Recently, the world’s authoritative e-commerce research institution released the latest survey report, conducting in-depth research on 181 cross-border e-commerce platform sellers with a total annual revenue of more than 2 billion US dollars.
The results show that only 23% achieved both revenue and profit growth, while another 31% were stuck in increasing revenue without increasing profits, and as many as 38% of sellers saw both revenue and profits decline. The industry has entered a critical transformation period of deep differentiation and the strong will always be strong.
The era of wild gold mining has completely come to an end. In 2026, only sellers with professional operations, compliance capabilities, and risk resistance capabilities can continue to gain a foothold in the overseas market.
The report divides sellers into four types according to revenue trend × profit trend:
- Thriving 22.7%: revenue growth, profit growth, the real leader in the industry.
- Grinding 30.9%: Revenue increases, but profits remain flat or decline. Increased revenue does not increase profits.
- Consolidating 8.3%: Revenue remains flat/slightly decreased, but profits grow against the trend and focus on profitability quality.
- Distressed 38.1%: Both revenue and profits have declined, and survival pressure is huge.
The data reflects the cruel reality: nearly 40% of sellers are under operating pressure, and only less than a quarter can achieve high-quality growth. Cross-border e-commerce has entered the stage of structural survival of the fittest from “inclusive growth”.
There is a contradiction between platform dependence and profitability.
93% of sellers operate on Amazon, and 82% rely on Amazon as their main source of income; however, only 49% of sellers believe that Amazon brings the highest net profit rate, and only 44% of Amazon’s active sellers have achieved growth.
Sellers show obvious ambivalence. While they are highly dependent on the Amazon ecosystem and traffic, they continue to question profitability efficiency.
Small and medium-sized sellers lack multiple channels and are passively dependent on the platform; once the platform adjusts policies, fees, and compliance rules, it is easy to become passive.
In addition, experience and scale are not guarantees of profitability.
Old sellers are more likely to fall into trouble. Among sellers who have been in business for more than 10 years, 64% belong to the distressed type; only 34% of prosperous sellers have been in business for more than 10 years, and the proportion of sellers with 5-10 years of experience is as high as 78%.
Traditional experience and fixed thinking have become a burden for transformation.
Larger scale is not necessarily safer. Among the big sellers with annual revenue of more than 5 million US dollars, the distressed type accounts for 38% and the prosperous type accounts for only 20%. Among the small and medium-sized sellers with the annual revenue of less than 500,000 US dollars, the prosperous type accounts for 25%, which is higher than the big sellers.
Scale can amplify revenue, but it can also amplify costs, risks and inefficiencies. Profitability depends on refinement, not scale.
The core reason for profit differentiation lies in execution.
Refined operational capabilities widen the gap. Under the same category and the same model, some people will grow while others will lose money.
Instead of frequently changing categories and models, it is better to have a solid supply chain, cost, conversion rate, and repurchase, and the execution details determine the final profit.
Advertising and platform fees eat up profits, and 54% of struggling sellers are overwhelmed by high advertising and platform fees.
Blind impulse, focusing on investment and neglecting conversion will eventually lead to rising revenue and falling profits, falling into the quagmire of “gaining scale but not profit”.
Relying on a single platform and having weak risk resistance, the proportion of prosperous sellers deploying their own channels such as DTC/independent websites is 40% higher than that of distressed sellers.
Excessive binding to a single platform is equivalent to handing over the lifeblood to others. Only through multiple channels can we balance risks and increase gross profits.
AI applications are superficial and do not truly reduce costs and increase efficiency. Most sellers follow the trend and use AI, but only in superficial aspects such as listing optimization and copywriting. Only by deeply embedding AI into the entire supply chain, pricing, customer service, inventory, and risk control processes can real efficiency improvements be achieved.
In the second half of cross-border e-commerce in 2026, the industry has completely bid farewell to the barbaric growth of “distribution of goods and grabbing orders at low prices”, and has turned to compliance, branding, refinement, and globalization.
Sellers need to abandon ineffective expansion and focus on profit quality; balance platforms and independent sites to reduce reliance on a single channel; spend money wisely to improve advertising ROI and operational efficiency; deeply apply AI and digital tools to achieve full-link efficiency improvements; strictly adhere to the bottom line of financial, tax, capital, and export compliance, and use compliance to build a long-term moat.
The era of passive waiting and extensive operations is over. Professionalism, precision, compliance, and diversity are the core logic for stable and long-term cross-border business.
