A new cross-border e-commerce platform! The quarterly loss exceeds 20 billion and consumption is falling, but the e-commerce giants are going against the trend.
With Black Friday and Thanksgiving just around the corner, it should have been a time when major online and offline retailers are very busy, but now it seems a little quiet. The holiday season is coming, but under the influence of high inflation, consumers’ enthusiasm for consumption is obviously not as good as in previous years, and spending is likely to decrease. Under the influence of long-term inflation in the future, consumers are facing greater living problems. In addition to being more sensitive to prices, their desire to buy will decrease. S&P Global Market Data predicts that overall U.S. retail sales in the holiday season this year are expected to grow by 4.5% year-on-year, and actual sales may decline by 1.2% after adjusting for inflation. In Europe, data from Statista showed that most consumers plan to cut back on spending. In the UK, around 40% of consumers said they expected to reduce Black Friday and Christmas spending this year.
Both online and offline retailers are affected by the decline in consumers’ purchasing desire and purchasing power. The US retail giant Target, which recently released its third-quarter financial report, was hit hard. Sales slowed and net profit declined by about 50% while operating income rose by only 3.4%. Similar to Target, the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba group grew slowly in the third quarter, with revenue increasing by 3% year-on-year.
However, unlike Target’s strategy of simplifying its business and trying to reduce spending by $2 billion to $3 billion in the next three years, in an environment full of challenges for e-commerce, Alibaba still has not slowed down the pace of overseas e-commerce expansion. According to many foreign media reports, Alibaba will have a new cross-border e-commerce platform Miravia in Spain on November 30, targeting the Spanish market. The new platform, to be operated by Arise Operating E-commerce Private Limited, will come out in Madrid. The registered address of Arise company is in the Lazada building, which also means that Miravia is fully controlled by Alibabaa.
Miravia is a comprehensive e-commerce platform, whose categories include women’s fashion, beauty and health, home and garden, leisure and free time, food and cleaning, etc. Different from the target group of AliExpress, Miravia includes many top brands, focusing on middle and high levels products, and the target audience is consumers with high purchasing power who pursue high-quality products. Miravia’s website is currently available, and orders over 10 euros can be shipped for free, and free shipping is provided for 30 days.
In addition to Alibaba, e-commerce platforms and cross-border big sellers are trying to adapt to the new environment and try to find new opportunities. Temu, which has been online for two months and has achieved certain results, is quietly adjusting the pricing strategy of platform products. According to reports, Temu is preparing to open a station in Canada, and the next stop may be in Spain. Bytedance has launched a new fast fashion platform IfYooou, covering the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and other European countries. The TikTok US store is online and may open small stores in Spain, Ireland, and Brazil in the future. Shein tried the platform model in Brazil, allowing merchants to open their own stores, operate, and deliver to consumers.
While many countries are struggling financially, Latin American countries have experienced unprecedented growth in e-commerce and digital payments, presenting valuable opportunities for online sellers in each country. After two years of record growth, the Latin American e-commerce industry is still set for high growth. Three of the 10 fastest-growing retail e-commerce markets this year are in Latin America.
