Amazon extends the return deadline for the holiday season; TikTok Shop's Autumn Promotion GMV increased by 124%; Pop Mart's overseas business accounts for more than 45%.
Finish丨Zhou Xinyi
In the past week, these things have happened in the field of cross-border e-commerce:
# Platform Trends #
【Amazon】
1 Amazon has launched two AI-generated tools to help merchants improve the effectiveness of creative marketing
Amazon has announced the launch of two new generative AI tools, AI Creative Studio and Audio Generator, designed to help advertisers more easily create rich and diverse ad content while enhancing the shopping and brand experience of customers. After submitting the ASIN, the audio generator generates ad copy and high-quality 30-second audio ads in just a few minutes at no additional cost.
2 Amazon United States updates consumer bundling policy
A few days ago, Amazon United States issued an announcement to update the consumer goods bundling policy for groceries, pet products, baby products, and health and beauty categories. According to the announcement, sellers can only list bundles created and provided by the original manufacturer, who must be the brand owner of all items in the bundle. This rule means that sellers can no longer mix products made by different companies in the same bundle, nor can they list bundles under a "generic" brand or private label.
3 Amazon Europe updates FBA product loss and damage compensation policy
A few days ago, Amazon Europe announced that from January 15, 2025, it will take the initiative to compensate for the loss of FBA goods in the distribution center. According to the announcement, Amazon will issue compensation as soon as a distribution center reports a missing item, and sellers can track this in the reimbursement report in Seller Central. At the same time, if the seller's inventory is lost or damaged and does not receive automatic reimbursement, they will need to submit a claim manually.
4 Amazon announces an extension of the 2024 holiday season return window
A few days ago, Amazon announced that it will extend the return window for the holiday season to help sellers increase conversion rates and attract repeat customers. According to Amazon's latest announcement, items purchased between November 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024 can be returned until January 31, 2025, and the return period for Apple-branded products is January 15, 2025, and the policy applies to seller-fulfilled, FBA, and Amazon retail orders.
【Alibaba】
1 Alibaba International released the first large-scale commercial translation model
A few days ago, Zhang Kaifu, vice president and head of AI of Alibaba International, said that the latest Marco translation model developed by Alibaba International supports 15 global mainstream languages such as Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and French. At present, it has been released on the official website of Alibaba International AI Aidge, and is open to users around the world.
2 Taobao's overseas free shipping area has been expanded to 10 stations
A few days ago, this year's Double 11, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Viet Nam, Cambodia and China's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions formed Taobao's "overseas free shipping area". On the eve of Double 11, Cainiao added more than 10 new consolidation warehouses in the mainland, doubling the warehouse area compared with the same period last year.
3 Daraz announced the rhythm of the Double 11 promotion: it officially starts on November 11th
A few days ago, Alibaba's South Asian e-commerce platform Daraz announced the rhythm of the Double 11 promotion. The promotion is divided into three time nodes: water storage period, warm-up period, and promotion period. The water storage period is from October 26th to November 4th, and the warm-up period is from November 5th to November 10th. The deadline for registration for the promotion is before 6 p.m. on November 10. In terms of promotion, there are five main activities: FSM free shipping exclusive, Flash sale activity, Voucher Max cross-store full discount, Coins gold coin activity, and DMS advertising (that is, on-site search advertising).
4 Lazada announced the rhythm of Double 11: cross-store full reduction as the core gameplay
A few days ago, Lazada announced the rhythm of the Double 11 promotion, which is divided into two stages this year: the warm-up period and the big promotion period. The start time of the warm-up period varies slightly from country to country, but the deadline is 8 p.m. on November 10. The promotion time remains the same, from 8 p.m. on November 10 to November 13, lasting for 3 days. In terms of big promotion gameplay, the two core gameplay methods are cross-store full reduction and free shipping, which are also projects that merchants must participate in.
5 Lazada expands into the luxury market
Lazada is actively communicating with top European fashion and design brands to enhance its competitiveness in the Southeast Asian market by introducing luxury brands to cope with the pressure of competitors. Lazada's executive team has met with founders and top executives of more than 100 Italy brands in Milan to discuss the brand's potential entry into Southeast Asia through Lazada's newly launched luxury platform, LazMall Luxury.
6 Trendyol Launches First In-Depth Multifunctional Local Language Model LLM
A few days ago, Trendyol, a Turkey e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba, launched the first internal multi-functional local language model LLM, aiming to improve technical capabilities and customer experience. Caglayan Cetin, CEO of Trendyol, said that the move will enable real-time communication between cross-border sellers and consumers in 25 countries, especially for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
【TikTok】
1 TikTok Shop opens the "Subscribe to Seller Email" function to users, which can meet the needs of merchants' private domain operation
A few days ago, there was a new change in the TikTok buyer portal - when unlocking the discount option during the purchase process, the "Subscribe to seller emails" option appeared. According to the official, under the premise of complying with the privacy policy, buyers can subscribe to get the latest news and preferential information from sellers. This feature meets the private domain operation needs of cross-border e-commerce sellers. In the past, it was difficult for merchants to communicate directly with buyers by email on the platform, but now the platform is gradually opening up this function, which is good news for sellers.
2 TikTok Shop partners with the Beauty Council of United Kingdom for United Kingdom Beauty Week
TikTok Shop has partnered with the Beauty Council of the United Kingdom to host the annual United Kingdom Beauty Week in London from October 23-27, aiming to help United Kingdom beauty brands make the most of the potential of TikTok Shop and social commerce to help brands succeed. Through this partnership, TikTok Shop will reveal how to succeed in live shopping, share industry secrets from high-performing beauty sellers, and help brands and small businesses succeed in social commerce.
3 TikTok Shop Autumn Promotion in the United States, Overall GMV Increases by 124%
TikTok Shop's Autumn Sale has come to an end. According to the official report card, the overall GMV in the United States increased by 124%, and the single-day GMV of the merchant-operated model and the fully managed mode both reached a record high, of which the single-day GMV of the merchant-operated model increased by 144%, and the GMV of live broadcast increased by 133%; The GMV of the fully managed model exploded by 166% in a single day, and the GMV of large-cap payment achieved a strong growth of 139%.
【Ago】
1 Temu app landed in Malaysia
Recently, the Temu app has been launched in Malaysia, offering local manufacturers and direct delivery from China. Pinduoduo's subsidiary, Temu, has operations in 82 countries, and although its trademark registration was rejected three times in Indonesia, its business model is widely used in Malaysia and other countries. It connects factories and consumers directly at a competitive price.
2 ago9月下载量在韩排名第一
A few days ago, according to the big data analysis platform Mobile Index, Temu ranked first with 868,000 new app downloads in Korea in September; United States social platform "Photo Wall" ranked second with 760,000; and TikTok lite ranked third with 707,000.
[Other Platforms]
1 Ozon announced that it will halve its sales commission to Chinese sellers in November
Ozon Global announced that it will reduce its sales commission by 50% for all sellers in China throughout November in anticipation of the shopping rush on November 11 and Black Friday. In addition, the commission for sellers of electronics products shipped from Ozon's partner warehouses will be reduced to 1%. The offer is only valid in November.
2 敦煌网Free Return投保范围变更
A few days ago, DHgate issued an announcement saying that Free Return has been recognized and supported by the majority of merchants since it was launched. Based on the benign and sustainable development of the project, starting from October 10, 2024, the insured order amount of the Free Return project will be adjusted from the original $0-1,000 to $0-100, and orders exceeding $100 will no longer be insured. There are no changes to other benefits/content.
3 India's fashion e-commerce platform Nykaa launches 10-minute delivery service in parts of Mumbai
A few days ago, India's fashion e-commerce platform Nykaa has launched a pilot 10-minute delivery service in some parts of Mumbai, covering 5% of its product categories. Marks its foray into the fast-moving commerce space to compete with platforms such as Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, and more.
4 Shopee Philippines updates chat metrics
A few days ago, Shopee Philippines Station improved chat indicators in order to maintain customer service standards for sellers. One is to rename Chat Response Time (CRT) to First Response Time (FRT); The second is the addition of an average response time (ART) indicator. FRT measures the average time it takes for a seller to first respond to a buyer's message, and ART measures the average time to respond to all messages.
5 Shopee Malaysia 10.10 promotion brand sales increased by 8 times
A few days ago, Shopee Malaysia 10.10 Brand Festival achieved significant sales growth, and the overall sales performance far exceeded the usual level. Overall, the Shopee Mall brand achieved an 8-fold increase in sales and a 6-fold surge in orders during the event. The success was driven by content creators and live streaming, with nearly one million videos produced during the event driving a 34-fold increase in content, which boosted the overall sales of the Shopee Mall brand.
6 SHEIN became the second largest clothing fashion brand in France
According to the ranking of the France professional consumer journal LSA, SHEIN's sales in France in 2023 surpassed H&M, Primark and even Kiabi (sales of about 1.5 billion euros), becoming the second largest clothing fashion brand in France, slightly lower than the Zara brand owned by the Inditex group in Spain.
7 Walmart launches proprietary GenAI platform Wallaby
Walmart has unveiled its accelerated adaptive retail strategy, which includes leveraging proprietary artificial intelligence (AI), generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), augmented reality (AR) and other technologies to create hyper-personalized, convenient and engaging shopping experiences for customers. Among them, Walmart has developed a proprietary GenAI platform system, Wallaby, to create customer-facing experiences, and created more personalized AI-powered customer support assistants.
# Merchant Circle #
1 Good Sale announced that it will officially enter the Japan market in the spring of 2025
A few days ago, according to the information disclosed by the WeChat public account "Close to Research", Chinese discount retail giant Hao Special Sale announced that it will officially enter the Japan market in the spring of 2025. It is understood that Good Sale has established a local subsidiary, HotMaxxJapan Co., Ltd., in Osaka, Japan. Liu Zekai, president of the local legal community of Japan, said that it will start with western Japan and gradually expand to the whole of Japan.
2 Pop Mart's overseas business accounted for more than 45% in September, and all overseas stores were directly operated
In the Jingwei Billions Entrepreneurship Camp held a few days ago, Wang Ning, the founder of Bubble Mart, made an in-depth sharing. In the sharing, he mentioned that Pop Mart's overseas offline business now covers more than 30 countries and regions, but unlike many companies, all overseas stores are directly operated and have their own local teams. It is reported that in September this year, the proportion of Pop Mart's overseas business has exceeded 45%.
3 Xpeng Motors announced its "Global 2.0" plan, aiming to enter more than 60 markets around the world by the end of next year
Xpeng Motors unveiled its "Going Global 2.0" plan at the 2024 Paris Motor Show. At present, Xpeng Motors has started sales in more than 30 countries and regions around the world; By the end of 2025, the company aims to enter more than 60 countries and regions around the world. In the next 10 years, Xpeng aims to account for half of the company's total sales through overseas sales.
# Cross-border logistics #
1 JD Logistics plans to achieve a global overseas warehouse area growth of more than 100% by the end of 2025
A few days ago, Jingdong Logistics announced that it plans to achieve more than 100% growth in the global overseas warehouse area by the end of 2025, and further layout the construction of bonded warehouses and direct mail warehouses.
2 Air China Cargo launched an international cargo route from Guangzhou to Los Angeles
A few days ago, a plane loaded with e-commerce goods recently flew from Baiyun Airport to Los Angeles, marking the official opening of the "Guangzhou-Los Angeles" all-cargo cargo route of Air China Cargo Co., Ltd. The opening of this route will inject new vitality into the long-distance intercontinental cargo route of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, and smooth the economic and trade exchanges between the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and North America.
3 DHL Express launched a label-free service for e-commerce returns
DHL Express has launched a new service that allows customers to return e-commerce items without having to print a shipping label. Currently available in more than 50 countries around the world, the label-free service is a digitally optimized process designed to provide convenience and reduce paper waste. Customers can receive a QR code and present it to a DHL service point that supports the QR code or to the courier to complete the return.
# Industry Policies & Data #
1 General Administration of Customs: preliminary estimates of the first three quarters of mainland cross-border e-commerce import and export of 1.88 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.5%
A few days ago, Lv Daliang, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs and director of the Department of Statistics and Analysis, introduced at a press conference of the State Council Information Office that in the first half of the year, the import and export of cross-border e-commerce in the mainland reached a record high of 1.25 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13%, accounting for 5.9% of the total import and export value of the mainland, an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared with the first half of 2023. Among them, exports were about 979.9 billion yuan, an increase of 18.7%; imports were 266.4 billion yuan, down by 3.9 percent.
2 Textile and garment exports in September were 24.78 billion US dollars, down 3.8% year-on-year
The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles issued a document saying that according to the latest data released by the General Administration of Customs, in US dollar terms, affected by unfavorable factors such as sluggish overseas market demand, the decline in global manufacturing prosperity, and the appreciation of the RMB, textile and garment exports in September fell by 3.8% year-on-year and 11.3% month-on-month. Among them, textile exports fell by 2.1%, and clothing exports fell by 5.1%.
3 Ningbo's foreign trade increased by 10.3% year-on-year in the first three quarters, exceeding the trillion mark one month ahead of schedule
In the first three quarters of 2024, Ningbo's total import and export volume of foreign trade reached 1.05 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.3% over the same period last year, and exceeded the trillion mark one month earlier than in 2022 and 2023. According to the statistics of Ningbo Customs, in the first three quarters, the total import and export value of Ningbo continued to rank fifth in the country's foreign trade. Among them, exports were 697.64 billion yuan, an increase of 11%; imports were 356.08 billion yuan, an increase of 9%.
4 South Africa's e-commerce penetration rate is expected to reach 22.27% in 2025
According to Statista's forecast, South Africa's e-commerce penetration rate is expected to reach 22.27% in 2025, leading the whole of Africa; Kenya and Nigeria are expected to reach 16.24 per cent and 13.25 per cent, respectively. This provides inspiration for Chinese sellers to explore the market in Africa.
5 Black Friday e-commerce sales in Brazil will reach $1.64 billion in 2024
According to Neotrust Confi, Brazil's e-commerce revenue during Black Friday 2024 will increase by 9.1% compared to 2023 and is expected to set a new record of 9.3 billion reais (about $1.64 billion). Categories that are expected to see significant growth include home appliances, fashion and accessories, health, air and ventilation, and beauty and fragrance. Categories such as furniture, pet supplies, and food and beverages are expected to see limited growth, while categories such as mobile phones may even see sales decline.
6 National Retail Federation: Sales growth will be slower during the holiday season than last year
The National Retail Federation (NFR) predicts that sales in the United States will grow at a slower rate during the 2024 holiday season than this year ago. On Oct. 15, the NRF said that retail sales growth in November and December is expected to be in the range of 2.5% to 3.5% year-on-year, down from 5.3% last year. The retailer-speaking organization expects holiday retail sales to reach up to $989 billion in terms of sales.
7 The global AI e-commerce market is expected to reach $45.72 billion by 2032
EMarketer data shows that the proportion of online purchases in global retail sales will continue to rise from 2021 to 2025. The AI e-commerce market is expected to reach $45.72 billion by 2032, and the application of AI in e-commerce business will increase customer satisfaction, revenue, or reduce administrative costs by more than 25%.
8 24% of France consumers expect brands to offer live shopping features
A few days ago, RetailX released the 2024 France e-commerce market report, which shows that for the expectations of the future shopping experience, 29% of France consumers want brands to provide AR functions, 24% want to provide live shopping functions, 22% want to introduce social e-commerce, and 21% want to launch virtual shopping assistants, and only 8% want to provide metaverse shopping.
9 74% of brands have increased their marketing investments in creators this year
CreatorIQ Releases Report Revealing the State of Creator Marketing. According to the report, 74% of brands have increased their marketing investment in creators this year, with "industry leaders" spending more than $1 million per year on creator marketing and reaping the highest ROI. However, metrics and finding the right creators to work with remain major challenges. Sponsored content is seen as the most effective method of influencer marketing, and Instagram is the channel that brands and agencies pay the most attention to, but TikTok has become the most commonly used platform by creators.
10 Chinese brands account for more than 80% of Thailand's pure electric vehicle market
A few days ago, Thailand's new energy-related agency Power Envision announced the number of pure electric vehicles in Thailand in September, and Nezha Automobile ranked second among global brands with a market share of 16%. Nezha Automobile has two models in Thailand, and its market share is second only to BYD, which has five models in Thailand. At present, Chinese brands account for more than 80% of Thailand's pure electric vehicle market.