In an overseas warehouse in Guadalajara, Spain, staff are sorting goods. Xinhua News Agency reporter Meng Dingbo photo

According to the latest data from the General Administration of Customs of China, in 2020, 2.45 billion votes of import and export lists were cleared through the customs cross-border electronic commerce management platform, up 63.3% year-on-year. With the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce, China enterprises have accelerated the construction of cross-border logistics systems, including overseas warehouses. At present, the number of overseas warehouses has exceeded 1,800, which has become a new foreign trade infrastructure to support the development of cross-border e-commerce and expand the international market.

Cross-border logistics docking local distribution

The recently released Blue Book of Cross-border E-commerce: China Cross-border E-commerce Development Report (2020) points out that the scale of cross-border e-commerce market in China is expected to reach 280 billion yuan in 2020, and it will continue to achieve leap-forward growth. The rapid development of cross-border e-commerce has spawned diversified development needs of cross-border logistics. Overseas warehouse is not only the product of cross-border e-commerce and cross-border logistics, but also the general trend of logistics industry in the era of cross-border e-commerce.

In 2012, seeing the cross-border e-commerce logistics business opportunities, Ouyang Ke, a China businessman who has been engaged in the logistics industry for a long time, and Murphy, a British partner, set up Royal Logistics Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen to deliver goods to the world. Since opening its first overseas warehouse in the UK in April 2014, the company has established overseas warehouses in dozens of countries in Europe, Asia, America and other regions.

"When goods arrive in Britain from China, it usually takes about a month to reach the destination if traditional logistics methods are used. Nowadays, through overseas warehouses set up by China enterprises, British consumers can receive China goods within two days. The form of overseas warehouses has enhanced the advantages of logistics and distribution in China. " In Murphy’s view, in addition to the limitation advantage, the bulk import of overseas warehouses can save the value-added tax and import duties of high-value products, and also help customers to handle returns. In the context of fierce competition in e-commerce, there is no doubt that the return guarantee can establish a better brand image for sellers.

"During the epidemic prevention and control period, the advantages of overseas warehouses are prominent, because there is sufficient stocking in advance, and local logistics can deliver faster." Ouyang Ke said that e-commerce companies in China can upload orders online and seamlessly connect with the local English system. With the help of overseas warehouses, a whole set of international logistics solutions make cross-border shopping more efficient, from purchasing, export tax rebate, import declaration, overseas warehousing and finally integrating local logistics delivery. He believes that overseas warehouses are committed to reducing costs, improving distribution efficiency and providing one-stop solutions, which will help solve the "last mile" distribution problem of China products in overseas markets.

Optimize the shopping experience of overseas consumers

Leticia, a housewife living in the suburb of Madrid, recently planned to buy a double-door refrigerator, considering that she needed to "hoard food" and stay indoors less during the epidemic prevention and control period. After comparison, she found that refrigerators in local shopping malls are expensive, and there is an extra freight charge for home delivery. On a cross-border e-commerce platform in China, a double-door refrigerator only costs 399 euros, and free delivery, which Leticia thinks is very suitable. The next day after placing the order, the refrigerator was delivered to the door, and Leticia was pleasantly surprised.

Zhou Yan, head of the supply chain of the e-commerce overseas warehouse in Spain, said that they have two official overseas warehouses in Spain, and more than 10 third-party cooperative overseas warehouses, so that the goods can reach Spain, France and Poland in three days and reach Europe in seven days. Based on overseas warehouses, after-sales services such as goods return and maintenance are also undertaken locally, which optimizes the shopping experience of local consumers.

Lezanda is one of the largest online shopping websites in Southeast Asia. In March 2020, it added overseas warehouse service in Indonesia. Radna, an Indonesian girl who likes online shopping, said: "The quality and price of online shopping products are good, and the most important thing is fast delivery."

On the website of Guangzhou Speedtrade Tianxia Technology Co., Ltd. Japan Overseas Warehouse, a customer commented on the logistics service after purchasing wireless headphones: "Timely delivery, quick arrival and good packaging." Lin Yazhi, the founder of the company, said that in the first half of 2020, the sales of its overseas warehouses in Japan more than doubled. At present, epidemic prevention products have become the best-selling products.

Enhance the competitiveness of foreign trade enterprises

The establishment of overseas warehouses has directly narrowed the distance between China sellers and foreign customers, promoted the overseas marketing of China products and effectively enhanced the global competitiveness of China manufacturing.

Take the overseas sales of Jano electric balance car as an example. Since the opening of the Spanish overseas warehouse in June 2019, the overall stocking cost of this product has decreased by 15%, the logistics cost of a single product has decreased by about 20%, and the delivery cycle has been shortened from 45 days for cross-border delivery to 24 hours for local delivery in Spain, and 5 to 7 days for delivery in pan-Europe. The performance of dealers has also increased by more than three times.

Headquartered in Ningbo, Aosen E-commerce specializes in indoor home, outdoor rattan weaving, sports and fitness, baby products, pet products and other products. Relying on the "cross-border e-commerce+overseas warehouse" model, the net profit in the first three quarters of last year alone was 248.6 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1936.4%.

"Traditionally, cross-border e-commerce packages cross-border shipments according to orders, and overseas warehouses have built a closed loop of local supply." Zhou Yan said that under the current situation, overseas warehouses have actively played a regulatory role in stabilizing and smoothing the supply chain of the industrial chain. In addition, some China e-commerce companies set up overseas warehouses to help small and medium-sized e-commerce companies in their countries accelerate their development.

Nowadays, overseas warehouses have become an important link and service support for the development of cross-border e-commerce. In the future, overseas warehouses will make in-depth exploration in information construction, intelligent development, diversified services and localized operation, so as to help China products better enter the global market. (Reporter Yuan Jirong Qiang Wei jiang bo Wei Xu Liu Junguo)