Research reveals ways to improve overseas e-commerce

As consumers continue to shop on foreign websites, loyalty and repurchase patterns have become key metrics for retailers and brands. To better understand this and other trends in cross-border e-commerce, DHgate Group has partnered with the University of Hong Kong to publish a white paper titled “The Cross-Border E-Commerce Repurchase Revolution: Insights on Consumer Behavior and Market Opportunities.”

The study aims to offer strategies to increase customer loyalty and repurchase rates, “providing guidance for the sustainable development of the cross-border e-commerce industry,” the report’s authors said, adding that the data revealed several challenges to loyalty and repurchase behavior.

“These challenges include diversifying user needs, differentiating shopping experiences and cultivating brand loyalty – all of which have become urgent issues for cross-border e-commerce platforms to address,” the report noted.

In response, experts from DHgate Group, an online wholesale trading platform, and the university have developed several strategies to increase redemption rates and customer loyalty. The first is to optimize website traffic. “The short-term goal is to optimize traffic attraction and distribution mechanisms to support sellers’ branding efforts and cross-platform sales channels, thereby reducing operational risk,” the authors said, adding that it is also important to provide sellers with traffic support “so that solve the problem of conflict between product homogenization and personalized buyer requirements.”

They also proposed the location of warehouses and logistics. “The long-term goal is to encourage sellers to integrate their industrial networks, set up warehouses abroad and develop their own logistics systems,” the report reads. “The overseas warehouse model can improve the efficiency of logistics contract fulfillment, reduce operating costs and improve overall order fulfillment efficiency.”

The report also recommended the use of new technologies to improve operational functions and reduce operational costs while leveraging economies of scale. They suggested strengthening the research, development and application of “technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and blockchain to improve operational efficiency and optimize user experience.”