Hai is becoming a hot spot for cross-border electricity dealers, but international transshipment is dragging the sea

Hai is becoming a hotspot for cross-border electricity dealers, but international transshipment is dragging the hind legs of Amoy, logistics this biggest pain point how to crack?

This unpleasant experience is not an isolated example, a colleague of mine in the United States Amazon bought a pair of boots and a watch, calculated to be cheaper than the same domestic and thousands of dollars, commissioned a local Chinese transshipment company to return home, is expected to arrive one months. As a result, four months later, colleagues blew up a forwarding company phone, the goods still did not come. Beijing has been coming from winter through spring to summer, "It's hot and boots are still worn." Colleagues complained.

"The forwarding company's customer service than I also cattle." I said to change the transporter, people say also do not care about the loss of one or two customers, every day new customers do not do. "A colleague's face is angry, this is her sea Amoy first show, but ended up this situation." There is no other way than waiting.

There is no doubt about the heat of Hai. It's a business that looks beautiful and really big. 2009 to now, through the Electronic Business platform for the Cross-border shopping market is basically in the year to double the rate of expansion. In 2013, all Chinese consumers traded on a Cross-border E-commerce platform for a total of 14 billion dollars a year. This is through the sea Amoy directly in the overseas E-commerce platform to buy goods, but also through Taobao global purchase and other domestic electricity business platform to achieve the purchase transaction, the latter is still the mainstream market.

The sea scouring the fire, with flourishing the transshipment business. In a year, the sea Amoy shopping and transshipment companies are like springing up the head. Do you not understand foreign language, no time exchange rate? It doesn't matter, the shopping guide website helps you to gather the discount information of overseas electric business platform, push the commodity, instruct you how to order. If the foreign ups and DHL direct mail delivery is too expensive, or some goods simply do not support direct mail, there are local Chinese transshipment companies can help you in the local delivery to the domestic, the price can be as low as 5 dollars a pound below.

Hai also attracted some big players to enter, last year, the domestic private express giants Shun Fung and Shentong have entered the overseas transshipment business. Shentong it as part of its own internationalization strategy.

Yuantong has not yet entered the sea Amoy transshipment field, however, Yuantong Courier company chief executive Shangfeng once in UPS as the vice president of Asia-Pacific public Affairs, for international transshipment business is very familiar. He pointed out that the rise of Hai, in essence, is the promotion of cross-border electricity, where consumers buy two spreads: One is the O2O spreads, that is, the line price difference, the second overseas and domestic commodity spreads. "Consumers are essentially buying a foreign shopping environment. ”

Even so, many people's sea Amoy memory is not pleasant, the reason, this is still a full of gray area, academics market. My colleagues ' experience in the sea Amoy is just a microcosm of the market turmoil. Strictly speaking, Hai is part of the Cross-border electricity business, among which the most criticized transshipment link is the branch of International Express service. Because of the lack of brand-name effect of local companies in the transshipment link, this puts Chinese users in a dilemma: with well-known international express bar, too expensive (if you buy a scarf 20 dollars, UPS shipping charge of 30 U.S. dollars, when the customs are again received customs duties). Choose an unknown transshipment company, and there is no protection. Will the Hai user experience eventually get better? This depends on whether there is a reliable logistics forwarding company can quickly superior.

The current Hai mainstream consumer groups, aged between 25 and 35 years old, monthly income between 6000 to 10000 yuan of women. They understand the price and quality of foreign products comparative advantage, is willing to enjoy a reasonable price of better products. It also contains a core of loyal users, that is, pregnant women in China, for imported milk powder, health care products and other maternal and child supplies have just a group of people need. These people repeatedly buy high frequency. At the same time, this is a relatively price-sensitive group of people, for shopping has its own abacus. As a result, a large number of small transit companies with low prices and walking in grey areas (tax evasion) have emerged.

The usual transit process is this, suppose you want to buy a pair of headphones in the Amazon, you need to contact a local Chinese transshipment company, in the online order to fill out the warehouse address of the transshipment company, require the electrical business site first shipped to the transshipment company's warehouse, through the transshipment company will be sent to the domestic customs clearance, And then by the transfer company docking of domestic courier company responsible for the headset distribution to the home, most of the sea Amoy guests have chosen this way.

These logistics costs, in addition to the transfer of the company's own costs, should also include tariff costs. A large number of small transit companies exist, is based on the default to avoid tariffs as a prerequisite. But the problem is that security and timeliness are not guaranteed. Consumers have come across a situation in which a baby bed was discovered when she was pregnant, and the child was born without knowing where the crib was. If you search the Internet, you will find that almost every well-known transit company in the Amoy Circle has been cursed by angry consumer complaints.

At home, someone is trying to change the image of the transshipment company, offering cheap but high quality sea Amoy service. At the end of last year, Suning easy to purchase and Cross-border shopping website "Ocean Terminal" cooperation "global shopping" business low-key online, unknown to the ocean pier surface. This February, the day Cat International platform on the line, the first is also the foreign terminal, and the Cat International in the organization of overseas industrial chain, overseas logistics construction, is in depth with the ocean terminal cooperation. "The Sky Cat International More does is the information flow and the fund flow, in the bottom service basically needs us to help him to do." "The CEO of the Ocean Pier once said.

The characteristics of the ocean terminal is that it is a relying on its own platform to build overseas warehousing logistics facilities for the import of electricity merchants. This is the first family in China. Ocean Terminal 2009 into this field, once the blue waves recalled that the early days, they have tried to use a third-party direct mail or transshipment company to solve the problem of logistics and distribution, try the wrong after the teeth began to do their own. But the process is rather difficult.

In the view of the blue waves, the sea Amoy international transshipment pain points are as follows:

The most fundamental problem is that the electronic commerce website and the forwarding company's information flow did not get through, causes the commodity the logistics State to be unable to track. For example, the site will be sent to the goods transshipment goods warehouse, transshipment company does not have the right or not to check whether the goods damaged, according to the sample transshipment at home, the results of the consumer opened the package found damaged, robust is responsible for the transfer company. Or, consumers in order to avoid the tax does not truthfully fill in the package information, transshipment back to the domestic but by the customs inspection detain. Trans-shipment, transshipment companies can not grasp the exact information on the package, and from the electricity dealer shipments to the transfer company and then through the domestic distribution, and finally reached the hands of consumers, a total of four links, the entire delivery process links too much, it is easy to complicate.

The system is not docking, information flow is not smooth means that when the sea Amoy international transshipment can only be a small and beautiful business, and can not enjoy the scale effect of dividends. Parcel one, the transshipment party must consider the labor force input-output ratio, as well as the customs clearance cost increase. For example, the user in the United States electric business site under an order to buy three of goods, from the electricity dealer three warehouses respectively issued three parcels, this is reasonable for the electric business site. However, these three parcels are sent to the transshipment company, the transshipment company does not have the accurate parcel information, two is not enough personnel to manage the receipt and inspection of parcels, lack of strong information system support, means that the transshipment company is likely to rely on manual package for the merger similar, human cost is not cheap.

Assuming that the three packages were merged into one, it was a problem for the Customs and Excise Department as thousands of other parcels were sent to the customs. For example, in Ningbo, China, a customs port clearance personnel usually on 3 people, 2000 parcels suddenly poured into the clearance, the work of clearance can be imagined, efficiency can not talk about. The most lethal is still the transit company's information and customs system is not docking, lack of information flow, parcels less manageable, once on the size of the loss of the package is unavoidable. "The chain of logistics and information is not getting through. When the merchant can send direct mail to China, what is the transshipment? Said the blue waves.

In addition, the Chinese customs has strict weight and value restrictions on the overseas inbound parcels for personal use, and the transported parcels are inadvertently falling into the category of irregularities. "In addition to shipping itself, there is a customs control problem." The general administration of Customs has recently issued 59 expedited documents again to clarify that the personal use of Cross-border online shopping package value limit is 1000 yuan. "Once the waves were explained. However, due to cost considerations, transshipment companies to provide customers with FCL services, a few parcels into a large box back, so that the cost of each package of the split down, for customers and transit companies are more cost-effective, but the risk of illegal is very high. The grey of transshipment is also reflected here.

For transshipment business, customs is an insurmountable high threshold. 2010, the largest Chinese courier company in the United States, America and Asia (AAE) has a subsidiary will be a large-scale transport business, China and the United States to become a transshipment business in the first batch of people to eat crabs, through the domestic and Shentong close cooperation with the customs of Chongqing, the company to make their own first bucket of gold. However, due to the delivery of the pipeline gray, suspected smuggling, the United States and Asia in Hangzhou was found in the incident, into the Chinese customs blacklist. The United States and Asia China's distribution channel declared void, the subsidiary is therefore unable to support. After this, the United States and Asia in Los Angeles, many employees, including drivers are off the job, they have to learn the transfer mode, the establishment of their own transit company. So it can be said that nowadays these famous American transshipment companies mostly imitate their "martyrs" of the play, try to circumvent customs clearance and commodity inspection has become a shortcut to cost control.

In 2009, Shentong's chairman, Chen Dejun, told the media that he intended to buy U.S. and Asian equities in the Ocean Terminal and to enter the U.S. market by holding the company. However, today's Shentong opened the United States transshipment business, selected by the United States to join the Chinese Express Enterprise for the United States Shentong as the main body, to carry out transshipment business.

In fact, the plight of transshipment companies, for want to quickly enter the sea Amoy transshipment market shun Fung and Shentong is also a great challenge. Although domestic consumers are full of expectations, however, the reality of bone feeling. In the sea Amoy market, if Shun Fung, Shentong can not get through the docking business and customs information flow, their advantages in the domestic transport business does not have any real help. Shun Fung since the beginning of last September, the sea Amoy transshipment products are still not officially operating, it seems to be able to explain some problems. On the other hand, Shun Fung and Shentong is also the embarrassment of the price, since doing normal transshipment companies will be active customs declaration, a pound of 10 of dollars or so the customs Declaration, service quality, many consumers also arrived at the New York City of Fujian smuggling company reported a pound of 3.5 dollars not to pay the huge temptation of tariffs. After all, from 10 dollars to 3.5 dollars, the middle is about forty or fifty yuan in the price difference.

Not only that, shun Fung to be able to transfer of goods also have very strict restrictions, all policies are not allowed, will be heavy tax, the value of the goods is very high, or the delivery of difficult items, shun Fengdou listed in the rejection list. However, it should be said that this is shun Fung to standardize the transfer of the market an attempt.

"2010 years ago, in the United States to engage in transshipment friends told me that in China have their own ports and channels can do a transshipment business, the market is good," said the blue ocean. "We feel we can't do it and the consumer experience is very poor." Originally from overseas shopping is strange and fear, consumers have to control another company, where the warehouse, safety and security do not know, also do not know how to contact. If the 100 orders of the Ocean Terminal 20 experience very poor, I try to make the flow of white did. "In the same year, the Ocean Pier got the first round of angel investment, once the blue sea this began to create their own international logistics system."

Why are there such large spreads between direct mail and small transshipment companies like UPS? Why the same air line, the latter can be slower than the former for a few months? These questions have once confused the blue waves.

Have started to look for the reasons for the discrepancy between the two types of companies and the drop in service quality. Is it because the transshipment company gives the airline too little money, so the airlines deliberately fly slowly? With all kinds of speculation, once blue waves in the country ran seven or eight airports, ran more than 10 customs ports in the country, saw more than 20 customs officials, in the United States visited airlines, freight forwarding companies, customs companies, a lap of actual touch down, found that there are many international logistics system can be integrated, compressing the cost of the place.

For example, how can the price of air transport down. Once blue waves have discovered that airlines need to ensure the predictability of volume. Airlines need to predict in advance how many freight volume next month, to determine whether the aircraft can not fly over, if you provide the amount of forecast, the airlines can give a very good price, in the end is to advance booking. "The hardest part of the supply chain is to sync up and down," he said. "Once the blue waves were not proud to say to me.

At present, the Ocean Terminal can ensure that at least 5 flights a week to send parcels to fly back to the mainland. Ocean Terminal's official Logistics Behai International in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco has three freight station/sorting center, in London, Germany and Frankfurt set up two logistics centers. Behai Logistics in the United States three warehouse operators together in less than 6 people, in the booming shopping season, three warehouses can also maintain peak daily throughput of more than 6,000 parcels. Last year double 11, the ocean Dock relies on the day cat to complete 20,000 orders. March 20, the overseas group of Ocean Dock Test water, the first batch of products are childlife calcium magnesium zinc tablets, which is the first choice of Chinese young mothers infant health products. Ocean Terminal to include logistics and distribution of the price is 89 yuan, in their own official website open booking within three days is booked, and the arrival of four business days.

Now, the Ocean Terminal is not willing to put itself under the sea Amoy industry, and stressed that they are cross-border E-commerce enterprises, has blue sea summed up their business model: through the platform to open up the upstream retail business and downstream of ordinary consumers, the equivalent of the reverse of ebay. The Ocean Terminal hopes to become an international trading system and a regular army approved by China's customs.

Once the real sword of blue waves is not the vast number of transshipment companies, but the traditional system of international trade Agency. "China's traditional import trade agent business-to-business model is too inefficient, the barriers are too high, and there are too many exclusive monopolies and exclusive agents, resulting in high prices." Simply put, the agent chain is so long that layers of Skinner will eventually be passed on to end consumers. Once upon a time on ebay, it was seen how e-commerce is the elimination of domestic regional agency. Now, he wants to allow upstream overseas merchants to face Chinese consumers directly through the offshore platform, simplifying the whole agency in international trade and making another way out.

The traditional import agent is the commercial behavior, therefore needs the commodity inspection qualification all these, the experienced veteran will usually tell you, from the application to obtain the approval documents may need one year to 1.5 time. However, Chinese consumers buy goods on American websites for personal use, does not involve two times sale, therefore according to the personal parcel clearance, purely individual behavior also is not subject to the commodity inspection drug supervision These restrictions, only this point, the cross-border electronic commerce supply chain efficiency and the product category expansion are greatly superior to the traditional agency.

In fact, for the world, consumer-sponsored Cross-border online purchases are a new subject, such as Brazil, Argentina and Russia, which are the big spenders of cross-border electricity consumption. The traditional agent system batch large, long cycle, the frequency is small, cross-border electricity business platform consumption is counter to its way, only how to declare the list this point to the customs headache. How to manage this new area, countries are in the stones, this is a need for customs and foreign terminals such as cross-border electricity business platform, and even transshipment companies to explore all sides to find acceptable policy boundaries.

The 2012 Ocean Pier once walked through a circle in the jaws of death. In that year some customs control points were smuggling problems, so customs suddenly closed the passage and all personal parcels were not allowed to enter the country. "We're suffocating. "Had the blue waves recollection. A few months later, customs opened a seam to the field and handled the parcels in a very high standard and selectively open manner. "Customs are also considering, who can drill through this seam who will do, very strict." We feel that this is a test question given by the Chinese customs, and whoever passes it will do it. "That year because of the overall test, many companies involved in such businesses died. But the ocean dock survives.

Customs has its own difficulties, the rise of the Hai, so that cross-border trade reflected in the Customs department is "less, into more". Trade imports and exports are very uneven. On the other hand, the past customs clearance process is difficult to adapt to the influx of small parcels. "A few years ago, the number of small parcels in the customs was much more than the number of containers," said Shangfeng, a flexible chief executive, told the Chinese entrepreneur. However, a small parcel to clear a vote in fact, the process is similar to walking a container. But he also points out that opportunities are brought about by hard business. Hai long-term prospects can be optimistic.

Chai Yutin, a professor of the National e-Commerce demonstration City Expert Advisory Committee, has said that there are three major challenges in the domestic Cross-border electric power industry: One is the existing policy and legal rules, which is led by the government and the traditional traders compete for the market Third, the inherent interest structure of cross-border trade and the collision of Cross-border Electric quotient ecosystem. The three major resistance is also applicable to the Ocean Terminal.

Until today, policy risk remains the pressure and challenge that the industry must face. This is, after all, a limited and open market. The government only set up in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Zhengzhou, Guangzhou, Chongqing, the 6 import-related Cross-border e-commerce port pilot. March 20 this year, the General administration of customs in the form of dispatch to the 6 cities to give notice (ie, 59th) reiterated the regulatory standards, which means that in the short term in the Electricity business import policy will not be a big breakthrough, more flexible lax regulation will not occur.

However, Chinese consumers have woken up and it is unrealistic or contrary to public opinion to close the gates of imports. Now the Cat International has entered the Bureau, and has signed a contract with three domestic import pilot ports. Amazon is also on the overseas direct purchase model exploration and has been low-key layout for a long time, although still in the tangle is to be in China or the United States to set up bonded warehouses, foreign also secretive. It should be said that the sea Amoy this wave, despite the wool, but it is really possible to make the rules of the players into the Bureau, which will be the import market for the power of the cake is a meaningful exploration.