[Cross-border information] WTO global e-commerce agreement; Australias Aimai online celebrity products; Amazon reorganizes VC accounts; Temu Japan grows fast; Maersk cuts prices

National Information

1. WTO member countries sign global e-commerce agreement

According to foreign media reports, 91 of the 166 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have participated in the negotiations, including China, Canada, Argentina, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, while the United States has not joined.

Dozens of WTO members have signed an agreement to govern global e-commerce. The agreement was recently passed and became the global digital trade rules approved by the WTO.

2. 70% of American consumers prioritize price

Recently, a quarterly study of 1,000 American consumers showed that more than 70% of respondents said they prioritized price when purchasing goods.

Inflation continues to affect household spending, and price has become a major factor affecting consumer purchasing decisions, especially on Amazon.

3. 70% of young Australians buy products after being introduced by influencers

According to the "Trust Influencer Marketing" report released by IZEA Worldwide, 70% of young people aged 18-29 in Australia are influenced by influencers to buy products, and 59% of consumers trust influencers more than sponsored posts by first-line stars.

This finding highlights the key role of influencers in shaping young consumers' purchasing behavior. At the same time, influencer marketing has significant advantages in improving brand trust, loyalty and influence.

4. Vietnam's e-commerce scale is expected to exceed US$30 billion in 2024

Recently, at a meeting held by the Trade Promotion Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC), delegates said that thanks to the growing local consumption trend, which has driven the growth of online sales on electronic platforms, Vietnam's e-commerce sales may exceed US$30 billion by the end of 2024.

5. 30% of Russian online shoppers believe that large discounts affect the credibility of goods

The survey shows that Russian consumers prefer moderate discounts, more than 80% of online shoppers have encountered low prices, and more than half are worried about quality.

Nearly one-third of the respondents believe that large discounts affect the credibility of goods, and most people think that price cuts of no more than 20% are appropriate. The study pointed out that price cuts of less than 20% are considered reasonable, while discounts of more than 50% raise questions about the authenticity of promotions and product quality.

6. The court declared Barcelona's "Amazon tax" invalid

It is reported that the Catalan Court declared the online shopping goods delivery tax ("Amazon tax") approved by the Barcelona City Government in February last year invalid.

The court believes that the tax is discriminatory and should cover all vehicles that may use the public domain in the same way, rather than just postal operators that deliver goods for e-commerce.

The ruling will provide a reference for other cities and regions to deal with similar tax issues. In the future, governments and companies need to find a balance to promote business innovation and competition, and manage the resulting social and environmental impacts.

Platform information

1. TikTok's US health market is booming

GlodaStory's new report pointed out that TikTok's US health market achieved a cumulative GMV of $146M in Q2, accounting for about 9% of the platform's market, and ranked third in the category.

This data not only highlights the strong demand in the health market, but also reflects the huge potential of TikTok as an emerging e-commerce platform.

2. Amazon Australian consumers surged by 16%

According to foreign media reports, under the pressure of the cost of living crisis, many retail brands in Australia are struggling to maintain sales and attract new customers, while Amazon continues to buck the trend.

The report shows that in the 12 months ending June 2024, its annual customer base increased by 1.1 million compared with the previous year, and 7.9 million Australians aged 14 and over shopped at Amazon at least once a year, up from 6.8 million as of June 2023.

3. Ozon launches a new "Made in Karelia" platform

Ozon e-commerce platform launched a new "Made in Karelia" platform, which is dedicated to creating a special product display area for entrepreneurs in the region and enjoying additional promotion resources. This move is part of the "Made in Russia" national plan to support local production and economic development.

4. Wal-Mart plans to increase warehouse automation

According to people familiar with the matter, the US retail giant Wal-Mart may plan to spend $200 million on "autonomous forklifts" to promote the automation of warehouse operations.

People familiar with the matter said that Wal-Mart intends to purchase hundreds of automatic forklifts from the startup Fox Robotics and invest $25 million in the latter.

Wal-Mart hopes that these forklifts can move goods in its distribution centers, which are responsible for replenishing the inventory of goods for Wal-Mart stores.

5. Amazon conducts large-scale rectification of VC accounts

On July 30, Amazon conducted a large-scale rectification of VC accounts and may block a batch of accounts. The full name of VC account is Vendor Central, which has a "symbiotic relationship" with Amazon and has greater authority, but some VC sellers abuse their power to modify other people's product links, which has attracted attention.

In this rectification, Amazon will mainly target VC sellers with small annual GMV (less than 10 million US dollars) and non-first-hand resources, eliminate accounts with small strength and abuse of power, and attract manufacturers, factories and brands to settle in to cope with competitive pressure.

Previously, some VC sellers have received notifications that their accounts have been closed or are about to be closed.

6. Shopify updates store editor function

The Shopify online store editor function has been upgraded, and meta fields can be used as dynamic sources. This update can help merchants seamlessly link custom data to online stores, thereby providing customized store appearance and functions for different markets.

Before adding a dynamic source, merchants need to add meta fields first. Metafields can be simply understood as "custom fields" to store specialized information that Shopify backends don't usually get, such as numbers, colors, sizes, related products, etc.

Adding metafields helps merchants display relevant information in their stores, which can be done in Shopify's online store editor.

7. Temu Japan's monthly active users reached 31.06 million in May

According to a new survey by Nielsen, the number of monthly active users in Temu's Japanese market reached 31.06 million in May. Since its official launch in Japan in July last year, Temu has grown rapidly in just one year.

As a platform that has performed well in cross-border e-commerce, Temu is expected to grow further in the Japanese market in the future.

8. Amazon's same-day/next-day delivery volume increased by 30% in the first half of the year

According to foreign media reports, Amazon's Prime member delivery speed has been greatly improved.

So far this yearTo date, its same-day and next-day delivery business has delivered more than 5 billion packages, an increase of more than 30% year-on-year, setting a record. Amazon said that the ever-increasing delivery speed has also helped small and medium-sized enterprises succeed. Most of the 5 billion items are delivered by Amazon Logistics on behalf of independent sellers, and more than 60% of Amazon's sales come from independent sellers.

Logistics Information

1. Chinese container ships open new Arctic routes

Two Chinese container ships have set sail from Taicang Port and Rizhao Port near Shanghai on a new voyage to the Arctic, aiming to open up an international shipping channel.

The two ships chose to use Russia's Northern Sea Route as a shortcut connecting Chinese ports with European destinations, which not only avoids potentially risky waters such as the Red Sea, but also eliminates the need to go around the distant Cape of Good Hope, thus significantly shortening the voyage distance.

2. Yangshan Port has been at the forefront of global container port performance for two consecutive years

It was learned from Shanghai Customs that the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence recently announced the 2023 Global Container Port Performance Ranking (CPPI). Yangshan Port has topped the list of 405 container terminals in the world for the second consecutive year.

In the first six months of this year, Yangshan Customs under Shanghai Customs supervised a total of 5,137 international ships, and the total number of container machine inspections at Yangshan Port Phase IV Automated Terminal totaled 12,000 natural boxes.

3. Maersk announces reduction of peak season surcharges in Asia and Africa

Danish shipping giant Maersk recently announced important freight rate adjustment measures to reduce customers' peak season logistics costs. Recently, the company has significantly reduced peak season surcharges from Greater China, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and the Mekong region to Kenya, among which the 20-foot, 40-foot and 45-foot dry cabinet fees from Greater China to Kenya have been halved.

It is worth noting that the peak season surcharges for Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and the Mekong region have been completely cancelled.

In addition, Maersk has decided to reduce the peak season surcharge from the Far East (except Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, China) to Tanzania from August 1, and the rates of 20-foot, 40-foot and 45-foot dry cabinets have all been significantly reduced, demonstrating its commitment to optimizing logistics costs and improving customer satisfaction.

4. The number of China-Europe trains in Henan increased by 58.3% year-on-year in the first half of the year

In the first half of this year, Henan China-Europe (Asia) trains operated 975 trains (natural trains), a year-on-year increase of 58.3%, and shipped 105,722 standard containers of goods; among them, Zhengzhou China-Europe (Asia) trains operated 898 trains (natural trains), a year-on-year increase of 65%.

Since the first international freight train from central China to Europe was successfully launched in July 2013, the China-Europe Express (Zhengzhou) has been running continuously for 11 years.

5. The General Administration of Customs is studying and promoting the "inspection before shipment" model for cross-border e-commerce goods

Lv Daliang, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs and director of the Statistics and Analysis Department, said at a press conference of the State Council Information Office on July 30 that in the next step, the customs will earnestly study and implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and continuously improve the customs supervision system that is conducive to the development of cross-border e-commerce.

At present, the General Administration of Customs is studying and promoting the "inspection before shipment" model for cross-border e-commerce export goods, as well as expanding the pilot scope of cross-border e-commerce retail export cross-customs return.

The General Administration of Customs will also continue to optimize and improve the customs cross-border e-commerce customs clearance service system functions, further simplify the process, optimize the service, and better meet the needs of consumers and enterprises to "buy globally and sell globally".

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