Overseas warehouses are not just about connecting the "last mile" of going global
In recent years, cross-border e-commerce has integrated more Chinese products into the daily lives of foreign consumers, bringing China closer to the world. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, the scale of cross-border e-commerce trade in China has grown more than tenfold in the past five years. In 2023, China's cross-border e-commerce exports reached 1.83 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.6%.
Overseas warehouses are important overseas nodes for cross-border e-commerce and also the infrastructure for new foreign trade, helping Chinese sellers bridge the "last mile" of going global. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, currently, Chinese companies have built over 2500 overseas warehouses with an area of over 30 million square meters. Among them, there are over 1800 overseas warehouses dedicated to serving cross-border e-commerce, with an area of over 22 million square meters.
In fact, in the foreign trade "new track" of overseas warehouses, in addition to playing its traditional warehousing basic functions, many enterprises in China have already made many new explorations, such as the "smart overseas warehouse" in Ningbo, the "front exhibition and back warehouse" in Yiwu, and the "package delivery" in Yuhang, making overseas warehouses intelligent warehouses with multiple functions and providing comprehensive services.
Smart overseas warehouse
"After listening to your suggestions, it helped me save tens of thousands of yuan, thank you!" On the first working day of the Loong Boat Festival, Xu Guanghui, president of Ningbo Discovery International Logistics Co., Ltd., received a WeChat message from a Chinese customer in an enterprise's overseas warehouse.
Originally, in order to cope with Amazon's summer promotion in the United States, an outdoor goods export company in Shenzhen prepared to stock up in advance in May. Prior to this, the company had been shipping products directly to Ningbo and had discovered international logistics located in the western United States overseas warehouse.
In fact, based on data analysis, we found that most American buyers who purchase beach chairs, tents, and other products from this company have their shipping addresses concentrated in the east. Therefore, we suggest that the company send subsequent batches of stock to overseas warehouses in the east of the United States such as Savannah. Xu Guanghui introduced that this stock optimization measure can reduce the express delivery fee of about $2000 per container after calculation.
The site selection suggestions this time are all based on the smart logistics platform system developed by this overseas warehouse enterprise. This system updates overseas warehouse data in real time through functions such as data collection, information sharing, and intelligent analysis, allowing all nodes of the cross-border logistics supply chain to be connected on one platform, helping cross-border e-commerce enterprises with data analysis and decision-making, and making overseas warehouses more "smart".