What do newbies need to prepare for cross-border e-commerce? Just read this article!

With the acceleration of globalization and the booming development of e-commerce, a wave of "cross-border e-commerce" entrepreneurship has gradually emerged in China. However, many novices want to keep up with this wave of entrepreneurship and build their own brands, but they don't know where to start. This article will answer a series of operating skills and precautions for cross-border e-commerce platforms for novices.

1. Market and platform selection: accurately positioning the starting point of the business

1. Target market research

When entering a market, you need to analyze the consumption habits in the region , explore trends through Google Trends or TikTok hot lists , and pay attention to and clarify policy compliance, such as the CE certification required by the EU and the US FDA 's restrictions on food categories .

2. Platform Selection

Understand the characteristics of each major platform in advance and choose a suitable platform based on your own situation.

Currently popular cross-border e-commerce platforms for reference:

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2. Supply Chain and Product Selection: Building the Core of Competitiveness

1. Product selection logic :

(1) Give priority to "light and small items + high repurchase rate" categories (such as smart pet feeders and biodegradable tableware), and pay attention to avoid cross-border logistics losses of large items .

(2) Choose products that have market demand, competitiveness, and large profit margins. At the same time, be careful to avoid choosing infringing products and ensure that the selected products comply with the laws and regulations of the target market and platform rules .

2.Supplier Management :

(1) Evaluate the supplier's product quality, production capacity, supply stability, price advantage, etc. in advance to ensure that products can be supplied on time, in quality and quantity .

(2) Sign contracts with at least 2-3 backup factories and require them to provide quality inspection reports (such as SGS certification) . Sign contracts to specify delivery cycles to ensure sufficient supply reserves during peak seasons .

3. Logistics and capital flow: opening up the cross-border lifeline

1. Logistics solution design

(1) During the trial phase, postal parcels were used to save costs.

(2) During the large-scale operation stage , overseas warehouses should be deployed and third-party service providers should be selected to ensure timeliness. Remember to purchase logistics insurance to cover lost item compensation and keep the logistics waybill as evidence for disputes.

2. Cross-border payments and taxation

Open a PingPong or Wanlihui multi-currency account to avoid exchange rate losses and register a VAT number to use TaxJar to automatically calculate taxes.

IV. Operation and risk control: achieving long-term growth

1. Content and traffic operation

(1) When producing localized materials, avoid religiously sensitive elements and incorporate local symbols.

(2) Learn some basic marketing promotion methods, such as search engine optimization ( SEO ), social media marketing, email marketing, advertising, etc., to increase the exposure of your store and products and attract more potential customers .

(3) Increase conversions by collaborating with Instagram influencers .

2. Focus on compliance development

(1) Use Trademarkia to check trademark registration status to avoid having your store closed due to infringement .

(2) Be careful not to use "black technology" to fake orders , strictly follow the list of banned goods, and avoid exaggerated publicity (such as absolute terms such as " Best " and " No.1 "), and product pictures must be consistent with the actual product.

3. Account risk management

Old players in cross-border e-commerce know that store account suspension issues occur every year, and most of the suspension issues are caused by one problem: account association. You can prepare an account association prevention plan, such as using a static residential IP to bind an independent account to ensure that the login environment of each account is physically isolated. Common methods include fingerprint browser with proxy IP (more recommended!), VPS virtual machine, etc. IPFoxy proxy provides 200+ cross-border target market proxy services, which can meet the needs of multi-account IP isolation.

5. Team and Cost : Building an Efficient Operational Unit

1. Minimize team configuration :

(1) In the early stages, you can consider using AI tools to create a one- person core model , with one person responsible for both operations and customer service , to reduce costs.

(2) During the expansion period, consider adding positions , such as hiring full-time artists to optimize the click-through rate of the main image and hiring logistics merchandisers to solve after-sales problems .

2. Cost control:

Newbies can control the initial startup costs within 30,000 to 50,000 yuan ( including platform deposit, first batch of stock, and basic promotion), and try to achieve positive cash flow within 3-6 months.

The above are some preparations that novices need to make when doing cross-border e-commerce. More cross-border players are welcome to communicate.