This is unbelievable! Is it too late to do cross-border e-commerce? How much do you need to invest upfront? How long does it take to prepare? How to get started easily? These questions are bothering many Taiwanese entrepreneurs who want to start a cross-border business.
At present, the traditional foreign trade order-taking mode has been fully transformed into a cross-border e-commerce mode, which allows brand operators to carry out retail and commercial procurement business at the same time. It is believed that many cross-border entrepreneurs have already discovered this wave of rapidly growing e-commerce opportunities and started to think about how to seize the golden opportunity to expand their global business!
So here's today's dry goods! We've compiled 5 key steps for e-commerce operators to prepare for cross-border e-commerce, to help you open your mind and clarify your direction, so that even the completely inexperienced novice can efficiently start their global sales journey.
Step 1: Decide What Products to Sell
Before you officially open your store, you first need to determine who you want to sell to and what kind of products you want to sell.
1. Determine who your consumers are
Capturing the hearts of consumers is the only way to capture their wallets! You would never guess that pinpointing your target audience is more important than product selection! First, you need to identify who your audience is and find out what they say about your existing products and what their pain points are. Or think of yourself as a buyer, think about what interests you, and then determine what products people with similar interests might want.
2. Sorting out product selection ideas and techniques
Precise insights into overseas consumer trends and popular products are fundamental to building a hit. In order to help novice e-commerce entrepreneurs better determine the size of the market segment, growth trends and competition, Amazon has launched two tools, the Business Opportunity Detector and the Product Selection Compass, which enable you to understand all aspects of product information and discover unmet overseas consumer demand.
When you join Amazon, you can also unlock more professional support tools. Since product opportunities vary by country and market segment, Amazon has also compiled a collection of hot-selling, high-demand categories with growth potential for Taiwanese manufacturers at various overseas locations, and you can find detailed guidelines through the "Product Trends" section of the Amazon Global Open Store blog.
Step 2: Determine if the product is a good seller
After determining what to sell and to whom to sell it, you need to study the sales performance of similar products to see whether there is still room for profit and whether there is still a blue ocean market to explore.
1.Communicate with potential buyers
You can talk to potential buyers to find out if the product you're selling meets their pain points, if they're willing to spend money to solve the problem, and how much they're willing to spend. Sorting out these questions can help you determine the market potential. Not all products are suitable for cross-border sales, but you need to find a category where there is a real demand.
2. Finding Product Differences
I believe that when doing market research, you will find that the product you want to sell or the innovative idea may have already appeared, but this just proves that there is a business opportunity for the product! Moreover, you can collate buyers' comments on existing products to identify shortcomings and analyze all negative feedback to find room for improvement and increase product competitiveness! The biggest problem is that many people only see the competition, but ignore the importance of differentiation.
Step 3: Think about how to produce the product
After determining what you want to sell, who you want to sell it to, and if there is room for the product to grow, you need to consider where to get the product.
1. Distribute existing products
Most new Amazon sellers acquire their products through distribution, which not only saves you money but is also easier to get started. All you need to do is contact the right suppliers, order the products, and arrange the logistics, which ensures a stable supply chain for your business.
2. Collaboration with Manufacturers
Working directly with a manufacturer can make a product more competitive, but it can be challenging for new sellers. It takes time and money to find the right manufacturer to produce customized products. But in the long run, if you're planning to build your own brand, this approach can help you stand out from the competition. What's even cooler is that the quality advantage of being made in Taiwan is extremely competitive in the global marketplace.
Step 4: Choose the right channel to open a store
Choose the right oneCross-border e-commerce platformsYou can get twice the result with half the effort. You can build your own website or sell your products on platforms like Amazon that already have traffic.
Amazon Global Store for you:
1. Giving support to help sellers start easily and at low cost:
A set of $39.99 monthly data to open 16 major sites (US, Canada, Germany, UK, etc.); up to $50,000 in sales rebates for new seller introductory gift packages and Amazon Logistics' new Selection Program, which allows you to test new products at a low cost.
2. A full set of tools to enhance the efficiency of cross-border operations:
Amazon provides cross-border exporters with a full range of operational tools covering logistics, product selection, branding, peak season promotions, and product detail page optimization to help efficiently go overseas.
3. Senior professional team to provide full-stage support:
The official team helps sellers to grow fast and start their business. This is an advantage that is difficult to compare with other platforms.
Step 5: Preparation before and after opening the store
After completing your preliminary research and selecting your sales channels, you can begin to prepare your opening materials, plan your costs and timelines, and learn how to operate your store efficiently!
1. Information Preparation
Before you get ready to sign up for an account on Amazon, learn about the following mandatory information:
☑️ Color Scan of Company Business License
☑️ Color Scan of Legal Representative's Identity Card
☑️ Valid credit card for international payments
☑️ accurate and up-to-date contact details
☑️ Bank account for receiving payments
It is recommended that after determining the business name, legal representative immediately to the relevant units to apply for certification. This step is very critical, many new sellers often ignore this point, resulting in subsequent registration problems.
2. Cost Planning
After you have prepared the materials, you need to understand the cost components of setting up a business, so that you can price your products appropriately and optimize your profit margins. To start a cross-border e-commerce business, you need to consider:
☑️ Product Costs
☑️ Sales Commissions
☑️ Advertisement Cost
☑️ Open Store Commission: Open a store on Amazon for only $39.99/month!
☑️ Logistics and Customs Costs: Includes first-trip logistics, warehousing, last-trip logistics, customs clearance taxes, etc.
3. Timing
You will need to allow sufficient time for preparation of information, registration and qualification audit. It is recommended to allow 1 month to prepare the materials and 1-2 months to prepare for the opening of the store, the earlier you start to prepare, the better! With more seller support programs coming to the Amazon platform in 2025, the sooner you start preparing, the sooner you can get a head start.
4. Operational Planning
If you choose the Amazon Logistics FBA model, you can focus on your products and branding without having to deal with operational issues. Operational behavior in the first 90 days of a new account determines future performance, and new sellers who utilize Amazon's operational support scientifically will perform better:
☑️ First order out 1 month faster than other sellers.
☑️ Annual store sales are about 10 times higher than other sellers.
☑️ store's second year sales are about 15 times higher than other sellers.
Let's keep in touch! Join Green Circle LINE for more surprises:https://line.me/ti/p/g2Vc38nLnR
# Cross-border E-Commerce # Amazon Global Store # Taiwan Manufacturer # Newbie Store Owner #FBA Logistics # Global Sales # Cross-border Exporter # E-commerce Platforms
EN 
ZH_TW 
ZH