and marketing budget.
Let's still talk with data. Google produced a user search report for the Asia Pacific region in 2021, which intuitively reflects the changes in the consumption habits of users in the Asia Pacific region in recent years, especially the formation of online shopping habits.
Let's look at some intuitive contents of this report through big data to explore the truth.
After all, only your own feet know whether the shoes fit or not. Only the platform knows whether the development prospect of cross-border e-commerce is good or not.
Part II: the content of the Google Asia Pacific user search report
The report is divided into five parts:
1、 Digitization is becoming a trend
2、 Reexamine lifestyle
3、 Try to eliminate the sense of distance
4、 People want to find the truth
5、 Differentiation is becoming more and more obvious
First, let's talk about the impact of the digital trend
If consumers started the purchase tide in 2020 due to special circumstances, digitalization will show a more lasting influence in 2021.
From online shopping to Internet services, users' responses and dependence on Internet are deepening.
The fast, convenient, and convenient characteristics of the Internet make more and more consumers choose digitization
Priority live.
Due to the shutdown of offline channels, they have to turn to the Internet to meet their needs.
In the first half of 2021 alone, the number of digital consumers in Southeast Asia increased by 20 million.
In fact, even if offline stores start to restart gradually, consumers who are more and more used to digital experiences will continue to choose online channels.
In 2021, more than 58% of Indian and Chinese consumers purchased some of the goods they needed in physical stores, which was only 34% last year.
The advantages of efficiency, affordability, flexible payment, various types of goods, and distribution services have prompted consumers to give priority to digital living.
In some regional markets, the shopping industry has far surpassed the traditional retail industry.
In 2021, China became the first country in the world where e-commerce sales exceeded physical store sales.
South Korea followed, with online sales accounting for nearly three percent of total retail sales.
A recent survey also shows that nearly half of our consumers only pay attention to and buy goods.
With so many users in the Asia Pacific region choosing online channels as their choice, digitization has become a trend.
The shift of consumers' consumption habits to online will undoubtedly increase the demand for online shopping. The growth of online shopping demand will also promote the development of cross-border e-commerce platforms.
If someone buys, naturally someone will sell. Most cross-border e-commerce platforms are settled by Chinese sellers.
This means that the strategy of only relying on the conventional reporting mode to achieve scale user coverage will soon become obsolete.
As cross-border sellers, we understand the latest consumer insights and best practices, fully control marketing (targets and consumer trends, and formulate digital strategies accordingly.
Besides, re-examine the way of life
In 2021, (people generally realized that the changes brought to their lives by the outbreak of the epidemic were not temporary, but a long-term process.
This prompted them to reflect and re-examine their values and the way they chose to live.
They began to pursue a more comfortable and comfortable life and paid more attention to the essential needs of life.
There are various signs that the future work style will be a semi-remote office.
The search content also reflects their adaptation to the more flexible living style, and their families begin to control their time and space, especially at home.
As families realized that the hybrid living style would last longer, they began to improve their home environment.
In South Korea and Western Asia, the search popularity of indoor health increased by more than 25%, and in Singapore, the search volume of home sports seats increased by 45%.
In the past two years, the products of the indoor home kitchen category have sold very well, and the sales of indoor fitness equipment have also soared. Many products in this category have made money in the past two years.
In the coming years, the subversion process of the lifestyle of overseas consumers will accelerate.
In order to achieve a better and more appropriate harvest, cross-border e-commerce enterprises need to constantly pursue, and actively explore which methods can accurately control the needs of users, and be good at avoiding effective methods.
Try to eliminate the sense of distance
The epidemic has blocked countless people in space. As a result, they have changed the expression of emotion and rely more on digital ways to establish (international relations.
Consumers have to maintain communication through various online methods.
But in 2021, in fact, the sense of distance between people has intensified.
For this reason, we are no longer satisfied with short contact but are exploring how to better express ourselves and build deeper and more lasting online and offline relationships.
For example, people have begun to change their expression of emotion.
During the isolation period, gift-giving has become an important way of relationship expression, and the search popularity of relevant content in the whole Asia Pacific region has increased by as much as 40%.
More than half of Asia Pacific Internet users have bought gifts for others online, which is an example of any other region in the world.
Because cross-border and cross-regional travel is not as convenient as before, (we began to spend time photographing the moment when others were in their territory. The number of photos taken in many countries/regions in the Asia Pacific region increased by more than 350% in 2021 compared with 2020.
People want to find the truth
Due to the increasingly serious network of false information and data leakage, consumers' shopping doubts are even more serious.
In order to make smarter choices and avoid being misled, consumers began to look for reliable sources of information more actively. Use Google search to check the facts and measure the brand value to ensure the authenticity and reliability of the selected brand.
Exploring the truth has gradually become a habit of consumers, who are willing to invest more time and resources to ensure that their choices conform to their own values and ideas.
The increasing search popularity related to sustainable and ethical shopping reflects the low tolerance of consumers for being misled, which also sets a higher standard for brands and requires brands to be responsible for their own promotion.
In India, Vietnam, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia, searches for fraud and fraud increased by 35%.
With the increasing demand for authenticity, the search volume of relevant brand official stores increased by 80% in countries/regions such as Pakistan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and Singapore.
Today's consumers want a sense of security in their shopping journey. 31% of consumers surveyed reported that authenticity is the key issue on the shopping platform.
Differentiation is becoming more and more obvious
There is no doubt that people's lifestyle has changed dramatically in the past few years, but the impact of the epidemic on each country is different. The epidemic not only exposed the long-standing problems of social differences but also exacerbated its development.
As a result, more and more people are turning to the Internet. From the old netizens who are suddenly in financial crisis to the new netizens whose basic needs are difficult to meet, consumers are actively searching for ways to get rid of their difficulties.
In order to overcome these differences, (people began to search the Internet for methods that can help themselves and society.
Search localization
Search data show that consumers often have anxiety when trading in a foreign language.
In fact, up to 40% of consumers only buy goods introduced in the localized language.
As more and more new users from nonmetropolitan areas surf the Internet, the demand for localized translation is also increasing.
Financial holding demand
In Australia, Singapore, and India, the search volume of HNPL; (buy now pay later) accounts for the highest proportion in the world.
In Singapore and Malaysia, the search popularity of; deferred payment increased by 270%.
We all hope to spend a year full of uncertainty with the help of financial support such as enterprise subsidies or current loans.
The above are some of the main contents of Google's search report in Asia in 2021. Through this report, we can see that the development prospect of the digital economy is still great in the next few years, and the cross-border e-commerce industry is still in a prosperous period.
What should cross-border enterprises do?
1、 Increase brand exposure with Google search and automation capabilities.
Google is the largest and most comprehensive search engine in the world. 15% of new search content appears on the Internet every day. These new search contents are our new blue ocean market.
We can expand the keyword matching type of some advertising groups from complete matching and phrase matching to universal matching in the advertisement delivery setting, adjust the advertisement series dynamically to increase the way consumers find products, and take corresponding measures to increase store sales when new opportunities appear.
2、 Create a data-oriented marketing cycle to meet changing needs.
As mentioned earlier, Google trend data can help us understand the local and global search trends, so as to help us understand whether an industry is suitable for entry.
At the same time, we can also use the new insight page in Google ads to predict and capture demand and determine opportunities through data insight into our advertising business.
3、 Build a free channel (brand official website or app) directly to consumers (DTC)
It can customize the brand image and experience, fully display the brand value and provide products and services to consumers.
These platforms can also more effectively carry out marketing testing and market expansion activities, and make their brands more outstanding.
For example, by operating its own independent station, the sofa brand hobby successfully created a cost-effective brand for young consumers, accurately positioned customers through Google's analysis of background data, developed more popular products, and doubled its sales in two years.
Finally, back to the question: what is the development prospect of the cross-border e-commerce industry? As a cross-border e-commerce seller, what are the prospects?
In 2021, affected by the epidemic, limited overseas production capacity and the cultivation of online shopping habits led to significant growth in the cross-border e-commerce industry.
In the short term, the epidemic will continue in 2022. There is still a recovery cycle for the resumption of work and production in foreign countries. We are also getting used to online shopping. After all, the payment method of online shopping is more flexible, which can be paid in installments or after buying first.
The development prospect of the cross-border e-commerce industry is still very good, but we need to be vigilant in times of peace. After all, the boom period is followed by the recession period.
We need to build our own brand moat as soon as possible and increase our R & D investment, so that we can remain invincible in the fierce market competition!
The above contents are the author's personal views and do not represent the position of the company! This article is reprinted with the authorization of the original author, and reprinting requires the authorization and consent of the original author.