The era of reselling Chinese goods is over. Shein & Temu are killing it selling directly to the US customer. My advice: sell more American brands through your own marketplace. Sell Canadian & European, if you'd like. Just don't expect any growth out of reselling Chinese anymore.
Try selling differently (suggestions below)
- CEOs from Etsy to Amazon know it: the 3rd generation Chinese eCommerce brands are outbidding & outcompeting them.
- Shein & Temu are doing so much more then just selling through a search box, 2007-Amazon-style
- Reselling cheap Chinese stuff is no longer driving growth. So forget about it. Just forget about it.
- Nobody can sell Chinese goods better than the Chinese.
- Not with billions these Chinese retailers / marketplaces are spending on customer acquisition, experimenting with product discovery, gamification, referrals.
Shein & Temu's impact on the US market
↗ rising advertising costs for eComm brands (billions spent on ads)
🔪cutting out the middleman reselling Chinese eg. Etsy, but also Amazon
🤝 already onboarding domestic US brands to their marketplaces
This is happening. Once they've gathered momentum, these Chinese marketplaces will onboard US 3rd party brands to monetize their audience.
And the domestic brands will love it, because they can't break through the ad noise anyway.
They're already selling through so many channels. Why not try another one?
The Information on Etsy with a headline "Etsy’s Layoffs Reflect No-Growth Reality":
"When an online shopping site cuts 11% of its staff two weeks before Christmas, you know something’s up. This should be the happiest time of the year for Etsy, an online marketplace that today was promising “Last-minute gifts at every price!” [...] Etsy has cited the impact of consumers’ belt-tightening, as well as competition from overseas-based online sellers such as Temu. And yet something doesn’t add up."
Yes, Etsy was suppose to sell artisan American makers. But instead it was mostly selling what Temu is now selling but cheaper. That is now over, it seems.
Same with Amazon. "Even Amazon couldn’t ignore them. Amazon reacted to Shein by lowering referral fees (transaction fees sellers pay) from 17% to 5% for clothing items priced under $15." just to make Chinese goods more affordable - writes Juozas Kaziukėnas in his 2023 marketplace review.
"Shopping on Amazon has stayed the same. The website looks the same, the app is the same, and products still come in the same box. E-commerce in the West was a search bar in 2007, and it still is today (that is, most shopping begins and ends by typing a search query)." - continues Kaziukėnas.
That is your marketplace opportunity right there: start selling American / Canadian / European brands to US customers in ways different than through a search box.
Start a marketplace selling American brands, but differently
Try selling products embedded into:
- editorial content: storytelling or product reviews
- a newsletter to all your customers
- social media, in particular YouTube
How? Onboard dozens of domestic brands to fulfill orders from your own customer base. You keep the customer and a 20-30% sales commission.
If you're interested:
- Book a marketplace demo call: We’ll set up your demo marketplace and populate it with products, so you could give it a try and start selling in 14 days
- Customize your Storefront: Use the drag & drop page builder or custom CSS
- Onboard Brands: Invite your brands or choose brands from our catalog
- Select Products: Curate products and collections manually or automate it
- Embed products: Make your content, newsletters, social media shoppable
- Get Paid: Get paid as soon as products are shipped by the brands
- End-to-end automation: brands sync, fulfillment, payouts, invoicing, taxes
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Vendo is a one-stop-shop for all your marketplace needs, providing you with a marketplace platform automating day-to-day operation, a catalog of brands to pick from or an ability to invite your own brands, merchandising and promotional tools, ability to sell through multiple channels (your existing website, emails & SMS, mobile app, social media), and ongoing daily support scaling your marketplace business.
