If cross-border e-commerce were a marathon, Amazon would undoubtedly be the frontrunner. However, the platform has suddenly raised the bar for participation. Recent significant reductions in Amazon's inventory capacity have drawn widespread attention, coming at a critical moment when sellers are preparing for the year-end peak season.
The fourth quarter, packed with holidays including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas, represents the most crucial period for e-commerce platforms' annual performance. Amazon's timing for adjusting replenishment limits has undoubtedly introduced uncertainty for sellers.
While Amazon maintains its dominant position, its traffic advantages are diminishing, and operational rules are becoming increasingly complex. Many sellers have begun exploring alternative platforms to diversify risks and seek new growth opportunities. This trend reflects profound changes occurring in the cross-border e-commerce ecosystem.
Multi-Platform Strategy: Walmart and Temu's Prospects and Challenges
Following Walmart's relaxation of merchant approval requirements, the platform has attracted numerous Chinese sellers. Data shows that as of August 2022, Walmart Marketplace experienced rapid growth in new sellers, with nearly a thousand joining daily. While Walmart offers substantial support for new merchants, its platform scale and traffic still lag behind Amazon, and feature development requires further improvement. Consequently, many businesses view Walmart as part of a diversified platform strategy rather than a complete Amazon replacement. Walmart's market potential hinges on its ability to continuously optimize platform experience and attract greater traffic.
Temu, owned by Pinduoduo, has demonstrated remarkable growth since its launch. Within just two months, Temu topped the U.S. App Store's free shopping app rankings, surpassing both Amazon and SHEIN. Additionally, Temu has actively expanded into African markets, achieving notable success in several countries. This indicates that Temu's low-price strategy holds certain competitive advantages in cross-border markets.
Analyzing Temu's Model: Supply Chain Transformation and Challenges
Temu operates differently from other cross-border platforms. Sellers primarily serve as suppliers, providing competitively priced products to the platform. Temu then selects items for promotion based on factors including product quality and pricing. This model simplifies seller operations and reduces after-sales and operational costs. However, sellers on Temu lack pricing autonomy, resulting in compressed profit margins. Through continuous screening, Temu ultimately retains only suppliers with cost advantages—a strategy that essentially transfers cost pressures to sellers.
Data-Driven Platform Selection and Risk Assessment
From an analytical perspective, sellers evaluating cross-border platforms should consider multiple factors:
- Platform traffic and user demographics: Assess user base size, consumption habits, and purchasing power to estimate product market potential.
- Operational costs and profit margins: Compare commission rates, logistics expenses, and marketing costs across platforms to calculate profitability.
- Platform regulations and policies: Understand entry requirements, product review standards, and after-sales service policies to avoid violations.
- Competitive environment: Analyze quantities, pricing, and sales volumes of similar products to evaluate competitive positioning.
- Risk management: Consider potential policy changes, logistics risks, and currency fluctuations when developing contingency plans.
Outlook: Multi-Platform Development Emerges as Key Strategy
Emerging platforms represent new opportunities and growth potential that Amazon cannot match. By establishing operations across multiple platforms, sellers can effectively distribute risks. In the short term, Amazon will remain the primary marketplace, but sellers should actively monitor developments on alternative platforms and adjust strategies accordingly. The future of cross-border e-commerce will feature a landscape of multiple coexisting platforms marked by both competition and collaboration. To thrive in this increasingly competitive market, sellers must continuously adapt and evolve.