Shein’s recent IPO prospectus is instructive in many ways. It confirms that cross border e-commerce is not such a great business. Other platforms such as Temu, AliExpress and Amazon can afford to either lose or make very little money from their international operations thanks to large profitable domestic and cloud computing businesses. Changes in the customs treatment of low value direct shipments from China are already leading to fundamental changes the way cross border fulfilment functions. Lastly, it shows how precarious the relationship is between the global air logistics industry and a segment that accounts for almost one fifth of intercontinental airfreight. Time to start thinking about the future.
Posts tagged as “eBay”
An increasing share of international air cargo and most of the industry’s growth expectations are riding on the movement of low value cross border e-commerce items, mainly out of China. The five major platforms have massively increased cross border volumes over the past 3 years and while the transpacific has copped a beating over the past months, growth to Europe and some other markets has more than made up for that. However, e-commerce companies consistently lose or make very little money on this business. That is a problem that the air cargo industry needs to think about. This article looks at the international operations of Alibaba, Amazon, eBay, Pinduoduo, Shein with a focus on the financial performance, geographical scope and implications for the air cargo business.