Ministry of Commerce The number of cross-border e-commerce entities in China has exceeded 100,000; The number of job vacancies in the US increased to 10103 million in April | Cross-border E-commerce Daily

China's cross-border e-commerce entities surpass 100,000, while US job vacancies reach 10103 million in April

【Ministry of Commerce: Over 100,000 Cross-border E-commerce Businesses in China】 On May 31st, the national cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test zone conference was held in Hangzhou. The Ministry of Commerce pointed out that the proportion of the scale of cross-border e-commerce imports and exports in China’s foreign trade has increased from less than 1% five years ago to about 5% currently.

According to statistics, there are over 100,000 cross-border e-commerce businesses in China, with over 200,000 independent websites and about 690 cross-border e-commerce industrial parks in the comprehensive test zone. China’s cross-border e-commerce trading partners are located all over the world and have signed bilateral e-commerce cooperation memorandums with 29 countries.

China has established 165 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test zones, covering 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities.

【US Job Openings Increase to 10.1 Million in April】 According to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings in March were revised up. In April, there were 1.8 job openings for every unemployed job seeker, and the job vacancy rate increased from 5.9% in March to 6.1%, with a total of 10.1 million job openings. The April hiring rate remained unchanged at 3.9%, the same as in March, with 6.115 million hires.

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01

North America

【About 1,900 Amazon Employees Worldwide to Strike Tomorrow】 About 1,900 Amazon employees worldwide will go on strike tomorrow, with approximately 900 people gathering at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle. The strike is organized by the “Amazon Employee Climate Justice” (AECJ), a highly influential workers’ organization that has repeatedly pressured Amazon on climate stance issues. AECJ stated that the employees are striking to show “a lack of trust in the company’s leadership decisions.”

Amazon opens new distribution center in Saudi capital On May 31, Amazon opened a new distribution center in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. This center will double Amazon’s total storage capacity in Saudi Arabia, reaching 2.7 million cubic feet.

It is reported that the center spans five floors and covers 390,000 square feet, about the size of five football fields. The center will be able to store over 9 million products, including electronics, appliances, groceries, fashion, books, and more.

Amazon announces that Kindle China e-bookstore will cease operations from June 30th According to a message from Amazon Kindle Service, Amazon announced last year that it will stop operating the Kindle e-bookstore in China from June 30, 2023. After that, you will not be able to purchase new e-books. For e-books that have already been purchased, you can download them before June 30, 2024, and continue reading them after that.

Costco delays plan to raise Gold Star membership fees On May 31, Costco announced that it will delay its plan to increase the membership fees for Gold Star members. Due to inflation reducing consumer spending and affecting retail sales, the company’s CFO stated during the Q3 earnings call for the 2023 fiscal year that they will postpone the plan.

He believes that if they decide to raise membership fees, it will not have a substantial impact on renewal rates, registration rates, or any other important metrics. Currently, Costco has not provided a timetable for raising membership fees.

Walmart opens SWW service to US sellers to reduce shipping costs On May 31, Walmart opened its Ship with Walmart (SWW) service to US sellers. Previously, this service was only available to sellers who shipped from outside the United States.

In Tuesday’s announcement, US sellers can purchase discounted FedEx and USPS shipping labels through Ship with Walmart, greatly reducing shipping costs.

【Nordstrom Q1 Sales Meet Expectations】 Nordstrom’s Q1 net sales were $3.06 billion, analysts expected $3.05 billion. Q1 overall revenue was $3.18 billion, analysts expected $3.12 billion. Maintain the expectation of a 4%-6% decline in annual revenue.

【Apple’s App Store’s Transaction Volume Reached $1.1 Trillion in 2022】 Apple said that data from an analytical organization report showed that the transaction volume of the App Store increased by 29% to $1.1 trillion in 2022.

【Tesla Will Open Showroom and Service Center in Thailand in July】 On May 31, Tesla stated in a statement that after selling electric vehicles in Thailand at the end of last year, Tesla will open its first showroom and service center in Thailand in July. In addition, Tesla will also expand Thailand’s supercharging station.

【Salesforce Q1 Revenue $8.25 Billion】 Salesforce’s Q1 revenue was $8.25 billion, analysts expected $8.18 billion; still expected annual revenue of $34.5 billion to $34.7 billion; expected Q2 revenue of $8.51 billion to $8.53 billion; expected full-year adjusted earnings per share of $7.41 to $7.43.

02

EU Region

【Germany’s April Import Price Index Fell 7% Year-on-Year】 Germany’s April import price index fell 7% year-on-year, with an expected decrease of 5.8%; the April import price index fell 1.7% month-on-month, with an expected decrease of 0.5%.

03

Other Regions

【UK Railway Workers Hold New Round of Strikes】 On May 31 local time, due to disputes over pay and working conditions that have not been resolved, UK railway workers held a new round of strikes, which will affect 16 train companies. Apart from May 31, the UK train driver union (ASLEF) will also hold a strike on June 3. During the strike, only about 40% of trains will operate, and some areas will be completely shut down.

【Japan’s mining and manufacturing production declined in April】 According to the preliminary statistical results released by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on May 31, affected by the decrease in domestic and overseas orders, Japan’s mining and manufacturing production index dropped again in April after two consecutive months of growth, with a month-on-month decline of 0.4% to 95.5.

【Best Inc.’s cross-border business volume increased by 60% month-on-month in Q1】 On May 31, Best Inc. released unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2023.

The financial report shows that the group’s revenue in the first quarter was 1.72 billion yuan. Among them, Best Supply Chain’s revenue increased by 7.7% year-on-year and achieved profitability. Best Express showed strong growth momentum, with a year-on-year increase in gross profit margin of 6.8 percentage points, positive operating cash flow, and profitability in February and March. Best International’s strategic adjustment has achieved significant results, with cross-border business volume increasing by 60% month-on-month. Thanks to strong performance in various businesses, the group’s financial indicators have improved significantly, with a year-on-year net loss narrowing by 32.2%.

【Baltic Dry Index fell by 38% on a monthly basis】 The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping rates for bulk commodities, recorded its first monthly decline in four months on Wednesday, as all ship-type freight indices weakened. The Baltic Dry Index fell by 146 points or 13% to 977, the lowest level since February 27, and a 38% decline for the month. The Cape-size ship freight index fell by 376 points or 24% to 1218, the largest decline since February 14, and the first monthly decline in four months, with a 47.1% drop this month. The daily profit of Cape-size ships decreased by 3122 US dollars to 10099 US dollars. The Panamax ship freight index fell by 45 points to 1045, with a 34.1% decline this month, the worst monthly performance since August last year. The daily profit of Panamax ships decreased by 406 US dollars to 9405 US dollars. The Supramax bulk carrier freight index fell by 29 points or 3.2% to 881, the lowest since the end of February.

【Ningbo Port: Expected to Complete a YoY Decrease of 0.8% in Cargo Throughput in May】 Ningbo Port announced that it is expected to complete a container throughput of 3.84 million TEUs and a cargo throughput of 96.35 million tons in May 2023, a decrease of 5.0% and 0.8% year-on-year, respectively.

【Shopify Flow Now Integrated with Shopify Collabs to Manage Partners】 On May 31st, Shopify announced that Shopify Flow has now been integrated into Shopify Collabs. Shopify Flow is an e-commerce automation platform that helps merchants automate tasks and processes in their store and apps.

Flow is an event-based feature that allows merchants to create automated workflows. This means Flow will monitor events in the store and allow merchants to create a series of automated operations in response.

Shopify Collabs has now integrated Flow’s capabilities, and merchants can start using pre-made workflow templates to automate common Collabs tasks. Merchants can also build custom processes using Collabs-specific triggers and actions.

【Shopee Malaysia Launches Dynamic Stock Locking Function for One Shop, Multiple Shipping Store Products】 On June 1st, Shopee China Seller Center announced that the dynamic stock locking function for one shop, multiple shipping store products has been launched on the official warehouse of the Malaysia site on May 29th, 2023. This feature has already been launched in Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

The upgraded function will change the warehouse locking logic from locking official warehouse storage to reserving the number of products submitted by sellers for activities according to the total inventory of products (seller’s warehouse + Shopee official warehouse), and will not lock the official warehouse storage.

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