After decades of development, cross-border e-commerce has faced more and more challenges in the past by integrating resources and outsourcing non-core business. Faced with significant differences in cultural customs, consumption habits, platform rules, laws and regulations, as well as uncertain factors such as geopolitics and trade protection, many cross-border e-commerce companies have begun to practice localization strategies in depth, and continue to make efforts to improve their localized operational capabilities, invest in technology research and development, and build an ecosystem. “Starting with globalization and ending with localization” has become the foreseeable future for cross-border e-commerce enterprises.
Different from the export in general, enterprises adopting localization strategy break through the “trade thinking” that they are only responsible for selling domestically produced goods, and instead take root in the local area, and resonate with local consumers in the same frequency with the attitude of devoting themselves to entering the market, not only exporting products that are suitable for the local area, but also exporting factors such as manpower, capital and services. In a sense, cross-border e-commerce is recreating an overseas China. Generally, enterprises can adopt the following strategies for localization at sea:
01 product localization
In-depth study of local people’s consumption needs and shopping habits, such as product preferences, platform preferences, price sensitivity, etc., and then targeted transformation of products.
02 channel localization
When entering a country’s market, enterprises can choose to operate independently, or they can choose to enter one or more e-commerce platforms according to their own conditions. In addition to the head platform, enterprises can also choose some local platforms that can provide localized services and marketing strategies, or cooperate with local retailers to effectively improve product market coverage.
03 brand localization
Fully understand the significance of brand localization, and constantly improve the brand’s popularity in the local area by telling brand stories, strengthening quality control and optimizing services.
04 logistics localization
Select the appropriate logistics mode to continuously improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. At the same time, through the construction of overseas warehouses and other ways to integrate into the local ecosystem, and continuously improve the localization service capabilities.
05 operation localization
Conditional enterprises can integrate into the local market through mergers and acquisitions, expand their business scale and product categories, and become an overseas local company with China genes and win-win cooperation with local partners. In addition, enterprises should also pay close attention to changes in local laws and regulations to ensure compliance.
Source: Blue Book of China’s Export Cross-border E-commerce Upgrade and Development
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