I do live e -commerce in Tiktok in the UK | Xia Guang is out of the sea

The wave of going out of the sea has arrived, and global business opportunities have attracted more and more dreamers.

Xiaguang Society launched a series of "Xiaguang Ocean" series of plans, focusing on the unusual struggle stories of entrepreneurs, and recorded their challenges and gains in overseas market experience.

This issue is the first part of the series. In this issue, we will tell the British market under the global live broadcast of goods. How can entrepreneurs go from Amazon to the twists and turns of TIKTOK e -commerce live broadcast.

Author | Guo Zhachuan

Edit | Muji

Entering cross -border e -commerce: Overseas business opportunities of "Yiwu Small Products"

Hua Xiaobing (pseudonym), a post -90s student, has experienced the business opportunities brought by the rise of overseas e -commerce.

After graduating from college in 2016, Hua Xiao Bing settled in the UK. Relying on cross -border small domestic products on Amazon, she made the first bucket of gold in her life.

At the beginning of the e -commerce business, Huaxiao Bing, like other cross -border e -commerce sellers, chose to settle in traditional e -commerce platforms such as eBay and Amazon. She launched several batches of domestic clothing on overseas platforms and contacted domestic manufacturers as suppliers to ship overseas.

Difficulties soon appeared: the return rate of clothing products is too high.

In order to store returns, she had to rent a local lease warehouse or overseas warehouse provided by the rental platform. She realized that the freight and overseas warehouse costs over the ocean sales of clothing were unable to afford her small and medium entrepreneurs.

At this time, she found a trend weapon that was popular in her British friends circle, which turned out to be a star lamp marked with "Made in China".

Starry lights similar to styles are actually small gadgets on domestic online shopping platforms. After turning off the lights indoors at night, the starry sky light can project the "Star" on the wall to create a romantic effect.

This type of design with a new design and "Internet celebrity" has been verified among young people in the UK.

So Hua Xiaobing immediately converted the idea: Can you catch the trend of the Internet celebrity among young people in the UK and transport the low -cost "Yiwu small goods" to the British to the British?

A variety of net red lamps on Amazon

It can be imagined: the cost of such commodities is low, the domestic procurement channels are very easy, and the weight is small at the same time, and it will not bear too much freight. The most important thing is that after buying such products with low prices, consumers often feel that it is too troublesome to return, thereby solving the problem of overseas warehouse costs caused by high return rates.

In a series of attempts in the following, Hua Xiaobing felt that selection can indeed directly affect sales.

So she formulated three basic selection solutions:

First, go to TIKTOK and Facebook on overseas platforms to observe the local people's short videos to brush the fire, what are everyone, analyze why it is hot, contact domestic manufacturers to purchase quickly;

Secondly, the local friends' houses are guests at home, and see what British families like, consider what consumers may lack -for example, many British people will buy unique but cheap Mark Cup, and there are many domestic suppliers in China;

The third is to "find inspiration" on SHEIN and Amazon to see what other stores are selling. Generally, the goods that are available for sales data can generally find purchase channels in China.

With this idea, Hua Xiaobing has expanded another "explosive" product in the store -Bluetooth headset priced at only 99P (equivalent to less than 10 yuan).

Such a low price is rare in Britain. Even in the "one -pound shop" on the side of the road, it is difficult to find the same type of products, so it is even more scarce.

In addition to cheap electronic products, many self -made and exquisite surroundings that are produced in the United Kingdom that are unique in China and popular film and television dramas are also good.

Many of them are best -selling goods on domestic e -commerce platforms such as Taobao. Hua Xiaobing can find the picture pictures and related details on the domestic platform, let the designer translate the text on the picture into English, and then upload it to his overseas shop.

After some serious investigations, the creative lamps, small jewelry, wall decorations, home pillows, and multi -functional shower heads that were launch in her stores, the sales volume suddenly increased, driving the number of store visits also rising.

Since turning to sales of cheap goods, the number of returns has been significantly reduced, which has solved the problem of excessive overseas warehouse costs caused by a large number of goods accumulation.

Upgrade of gameplay:

From Amazon's tide to the tiktok live broadcast

Around 2021, it was a particularly difficult period of Hua Xiaobing's experience.

Due to the early days of the global epidemic, overseas consumers had a lot of prejudice against Chinese goods and stores, but the most difficult thing at that time was the interruption of logistics and freight.

"At that time, the tickets were hard to find, and everyone couldn't fly, let alone the goods." Hua Xiaobing said that all the delivery of cross -border suppliers during that time stagnated, making many cross -border e -commerce practitioners quite discouraged.

Beginning in June 2020, international logistics capacity has continued to decline, but the freight rate has frequently increased. In the industry circle, there are often merchants who have managed to order shipping ships, but they ca n’t wait for the container and so on.

Coupled with the changing overseas e -commerce wind direction in 2021, Chinese sellers have experienced a wave of tensions on Amazon. "Chinese shops have been blocked for thousands, and almost everyone is in danger."

Fortunately, the turnaround appeared quickly. With the expansion of the epidemic relief and the expansion of Tiktok's influence in the UK, the British cross -border merchants seem to have a new gameplay. In 2021, the British Tiktok Shop began internal testing. At the end of the same year, the British Tiktok officially let go of the registration qualification of the small shop.

Douyin brings the wave of wealth -making in the country in China. If the same model is copied overseas, then a group of people who take the lead in "land" naturally have stronger competitiveness.

"Even if you sell the store later, you make money." Hua Xiaobing joked.

When Tiktok Shop was just launched in the UK, opening a store was almost zero. Similar to Douyin's personal window gameplay, the seller registered accounts and uploaded products directly in the background, and soon you can complete the TIKTOK store opening process.

In addition to the simple store opening procedures, the bytes have also launched many TIKTOK e -commerce preferential policies overseas. For example, sellers who meet a certain condition can allow the platform to bear freight and save costs; the system will also send freight vouchers to users, or directly send discounts to stores and merchants as rewards.

Well -known British cosmetics in Tiktok's live broadcast room

Over time, the cost of opening a store on TIKTOK has become higher and higher, and it has even spawned many "store transfer" business.

At the end of 2021, Hua Xiaobing also had a high expectation of Tiktok's live broadcast.

At that time, the domestic short video platform live broadcast e -commerce companies were "blindfolding" all the way. In that year, the double 11 preheated live broadcast, the cumulative number of viewers of the live broadcast room of the two major heads in China reached 39.5 billion, and the amount of live broadcasts exceeded 150 million yuan.

She took it for granted that a fascinating way to sell in China should "copy" to the British market should not be bad.

She has carefully planned a Tiktok live broadcast. The live broadcast room is still a product with a price of less than 10 pounds -this is her choice after looking back at the data in the background and making full analysis.

Before the live broadcast, Hua Xiaobing's team was fully prepared to make proper arrangements for hot -selling products, matching promotions, and display time periods.

The livelihood of the live broadcast room is also in line with the local habits. It uses "We have get a huge promotion today!" "3 for £ 10" and other words to replace the domestic "321, upper link".

But in the end, British netizens' indifferent attitude towards Tiktok's live broadcast made Hua Xiaobing feel more difficult than expected.

"I live in the UK and have many British friends in the same age. I also know the shopping habits of locals. In terms of selection and selection of live chat topics, I feel that I am better than many domestic anchors." English is as fluent as "Native Speaker".

And these "advantages" she thought did not be able to convert into the actual transaction volume of the live broadcast room.

"The British are still not very familiar with the form of live broadcast. They will not watch live broadcasts. There are no orders at the beginning." There are too few people watching live broadcasts in Hua Xiaobing, and some of them are not. Some of them are not. Be careful to come in, look at the excitement, and go out, "bring the goods" at all, can't talk about it.

According to the data of "Late Latepost", the average daily sales of the Tiktok British market in June this year, in fact only about $ 300,000. Public data also shows that the average unit price of TIKTOK live broadcast is below £ 15.

In this way, the advantages of Tiktok's British header live broadcast room are not obvious. For the mid -waist live room and the new account number, it is more difficult to use this "explosive model".

Observe the personal live broadcast room of a British TIKTOK shop, the audience is only the audience

Research and reflection:

Why is it difficult for the United Kingdom to live on the Internet?

After the live broadcast encountered Waterloo, Hua Xiaobing conducted data analysis and reflection.

She asked many British friends around him about their views on Tiktok's live broadcast, hoping to find the answer.

Her friend Adam told her that although she had a Tiktok account, she only posted a few videos in a year or two. Usually, she mainly played Instagram. In addition, some friends thought that "Tiktok was messy and noisy." Most British local youths still regard Tiktok as a social platform, mainly "play", as for user education who buy things in it, it has not yet been in place.

As for e -commerce and online shopping used by locals, her friends will prefer everyone to buy things on the official website of the physical store brand, such as buying clothes and shoes on e -commerce websites such as Asos. The familiar e -commerce platforms such as EBAY, Game, onBuy, and notonthehighStreet are also very clear.

In short, the British e -commerce environment seems to stay in the "Taobao era" in China.

Gifts used by locals to buy websites

"There is still no good live broadcast environment, and many Chinese people with live broadcasts are not good in English." Hua Xiaobing said. Except for the local people who do not have the habit of spending money on the live broadcast, the dilemma of live broadcast and cargo is also related to too many "non -local genes".

"Rarely can be seen by the British live broadcast. We all know that they are basically Chinese, or foreigners recruited by Chinese MCN in China are broadcasting live in the country." Hua Xiaobing told Xiaguang Society. In many cases, the live broadcast and cargo that can be brushed in the UK in the UK is "Chinese people who are fucking — on the one hand, the pronunciation is inaccurate, which is mixed with Chinese pronunciation that many foreign consumers do not understand. The cargo anchor is always "stuck", and the mouth is always "um" unclear. "

In fact, many live broadcasts for British consumers, the MCN and account operations behind it are teams with Chinese colors.

These teams that were born in the domestic mature live broadcast industry chain and market environment have many "small tricks" that have been refined in the domestic live broadcast room, such as coupons, discount activities, live streaming, etc., which are a bit "dissatisfied" to foreign countries. Essence

In addition, many of them do not have the experience of overseas sellers, and many of the domestic research and feasible play may not be suitable for overseas markets.

However, if you want to open a live broadcast room of "native" in the UK, many potential problems are also facing.

First of all, due to the distance from the domestic supply area, the brand merchant wants to display a piece of goods in the British live broadcast room, which requires a one or two weeks of Chinese manufacturers to send it, so that the efficiency becomes very low. If it is purchased from European local supply sites, it will lose the low -cost advantage that originally relied on.

Secondly, the key to the success of the "Internet celebrity with goods" is "Internet celebrities", but Tiktok's local celebrities are lacking. Brands or merchant owners who really want to rely on Internet celebrities will go to Instagram, Facebook, Google Find online celebrities and advertisements. If you want to recruit a live broadcast team in the UK, the cost will be greatly increased, and the individual's overseas live broadcast will be very limited in terms of scenery, selection and business cooperation.

In addition, the British are "zero tolerance" for fraud and imitation. Many "big -name replacement" that can be sold well in China will face more questions in overseas markets. The "low -priced", "discount", and "noisy live broadcast room" model of domestic Internet celebrities have been unable to go in the UK.

At the beginning of July this year, according to Financial Times, Tiktok lived in the overseas market to explore the news of failure, and Tiktok decided to abandon the live broadcast business in the United States and European markets.

Foreign media FINANCIAL TIMES's report on TIKTOK

Immediately after July 22, according to the Financial Press, TIKTOK's European and American business will face "contraction", which will help Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea and the Middle East market. It is reported that the new recruitment of TIKTOK European and American regions has also faced frozen, and Tiktok British company employees have also reported news, saying that they were told that they might be fired.

Although the current British Tiktok's live broadcast business is temporarily retained, anchors similar to Hua Xiaobing have given up this channel and put them back to traditional stores such as Amazon, Tiktok shops and Shein.

"I hope that in the future of my friends, more people can know the form of live broadcasts like Tiktok." Hua Xiaobing said, "If sales can catch up with one -tenth of the domestic mid -waist live broadcast room, we will make money It's. "

After stepping on a series of pits such as logistics, customs clearance, and selection, Hua Xiaobing still hopes to grasp the cross -border e -commerce air outlet and become the person who "win the starting line" in the overseas live broadcast track.

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