On May Day this year, Xiao Ke (pseudonym), who is 32 years old and has only ten months of Amazon operation experience, resolutely submitted an application for resignation and prepared to work alone in order to achieve a relatively independent state in his career in the future. This kind of courage to do what he says has made many people admire.
In fact, in the cross-border circle, there is no shortage of Amazon sellers like Xiao Ke, and the reasons why they work alone are nothing more than these: first, the career ceiling is not high; 2. Want to earn more; 3. 35-year-old workplace threshold; Fourth, I want to work more freely.
However, the era of picking up money has long faded, and now it has become more difficult to start a business, and many sellers are in a state of loss, or even leave the market in the end with all their funds. It is said that the end of Amazon's operation is to work alone, but the end of going it alone may also be to continue to work and move bricks.
After three years of entrepreneurship, I still worked as a part-time worker when I returned
It is undeniable that Chinese sellers occupy a very important position on the Amazon platform. In the case of the U.S. market, according to research by Marketplace Pulse, Chinese sellers account for nearly 50% of Amazon's best-selling sellers in the U.S., and this group may account for nearly half of the total third-party merchandise transactions. This is also the reason why so many people go it alone, and there are a lot of role models in front of them, and everyone wants to be one of them. But today's market environment is cruel to entrepreneurs.
At the end of last month, an Amazon seller said that he had been working alone for 3 years, and now he only earns 10,000 yuan a month, and it is difficult to live in Shenzhen.
In fact, among the many sellers who work alone, being able to make money is already considered a success, and there are many sellers who are like this:
An Amazon operator with 5 years of experience in boutique operation thinks that his operation ability is not bad, but when he is full of confidence and works alone for 3 years, the accumulated savings are lost, and he can only end up bankrupt, and finally re-embark on the road of part-time work.
Another solo seller also has 5 years of experience in Amazon operations, and he still works in a big selling company, and after 3 years of working alone, he not only lost 2 million, but also owed 800,000 foreign debts.
If you succeed alone, it is indeed better than a part-time job, and even earn millions of dollars a year, and it is not impossible to expand the scale of a team from 1 person to dozens of people. But high yield also means high risk, and you must prepare for failure before entering the game, after all, there are not many huge losses like the above-mentioned sellers in the process of going it alone. For example, some sellers said that he lost more than 300,000 yuan in half a year, and some sellers lost more than 1.7 million yuan in the first year alone. And the torment and anxiety in the process, every step of the way is also to bear.
A seller who has been working alone for 4 years said: "It's not that you can't make money doing Amazon now, it's just that it's very difficult, and those who post orders all day long are cut leeks nine times out of ten." ”
At present, there are many problems faced by Amazon sellers, in addition to soaring costs, it is also an indisputable fact that the track is becoming more and more crowded.
According to research by Marketplace Pulse, Amazon has added nearly 5 million new sellers since 2018. About 40% of these sellers joined the marketplace in the United States, and the rest joined one of the 20 international marketplaces (sellers selling on multiple marketplaces are counted only once).
Not long ago, another survey report by Marketplace Pulse found that the overlap rate between Amazon sellers and Walmart sellers is close to 80%~90%, and the overlap with SHEIN and Temu has also reached 20%. Sellers looking for new possibilities on other platforms illustrate a problem, the competition on the Amazon platform is too fierce, and sellers have to try new platforms to find a new growth curve in order for their cross-border e-commerce business to continue to develop.
Under fierce competition, a slight gap in the pool of sellers may lead to losses. When a seller who lost 200,000 yuan in a year summed up his experience, he found that he made some small mistakes in product selection, first-trip logistics and financial planning, but it was these mistakes that ultimately brought her such a big loss.
However, as it stands, going it alone is only one of the options for Amazon operations, and not every operation is suitable for going it alone. After 11 months of working alone, an Amazon operator said: "Don't do it alone, unless you have a strong ability to select products, and the most important thing is to have a supply chain and sufficient financial support." ”
When these abilities are in place, not everyone has the courage to fight. Not long ago, an operator was troubled by saying that he has been doing Amazon for five years, and has learned all the aspects of product selection, design, and operation over the years, and now he has found a supply chain to match, has freight forwarding resources, and has nearly one million start-up funds, but under such conditions, when it comes to really going it alone, he is still a little hesitant and uncertain.
Therefore, in addition to working alone, some of Amazon's operations changed careers to become freight forwarders, some prepared to take the exam/exam for the gong latte bowl, and some went to Luckin to shake coffee.
A number of operations have shifted careers
We all know that the technical threshold for Amazon's operation is not high, so it is very replaceable, if you are not promoted to a management position at a certain age, you will face a 35-year-old workplace threshold, coupled with the career ceiling is not high, so changing careers has been a hot topic in recent years.
At the beginning of this year, an Amazon said when expressing his idea of changing his career direction: "Amazon operation is a position that eats youth, there is no technical content, the company recruits a cheap white to come in and train you in a few days to replace you, and there is no capital to do it alone, the second is that Amazon is already a heavy asset, serious pressure on goods, and now the profits are already very thin, but various expenses are still rising, plus this is still a 365-day year-round job, you have to watch advertisements on holidays, and you have to worry about links hanging, ranking drops, or being sold." , so although I knew that it was not easy to change careers, I decided to give it a try, hoping to break a new path when the career bottleneck came at the age of 35. ”
Judging from the current observations, the direction of Amazon's operational career change mainly includes the following:
1. Continue to work in a familiar field, but change jobs, such as product development, freight forwarding, promotion, art and procurement.
Second, for example, some people went to state-owned enterprises to work as legal affairs, some people took the teacher qualification certificate to become a hard-working gardener, and some people took the public examination to enter the government department.
An Amazon operator with 5 years of experience and a monthly salary of 20,000+ said that for the sake of stability and future married life, he has been admitted to the civil service in his hometown.
Third, the main focus is to try more and experience life, some of them went to interview the company administration/clerk, some went to the supermarket to work as a tally clerk, some went to the factory to make screws, some people are learning to cook, ready to set up a stall, and some are ready to shake coffee.
At the beginning of last month, an Amazon operation with 4 years of experience shared his experience of changing careers, he said that he did Amazon in Shenzhen after graduation, and because the company cut his salary, he left without accepting it, because he really didn't want to do Amazon anymore, so he went to Luckin for an interview.
A few days ago, an HR shouted: "Have you changed careers in Amazon operations, and you can't see a few people after half a day's resume!" ”
However, some people went out for an interview and finally came back to continue to do Amazon operations, and the reasons are none other than these: first, lack of experience in cross-bank work; Second, the salary of other jobs is too low. Therefore, it is important to have an expectation or preparation for these difficulties before changing careers.