When it comes to cross-border export platforms, I believe most people will blurt out AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and wish. Of course, they are indeed very important cross-border e-commerce platforms, but they are not just these cross-border e-commerce platforms. In fact, every cross-border e-commerce platform has its own industry advantages and loyal customer base, or has important or special influence in a certain country or region. For cross-border e-commerce, online channel diversification is an important way to expand network channels and scale. In addition, for some specific products and brands, it is also an important e-commerce strategy to select the target market for deep-rooted work. Then it is natural to use the local important targeted e-commerce platform. Below, Xiaobian summarizes the following fifteen emerging platforms for cross-border e-commerce from the network.
First, Souq
Souq.com, an Amazon e-commerce website in the Middle East. It has 6 million users and can reach 10 million independent visits every month. According to the current situation of the website, Souq has begun to consider expanding other businesses. For example, Souq has established its own logistics system QExpress and payment system PayFort. Moreover, Souq also launched its own brand of tablet computers. It is understood that Souq.com, Cobone.com and Sukar.com are the three largest local e-commerce websites in the Middle East.
It is understood that the UAE people are keen on surfing the Internet and playing mobile phones, and their Internet penetration rate and mobile phone holding rate have reached more than 70%. Not only the United Arab Emirates, but also people from rich Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar are keen on shopping online. It is expected that the scale of online shopping in the whole Middle East will increase rapidly in the next two or three years. About 5 out of 10 people in UAE buy goods and services through the Internet. It is expected that the e-commerce market in UAE will reach 10 billion US dollars in 2018.
Second, Lazada (Lai Zanda)
It is known as the largest online shopping mall in Southeast Asia. It is a company founded by Rocket Internet to build "Amazon in Southeast Asia". In April this year, it was invested and controlled by Ali for $1 billion. Sales of electronic products, clothes, appliances, books, cosmetics, etc., the market covers Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The company provides free delivery, free return within 14 days, and flexible payment methods. The growth rate of Internet penetration in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam has exceeded the world average.
By 2020, the e-commerce market in Southeast Asia will reach $20.4 billion. The sustained and rapid economic growth in Southeast Asia has cultivated a large number of middle classes and huge consumer demand. Southeast Asia is another most dynamic and potential consumer market after the United States, the European Union and China. This makes the big e-commerce companies in various countries salivate and want to get it quickly. Therefore, Southeast Asia is the main battlefield for major e-commerce companies at present.
Third, Newegg (new egg)
Newegg was founded in 2001, with its headquarters in Los Angeles, Southern California. Newegg is the leading online supermarket for computer, consumer electronics and communication products in the United States. Newegg gathers about 4,000 sellers and more than 25 million customers. At first, IT sold consumer electronic products and IT products, but now it has expanded to all categories, with 55,000 varieties. Attracting wealthy and internet-savvy men aged 18 to 35. The best-selling categories are automobile supplies, sporting goods and office supplies. It is particularly noteworthy that most consumers are men, but female consumers are also growing rapidly.
Fourth, Rakuten.com (Lotte)
Founded in 1997, it has become the largest e-commerce website in Japan, with a market value of $13.5 billion and an annual revenue of over $4 billion. Lotte is also one of the largest internet companies in the world. In the US market, Lotte spent $250 million to acquire Buy.com, and in 2013, the company changed its name to "Rakuten.com Shopping". Lotte Shopping has gathered 3,000 sellers, more than 80 million customers and 23 million products. The customer base is between 25 and 54, with 50% men and 50% women. Rakuten.com originally specialized in computer and electronic products, but now it provides sporting goods, health and beauty, home and gardening, jewelry and toys.
"Beating Amazon" is the ambitious ambition of Hiroshi Mikitani, the founder of Lotte in Japan. Because the penetration in Japan’s domestic market has reached saturation, it has become difficult to attract more consumers in Japan, and internationalization is the inevitable choice for Lotte to achieve this goal. In recent years, Lotte’s overseas market moves frequently, with its all-round layout in terms of logistics, payment, channels and investment, and its sphere of influence covers Asia, Europe and America. Therefore, for cross-border e-commerce and brand owners, Lotte is an online hypermarket that cannot be ignored.
Five, Bestbuy (Best Buy)
The failure of Best Buy’s online physical store made it enter the online market in 2011. Gathered more than 100 sellers. There are 1 billion visits every year. Different from other e-commerce platforms, only invited sellers can stay in the platform and products can appear in Best Buy stores for sale. But the products are only limited to consumer electronic products.
Sixth, Tesco
Britain’s largest food and groceries retailer. Its e-commerce website was established in 2012, gathering more than 50 sellers, 43 million club card members and 4 million visits per month. The huge offline customer base is being transferred to online. Competitors include Amazon, eBay and Lotte Play.com. Products include home and gardening, baby products, sports and leisure, clothing and jewelry. Only open to invited sellers.
Britain is the largest e-commerce market in Europe, and four of the Top10 European e-retailers are in the UK. At the same time, Britain is one of the largest cross-border e-commerce exporters in the world. In 2013, online retail in the UK was 91 billion pounds (about 148.78 billion US dollars), up 16% year-on-year. Online retailing in the UK will increase by 17% in 2014, reaching 107 billion pounds (about 174.98 billion US dollars).
Seven, Lotte Play.com
Founded in 1998, it is one of the largest online entertainment retailers in the UK. Gather more than 3000 sellers and 15 million customers. Originally selling games and media products, but now it has developed into multiple categories. It is the only e-commerce platform that allows retailers to customize their own storefronts, making it the third largest online market in Britain after Amazon and eBay.
Eight, La Redoute (Shangri-La Fu)
Founded in 2010, it is the leading online retailer in France and the third largest e-commerce market in Europe. Gather more than 1,000 vendors and 10 million customers. Covering 26 countries. Shangri-La Welfare is mainly aimed at women aged between 26 and 35. Its product categories include men’s and women’s wear, underwear, shoes and accessories, furniture, crafts and so on. But don’t sell second-hand products.
MercadoLivre (Mercado Network)
The largest C2C platform in Brazil is equivalent to Taobao in China. Making good use of this platform is conducive to understanding various market information such as Brazil’s price index, consumption trends and payment habits. Gathered more than 52,000 sellers and 50.2 million registered users. The number of visitors ranks among the TOP50 in the world. It covers 13 countries and regions (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Dominica, Paraguay, Venezuela and Portugal). In addition to the electronic trading platform, there is also the largest payment platform similar to Alipay in South America. As a result, countries such as Mexico and Argentina have no localized websites. At first, it was just an auction website, but today, it is mainly an online sales platform. Considering the rapidly increasing Internet penetration rate, MercardoLivre can provide sellers with a huge potential market opportunity in South America.
X. Trade Me
It is the largest online trading market in New Zealand with more than 3.1 million members. 1.4 billion web pages are displayed every month. New and second-hand store categories include baby products, books, clothing, computers and household goods. Originally a second-hand auction market, it was a replica of the early ebay, but now it sells new products just like the new ebay.
XI. Ozon
It is the largest e-commerce platform in Russia and currently accounts for 20% of the Russian e-commerce market. The goal in the next decade is to gain 80% market share of Russian e-commerce. As we all know, the early days of Taobao in China were full of opportunities, and many Taobao brands stood out. Today’s Ozon, just like Taobao in those days, I wonder how many China sellers have settled in the sub-platform? The more important local e-commerce platforms in Russia include Lamoda, Wildberries, KupiVIP (all fashions), Ulmart and Svyaznoy (consumer electronic products).
XII. Otto (Otto Group)
The leading provider of e-commerce solutions and services from Germany ranks second only to Amazon in the global comprehensive B2C ranking, and is also the world’s largest online clothing, apparel and daily necessities retail channel provider. Its online shop sells millions of kinds of goods. The products sold cover men’s and women’s clothing, household appliances, household goods, sports equipment, computers, video games and so on. Range of brands is widely sold, and basically all brands that can be seen in the market can be found in OTTO’s online shop. In addition, OTTO has its own brand, which is very cost-effective.
It is understood that clothing is by far the most important category. Women spend 25.8 billion euros (men 22.5 billion) online, which is the main source of online income. This may be related to family shopping. 53.4% of online shoppers are women. Two-thirds of online retailing in Germany is through third-party platforms ebay and Amazon, with few independent websites. Followed by multi-channel retailers. Clothing (11.6 billion), books (5.3 billion) and electronic products (4 billion) are the three most popular categories. The above-mentioned 39.1 billion euros do not include digital products. Online retail sales of digital products (such as air tickets and event tickets) totaled 10.6 billion euros, an increase of 9.3%. Germany is the country with the most popular online sales in the world. Although the number of online consumers in China is huge, it only accounts for 19% of the total population. And Germany is as high as 61%! , more than 60% in the United States. The importance of e-commerce and digital advertising in this country is beyond doubt.
XIII. Jumia
It is the largest e-commerce retail company in Nigeria, a big African country, and its goal is to build a local "Amazon" to sell electronic products, clothing, refrigerators and other commodities. Nigeria has a population of about 160 million, but there are few e-commerce websites and the number of physical supermarkets and shopping malls is extremely limited, which provides a huge potential market for e-commerce companies. The number of Internet users in Nigeria has reached more than 40 million, and it is growing rapidly. Meanwhile, the demand for online shopping in Nigeria is increasing. In recent years, various e-commerce websites have sprung up in Nigeria, including food, drinks, real estate, tourism and mobile phone transfer services. The competition pattern of e-commerce dominated by Jumia, Konga and Dealdey is taking shape, and the "African version of Ctrip" Hotels.ng is also rapidly seizing the online travel market.
Xiv. Gmarket
Gmarket is the largest comprehensive shopping website in Korea, ranking first in the total sales value of goods in the online retail market in Korea, mainly selling books, MP3 players, cosmetics, computers, home appliances and clothes. On May 7th, 2010, ebay announced that it would set up a joint venture company in Gmarket, a Korean e-commerce company, with ebay contributing 10 million US dollars. The joint venture company will help Gmarket explore the Japanese and Singapore markets.
15. Sears (Sears)
Sears is the third largest merchant retailer in the United States, and the top 500 Internet retailers rank eighth. Gather more than 10,000 sellers and as many as 110 million products. It provides self-management, big sellers and various marketing modes in advertising alliance. Categories include electronic products, household goods, outdoor life, tools, fitness, toys and so on. The most popular categories are lawn and garden.
Xiao Bian feels that it is not that the biggest platform has the best effect, but to choose a platform suitable for your own market segments and products. Sometimes, it is often those local platforms that you have never known that get twice the result with half the effort!
The above content belongs to the author’s personal opinion and does not represent Hugo’s position!