Many people comment on cross-border e-commerce and like to call it “the outlet”.
It was the trend in 2015, it was the trend in 2018, and it will still be the trend in 2021.
Every time there is a storm, a group of people rush in and then disappear quietly.
Zhihui Chuangxiang is one of the people who survived from 2015.
In the cross-border e-commerce circle, survival itself needs to be taken seriously.
Amazon is experiencing a wave of account suspensions in 2021. More than 50,000 brand seller accounts have been blocked within a month. Many companies have all their inventories locked and funds frozen overnight, and their market value has dropped from their peak to insolvency.
But Zhihui Chuangxiang is not only alive, but has also expanded to more than 1,000 people, 50,000 square meters of global warehousing, and products covering more than 100 countries around the world.
When the outside world talks about Zhihui Chuangxiang, the first reaction is “Shenzhen is a big Amazon seller”, but in fact it is a “multi-platform and multi-category distribution type” group. It has three business divisions: Zhihui, Maker Times, and Lechuang. It is headquartered in Shenzhen and has branches in Chengdu, Yiwu, Dongguan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
The business covers Amazon, eBay, Aliexpress, Lazada, Shopee, Walmart and other platforms. The business categories range from 3C digital and home furnishing to beauty, sports and outdoor, with hundreds of thousands of SKUs.
There is an inertial bias in the industry, which believes that the distribution model is backward, has no brand premium, and will be eliminated by the boutique brand route sooner or later.
But in today’s cross-border environment, a group of companies that originally bet on the “single platform boutique brand” route are dying faster.
Amazon will ban accounts in 2021, raise commissions in 2022, and limit the number of SKUs in 2023. Each change will have a huge impact on sellers who rely heavily on a single platform.
However, Zhihuichuang wants to spread its eggs in more than a dozen baskets, which makes it more resistant to risks.
At the same time, the rise of Temu has crushed a large number of small sellers who relied on price advantages to distribute goods. However, multi-category operations with real system support, such as Zhihui Chuangxiang, not only survived, but also accelerated their absorption of the market space vacated by their fallen peers.
Multi-platform operation is a moat that is actively built. Most sellers are not yet clear on this understanding.
Some people on Zhihu commented on Zhihui Chuangxiang. After entering, they were “hugely impacted” by the sales of their colleagues, because the sales of the sales assistants in the same team were already higher than those of the previous company at its best.
This shows that Zhihui Chuangxiang has a mature operating system.
It has a self-built learning website within it, which configures training courses according to the position, from product selection, listing optimization to operation methods, and systematic dismantling. Newcomers are guided by mentors, who also teach everything they have to offer.
When operating in cross-border circles, most companies do not recruit people over 30 years old. This is because there is no established playing system. Newcomers rely on word of mouth from the elderly. When the old people leave, the inheritance is broken, causing internal friction.
Zhihui Chuangxiang uses a systematic mechanism to replace the transfer of human experience. Newcomers have a standardized training path and rely on self-developed intelligent product selection models and digital tools for operations. Individual ability differences are smoothed out by system capabilities.
Moreover, it provides employees with “dual-channel professional and management growth paths” and customized career plans, which is rare in the cross-border circle.
The most anxious thing for cross-border e-commerce sellers in recent years is platform policies, because the core competitiveness of most sellers is built on the platform.
Zhihui Chuangxiang is betting on the supply chain. It has integrated the resources of tens of thousands of suppliers and established supply and warehousing service systems in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Mexico. The quality control team strictly implements ISO9001 standards. The first product line and line inspection rate is 100%, and returned orders are implemented according to AQL triple quality inspection standards.
This allows it to switch platforms at extremely low costs, quickly respond to market changes, and its supply chain capabilities are barriers that are difficult to replicate.
Zhihui Chuang wants to embed digitalization into the three core links of product selection, listing creation, and operation driving, all of which are self-developed systems.
At the product selection level, the intelligent product selection model can accurately match market gaps; at the listing level, the traffic structure is planned in advance; at the operation level, repetitive tasks are automatically handled, allowing operations to focus on decision-making.
At the same time, inventory decisions are made through data to avoid the impact of inventory problems on sellers.
Many people oppose “distribution model” and “branding”, but Zhihui Chuangxiang’s path proves that the two are not either/or.
It first uses multi-category distribution to establish market coverage and data accumulation, and then identifies categories with brand-building value, concentrates resources on deep cultivation, creates self-developed innovative products, and establishes differentiation barriers.
In terms of product research and development, we emphasize the dual-track development of appearance and functional practicality, which is more in line with the purchasing decision-making logic of overseas consumers.
Among the cross-border sales in Shenzhen, although Zhihui Chuangxiang is not as big and brand famous as Anker, SHEIN, DJI, etc., it is following the path of steady compound interest.
Multiple platforms dilute risks, multiple categories cover cycles, the supply chain is deepened and strengthened, digital capabilities become internal strengths, and talent training forms a closed loop.
From 2015 to 2026, it has experienced the most brutal reshuffles in cross-border e-commerce. Its ability to stand today is the industry’s most powerful endorsement of this style of play.
If you are doing cross-border business, or are at the crossroads of transforming from distribution to branding, the case of Zhihui Chuangxiang is worthy of careful study. The key is to learn its practices in multi-platform layout, supply chain deepening, internal digital capabilities, talent system construction, etc., as well as its experience in dealing with industry reshuffles.
The underlying logic of the cross-border circle has not changed, and the thicker the infrastructure, the smaller the price paid when the rules change.
