How should U.S. cross-border e-commerce sellers

With the development of multilateral trade, the U.S. e-commerce market has achieved tremendous development. Professionals predict that by 2020, the e-commerce market share in the US retail market will reach 17%. At the same time, the United States is also one of the most developed countries in the world for e-commerce, so it is also important to do a good job in cross-border e-commerce in the United States. Let's talk about how to establish an overseas warehouse for cross-border e-commerce in the United States today. 一 .Why establish an overseas warehouse? 'Overseas warehouse' is the name of a warehouse established overseas. In recent years, with the rise of cross-border e-commerce, sellers such as Amazon and EBay. The method of 'domestic sales' can no longer meet the market demand of e-commerce platforms. In order to better meet the needs of consumers, the method of 'cross-border transactions' has increasingly become another 'force' for e-commerce platforms to open up the consumer market. . Of course, 'cross-border transactions' will also generate additional questions: how to mail goods to consumers? How to save mailing time and improve consumers' shopping experience? In response to the above two issues, many sellers on Amazon and EBay may have three choices: 1.1 to build overseas warehouses; 1.2 to use overseas e-commerce platforms; 1.3 to cooperate with third-party overseas warehouses. According to Xiaobian's understanding, sellers with monthly sales of more than 500,000 will consider building overseas warehouses for most of the reasons: 1.1 the need for personalized services; 1.2 dissatisfaction with the services of third-party overseas warehouses; 1.3 reducing overall costs and products Reasons, etc. So for many big sellers, building overseas warehouses is an important measure for e-commerce platforms to open up the consumer market. As a result, 'overseas warehouse' has gradually entered the sight of cross-border e-commerce. So, what are the advantages of cross-border e-commerce to build overseas warehouses? 1. Advantages of self-built overseas warehouse On the one hand, sellers can directly ship goods locally through their overseas warehouses. One is to save space and time. Consumers can receive courier packages faster and compete with local e-commerce companies. The second is direct local delivery, reducing the transfer process, express delivery damage and packet loss rate are greatly reduced, and the consumer shopping experience is greatly improved, which can promote consumers' second purchase. On the other hand, for cross-border e-commerce sellers, the first step of overseas warehouses is to use traditional foreign trade logistics methods and import in accordance with the normal customs clearance process, which greatly reduces the barriers to customs clearance, and also breaks through other express and logistics companies to transport goods. Restrictions on weight, volume, value, etc. Sellers built overseas warehouses to a certain extent, expanding transportation categories and reducing logistics costs. Finally, to meet the needs of return and exchange of consumers; when consumers need to return or exchange, the local overseas warehouse can directly respond, saving time and cost of intermediate communication. 2. Overseas warehouse operation process Simple to understand, the seller will ship the bulk stock products from the domestic to the overseas warehouse in the United States, and then the staff of the overseas warehouse will check and put on the shelves. When there is a buyer placing an order, the seller only needs to sort, pack and send the goods in the overseas warehouse. Goods. It is divided into the following steps: The seller ships his goods to a warehouse in the United States; Buyers place orders; Seller uploads or synchronizes orders; Order distribution, print labels; 本土 U.S. domestic distribution; Buyer sign; 二 .How to establish an overseas warehouse? Many sellers lack the relevant knowledge, experience and understanding of overseas warehouses, so much time and resources have been spent on how to establish overseas warehouses. Of course, this is not to say that you don't need to spend these hours to understand it. The following is a summary of the issues that sellers may need to consider during the process of building overseas warehouses: 1. How to determine the city where the overseas warehouse is located? For sellers who build overseas warehouses, determining the city where the overseas warehouses are located is a major issue. The location of this warehouse may be related to the shopping experience of consumers, which directly affects the sales of the platform. For example: The address of the consumer who often buys your products on the platform is in New York. When you build your warehouse in New York, you may be able to reach the consumer on the same day when the package is shipped. A good shopping experience may promote consumers' second purchases, and sales will rise accordingly. On the contrary, in terms of timeliness of transportation, it may greatly reduce and affect the shopping experience of consumers. So how to determine the city where the overseas warehouse is located? In general, sellers build their own overseas warehouses, which is more suitable for locations in more developed cities, such as Los Angeles, New York and other cities. More developed cities with convenient transportation facilities and complete services are also places where consumers gather, which is undoubtedly the best choice for sellers. Large sellers can consider the establishment of two warehouses in the US East and the US West. In this way, the seller can allocate products according to the buyer's address, saving costs and greatly improving operating efficiency. The East and West can be considered in New Jersey, and the West and West can be considered in Los Angeles. The labor costs and warehouse rent costs in these two cities are not high, and there are ports, parcels, and transportation are more convenient. Of course, the location of the overseas warehouse is in a more developed city. As a seller, you may also need to know the local minimum wage and other conditions, because when the address of the warehouse is determined, you may need to recruit employees. According to the editor, at the end of 2017, Trump carried out tax reform. Starting from January 1, 2018, 20 cities in 18 states across the country have raised the minimum wage. However, it is reported that in general, employees can be recruited according to the minimum wage, but experienced employees need to be higher than the minimum wage by 1-2 US dollars / hour. According to the editor, in California, the minimum wage standard for companies with less than 25 employees is 10.5 USD / hour, and the minimum wage standard for companies with more than 25 employees is 11 USD / hour. 2.How to find the warehouse of overseas warehouse? After determining the city where the overseas warehouse is located, the next step is to choose the specific address of the warehouse. Here, we need to consider the infrastructure of the warehouse, and consider whether it can meet the needs of daily office and package operations. Editor's suggestion: 1. The best choice of the warehouse is the 'treasury + office model', which is convenient for employees to operate and save time on the road; two. If you feel too troublesome in the process, you can also find a local real estate agent and Professional opinions and suggestions may help you choose a warehouse, and you can also worry about yourself. 3. According to Xiaobian's understanding, the housing rents in the United States are basically paid monthly, and can be tied to the bank to deduct monthly payments. The rent can be slightly bargained. Invalid, according to Xiaobian's understanding, under normal circumstances, the duration of the contract is 2-5 years. If the contract is longer, the price may be cheaper and the rent-free period may be more. However, sellers must be careful about the duration of the contract, because there is a big difference between China and China in the middle of the breach. In China, we can discuss with the landlord, but there is basically no room for negotiation in the United States. After signing a contract for several years, it must be performed. A few-year contract will continue to pay rent even if the warehouse is not in use. It is reported that in the process of renting the warehouse, an official review may be required. In addition, commercial residences are not allowed to work. 3. How to deal with daily supplies after the warehouse address is determined? After determining the address of the warehouse, you need to prepare the supplies needed for the daily work of the warehouse: 1. Water, electricity, gas, heating, telephone network, etc. 2. Such as desks, office supplies, shelves, trailers, packaging materials (cartons, tape, etc.). According to Xiaobian, the types of shelves: According to the performance, there are: anti-corrosion, anti-deformation, and non-rusting shelves; this type of shelf, anti-scratch, anti-deformation, anti-corrosion, anti-rust, if there are more heavy objects and more food types, use this Good shelves. According to weight: light shelves, medium shelves and heavy shelves. Different levels of shelves, different products, different levels of shelves, prices will vary. Sellers can make reasonable purchases and layouts according to their product storage conditions. In packaging materials, there are different models of carton boxes and tapes in different sizes. Sellers can make reasonable purchase reserves based on the size of their products. According to Xiaobian, the website address of the largest carton and warehouse supplies company in the United States is: www.uline.com, and sellers can learn about it. 4. How to register a company in the United States? The seller's self-built overseas warehouse is equivalent to setting up a company in the United States. This overseas warehouse needs to have the basic nature of the company. It is an official office unit designated by the seller with warehousing and package handling capabilities. As for registering the company first, and then determining the city or warehouse location of the overseas warehouse, this is entirely based on the seller's own situation. Xiaobian here, I want to tell you: how to register a company in the United States, which type of company to choose? According to the editor, American companies generally have two models: LLC and INC. INC (incorporated) is a company limited by shares incorporated under the United States Company Law. LLC (full spelling: Limited Liability Company) limited liability company. INC and LLC are the two main forms of the company. The two are different in terms of the conditions of establishment and fundraising, the ease of transfer of shares, the form of equity certification, the authority of shareholders and directors, and the degree of disclosure of financial status: In terms of establishment conditions and fundraising: LLC: The conditions for establishment are a bit more relaxed. Funds can only be raised by the promoters and cannot be raised to the public. The number of shareholders has the highest and lowest requirements. INC: The conditions for establishment are relatively strict, and funds can be raised publicly from the society. There are only minimum requirements for the number of shareholders and no maximum requirements. 难 Ease of share transfer: LLC: Shareholders have strict requirements for transferring their own capital contributions, which are subject to more restrictions and are more difficult. INC: Shareholders are free to transfer their shares, not as difficult as LLC. 形式 Two forms of company's equity certification: LLC: The shareholder's equity certificate is a capital contribution certificate, which cannot be transferred or circulated. INC: Shareholders' equity certificates are stocks, that is, the shares held by shareholders are expressed in the form of stocks, and stocks are certificates issued by companies that certify the shares held by shareholders. Shares can be transferred and circulated. The power of the shareholders' meeting and the board of directors and the degree of separation of the two powers: LLC: Because there is an upper limit on the number of shareholders, the number is relatively small, and it is more convenient to hold shareholder meetings. Therefore, the power of shareholder meetings is relatively large. Directors are often held by shareholders themselves. The degree of separation of ownership and management rights Lower. INC: Because there is no upper limit on the number of shareholders, the number of shareholders is large and scattered, it is difficult to convene a shareholder meeting, and the deliberations of the shareholder meeting are more complicated. Therefore, the authority of the shareholder meeting is limited. The degree of separation is also relatively high. 程度 Publicity of financial status: LLC: Due to the limited number of companies, the financial and accounting statements may not be audited by a certified public accountant or publicly announced, as long as they are delivered to shareholders within the prescribed time limit. INC: Due to the large number of shareholders, it is difficult to classify. Therefore, the accounting statements must be audited by a certified public accountant and issued a report. . According to the difference between LLC and INC, sellers can choose what kind of company organization to set up according to their own situation and decide what the nature of your overseas warehouse is. It is reported that sellers can also register by phone, register as a lawyer, or register as a certified public accountant, and need to pay a certain fee, the price is higher. You can register without a specific warehouse address. Information that may be required for a registered company are: corporate identity certificate, Bank of America debit card, etc. 5.How to recruit employees in the United States? 之后 After the above preparations are completed, it is necessary to recruit employees and form an office team. If conditions permit, they can also be deployed directly from China. However, in general, it is recommended to recruit English-speaking Chinese employees directly in the United States. One is to facilitate management and the other is to facilitate communication with Chinese or Americans in the United States. Recruitment methods, suggestions: 1. Publish job advertisements in Chinese newspapers; 2. Post posters in Chinese supermarkets, restaurants and other places. In addition, the editor has a tip: There are more holidays in the United States. As long as it is a holiday, the United States may have holidays. Therefore, when recruiting employees, pay attention to manpower deployment, employee transfers and vacations. 6.How to interface with a domestic express company? Most sellers choose to build their own overseas warehouse. In addition to improving the shopping experience of consumers, the only concern is the issue of express shipping costs in the United States. How to improve the shopping experience of consumers while saving shipping costs as much as possible is what sellers are after. So how to connect with the American express company? How to save the express shipping cost in the United States? Here, I need to popularize it. It is a US express discount platform. Through, you can print the USPS, FedEx and UPS express waybills online. As long as you send the express in the United States, you can make online orders. As for why to choose, the editor summarizes the advantages, probably the following: Self-service ordering throughout the process saves time and effort; sellers ship goods to overseas warehouses in the United States in advance. After consumers place orders on the e-commerce platform, sellers can place orders directly online, either in China or in the United States . If consumers place more orders, the seller can directly upload the package information in batches, then print them out in batches, paste them directly on the packages, and send them to the American courier company for transportation and delivery. Bibby directly cooperates with the American express delivery, and can enjoy discounts and savings on shipping costs. Sellers make online orders and print the official express delivery orders of USPS, FedEx and UPS. The service is exactly the same, except that the freight is cheaper. Saves the cost of direct communication between the seller and the American courier company. The seller only needs to prepare printers, labels (A4 or thermal paper), scales and measuring tools for weighing. Provide Chinese and English customer service, convenient communication; if consumers on the seller want to inquire about parcels, they can directly find Live Chat online. Provide a variety of payment methods, payment convenience; sellers can pay by credit card, Alipay, WeChat or PayPal, of course, you can also recharge the money into your own account, when printing the waybill, you can directly use the balance to pay. 7. Other matters needing attention? Of course, I have to say a few more words here, there are a few suggestions, I hope to remind you of the sellers: We must keep in mind the local legal issues in the United States. In the warehouse, it is recommended to install cameras to record the entire operation process of employees. One is to check whether the operation is standardized, and the other is to protect the legitimate rights and interests of employees. We must remember to report taxes. As a company organization, overseas warehouses also need to pay taxes to the US government. In addition, when paying employees, remember to avoid wage tax avoidance. Don't