BEIJING: As global trade continues to develop, cross-border e-commerce has emerged as a vital link connecting consumers and businesses around the world.
In this context, user loyalty and repurchase rates have become crucial indicators for assessing the competitiveness of cross-border e-commerce platforms.
To gain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon, DHGATE Group has collaborated with The University of Hong Kong (HKU) to release a white paper titled ‘The Cross-border E-commerce Repurchase Revolution: Consumer Behaviour Insights and Market Opportunities’.
The white paper aims to explore effective strategies for enhancing user loyalty and repurchase rates, providing guidance for the sustainable development of the cross-border e-commerce industry.
The report comprehensively examines the current state of user loyalty and repurchase behaviour in cross-border e-commerce.
Through data analysis, the authors discovered that, despite the ongoing expansion of the cross-border e-commerce market, improving user loyalty and repurchase rates presents several challenges.
These challenges include the diversification of user needs, the differentiation of shopping experiences, and the cultivation of brand loyalty – all of which have become pressing issues for cross-border e-commerce platforms to address.
Building on these findings, the white paper proposes 3 core strategies to improve user loyalty and repurchase rates:
- Optimising traffic strategy and allocation mechanisms
- The short-term goal is to optimise traffic attraction and distribution mechanisms to support sellers’ branding efforts and multi-platform sales channels, thereby reducing operational risks.
- Provide sellers with traffic support to address the conflict between product homogenisation and buyers’ personalised demands.
- Establish a rational traffic distribution mechanism that supports dedicated sellers and products with high potential, ultimately enhancing the platform’s attractiveness and competitiveness.
- Localising warehousing and logistics
- The long-term goal is to encourage sellers to integrate their industrial chains, establish overseas warehouses, and develop their own logistics systems.
- The overseas warehouse model can improve logistics contract fulfilment efficiency, reduce operating costs, and enhance overall fulfilment performance.
- By building or connecting logistics resources, platforms can enhance the consumer experience, increase user retention rates, attract small-and medium-sized sellers, and strengthen their bargaining power.
- Driving platform innovation and refined operations
- Leverage emerging technologies to enable refined operations, reduce operating costs, take advantage of economies of scale, and boost core competitiveness.
- Strengthen research, development and application of technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and blockchain to improve operational efficiency and optimize user experience.
- For buyers: Offer personalised recommendations and optimized logistics and distribution to enhance repurchase intentions.
- For sellers: Strengthen supply chain cooperation, reduce transaction costs, provide a wider range of high-quality products, and increase user stickiness.
The white paper places special emphasis on the role of technological innovation in enhancing user loyalty and repurchase power.
By leveraging artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other advanced technologies, platforms can more accurately predict user needs, implement intelligent inventory management, and optimise pricing strategies.
The development of the white paper was spearheaded by DHGATE Group Executive Assistant to the Chairman, Mei Tian and Associate Professor Wei Zhang, Director of the Institute of Digital Economy and Innovation of Business and Economics at the University of Hong Kong.
Throughout the compilation process, the white paper’s research team received invaluable guidance and support from Professor Haipeng Shen, Patrick SC Poon Professor in Analytics and Innovation at the University of Hong Kong.
The publication of the white paper serves not only as a valuable reference for cross-border e-commerce platforms but also as a guiding light for the healthy development of the entire industry.
