[Retracted] Research on the Development Path of a Cross-European e-Commerce Logistics Mode under the Background of “Internet Plus”

Zhu, Wangli; Shi, Meixia

doi:https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6964302

Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing

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Volume 2021 | Article ID 6964302 | https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6964302

[Retracted] Research on the Development Path of a Cross-European e-Commerce Logistics Mode under the Background of “Internet Plus”

Wangli Zhu¹and Meixia Shi¹

Academic Editor: Balakrishnan Nagaraj

Received05 Aug 2021

Accepted30 Aug 2021

Published21 Sept 2021

Abstract

Cross-border e-commerce and the logistics industry are interrelated in specific economic and circulation fields. Based on the development of cross-border e-commerce in China and Europe, this paper analyzes the economic development of China’s cross-border e-business logistics providers in the context of Internet plus and analyzes the development trend of cross-border e-commerce in China and gives suggestions for optimization, with a view to providing cross-border e-commerce for the future. In-depth cooperation provides reference.

1. Introduction

The rapid development of transnational E-commerce needs not only the innovation of the e-commerce mode but also the perfection of the logistics mode and logistics system. At the same time, the development speed of cross-border logistics is closely related to the openness of policies. Cross-border e-commerce is an advanced application of e-commerce [1]. Different countries and regions can realize the digitization of traditional trade display, negotiation, and transaction through the Internet and realize the new mode of product import and export trade through network mail and express declaration [2]. In the modern society, e-commerce is one of the indispensable means of computer processing information and is a new way of information processing; it and logistics promote each other, for common development. It will greatly improve the efficiency of logistics services, meet the needs of the market at a higher level, and meet the needs of consumers. European cross-border e-commerce logistics management is a new trend of economic and social development since the 21st century, which is highly recognized and supported by domestic and foreign counterparts.

At present, China has basically realized cross-border trade e-commerce. The traditional foreign trade “container” type of large transactions gradually reduced, and most of the small-batch, multibatch, and fast delivery foreign trade orders appeared. In people’s daily life, more and more consumers choose to collect foreign high-quality products and services through the Internet. The new mode of overseas direct shopping without foreign trade agents is gradually accepted by more and more people [3]. The change of consumers’ concept promotes the development of cross-border e-commerce. Whether the goods can arrive on time, whether the safety is achieved, and whether the quality is guaranteed are very important factors that consumers need to consider when shopping, which also involves the e-commerce logistics. Logistics plays a key role in cross-border e-commerce [4]. First of all, any transaction of cross-border e-commerce involves information flow, capital flow, business flow, and logistics flow. As the last part of the transaction, logistics is related to the success or failure of cross-border e-commerce transactions. Secondly, because cross-border e-commerce transactions involve many countries and the distance is long, the logistics cost is high. Therefore, this paper studies the logistics mode selection under the background of cross-border e-commerce.

2. Research on the Development Path of the Cross-Border e-Commerce Logistics Mode

2.1. Survey on the Development of the Cross-Border e-Commerce Logistics Mode between China and Europe

Europe is China’s third largest trading partner. With the continuous expansion of bilateral investment between China and the EU, the sales volume of the bilateral trade has increased by more than 15%. Since the cooperation of China EU free trade area, bilateral cooperation has been deepened [5]. The growth of China’s domestic demand has driven the development of European countries. It has also strengthened the industrial chain cooperation with European countries, improving the economic and technological levels of both sides and increasing the demand for mutual cooperation. In recent years, with the advancement of the “Belt and Road” Initiative, economic cooperation between China and Europe has become more extensive and China’s investment in Europe has increased. By the end of 2018, China’s total investment in Europe was 318.0 billion US dollars [6]. Due to the different degree of e-commerce development in European countries, the development of the logistics distribution system is also different. Generally speaking, the cross-border e-commerce logistics distribution system of China and Europe is relatively weak, because the cross-border logistics system is controlled by transnational e-commerce companies, so it is difficult to use it to distribute third-party goods [7]. Generally speaking, compared with some European and American countries that develop e-commerce, the construction of e-commerce laws and regulations in European countries needs to be strengthened. At the same time, the rapid development of e-commerce and expanding the scale of European countries have also formulated corresponding e-commerce policies and regulations.

According to the survey, from 2008 to 2012, the volume of export and cross-border e-commerce transactions exceeded 90%. In recent years, with the advancement of the “Belt and Road” Initiative and the development of the digital economy, the proportion of cross-border e-commerce import transactions has continued to increase. In 2013, the scale of cross-border e-commerce import transactions accounted for 14.3%, and by 2018, it exceeded 20%. From the perspective of the distribution of import and export structures, China’s import and export proportion is relatively low but it shows an upward trend year by year. With the gradual opening of the cross-border e-commerce market, the proportion of import and export will gradually increase [8]. With the implementation of the “14th Five-Year Plan”, the high-quality construction of the “Belt and Road” will be promoted. At present, China has carried out extensive cooperation with European countries in the fields of open trade, service, and investment. China’s cross-border e-commerce market is still in the early stage of development, mainly to provide information services. However, with the development of the industry, cross-border e-commerce effectively reduces the intermediate links and promotes the development of import trade. In the multilevel and multilink supply chain cooperation, cross-border small e-commerce transactions will also get rapid development [9]. In the early years, http://JD.com regarded cross-border e-commerce as a vital strategic development goal. In these years, it has indeed done so. At present, JD Global Shopping has successfully entered the international stage and occupies an extremely important position. In order to better promote the healthy development of accounting e-commerce logistics mode, the integration mode of cross-border e-commerce logistics supply chain service platform is optimized and the specific structure is shown in Figure 1.

The figure includes warehousing, logistics, and other links. Through integration, the global resource allocation is optimized, the enterprise cost is reduced, and the import and export trade is promoted, to provide better service for consumers [10]. For cross-border e-commerce transactions, cross-border logistics is the key factor restricting the development of the entire cross-border e-commerce industry and the delivery speed directly affects the shopping experience of consumers. The rapid rise of international e-commerce provides opportunities for cross-border logistics [11]. The cross-border logistics transportation has developed from single package transportation to the coexistence of multiple transportation modes, mainly package transportation. It is found that reducing transportation costs, ensuring the safety of goods, and realizing the traceability of logistics information are the future development direction [12]. The distribution mode needs innovation. Therefore, exploring and innovating the third-party logistics mode to adapt to the development needs of cross-border e-commerce in China have become the key to the development of cross-border e-commerce in China.

2.2. Comparative Analysis of Existing Cross-Border e-Commerce Logistics Modes

International packets mainly refer to China Post, Hongkong Post, and Singapore Post. International express usually refers to the four giants, such as FedEx, DHL, TNT, and UPS. These two ways are the most traditional and the simplest way of logistics [13]. For most small- and medium-sized enterprises, they are the only alternative way of logistics. Postal has almost global coverage of the network, it can be said that the degree of network coverage is wider than any other logistics channels. Of course, this is due to two organizations: the Universal Postal Union and the Kahala postal Organization (KPG). International parcel and international express are relatively simple and direct logistics modes [14]. There are two characteristics of international small bags: first, the price is cheap, and second, the delivery time is long. The time limit for transportation is about 5–10 days for Asian neighbors, 7–15 days for major European and American countries, and 7–30 days for other regions and countries [15]. Compared with the international package, the international express delivery time is shorter but its cost is higher. Although the way of international small package is convenient and flexible, it is risky. There are still some problems in postal packets, such as high-packet loss rate and no way to track if the items are not registered. But even so, for small-scale foreign trade enterprises, international small bags and express delivery are still the most common choice of logistics. Postal service has almost a global network, and postal packets can reach any place with a post office, which can also greatly expand the trade market of the cross-border e-commerce platform. Moreover, the application scope of postal packets is wide and platforms such as eBay and Dunhuang can be used without special mailing restrictions.

Here, Table 1 is a set of statistical data from Sifang Express Company on the service level of postal parcels. In Table 1, we can see that the logistics in Singapore and Malaysia has the highest success rate to arrive in 15 days. And Brazil has the lowest; it is almost impossible to complete within 15 days; even for 20 days, it is almost impossible. Singapore has the highest logistics efficiency, while at the same time, Brazil has the lowest logistics efficiency.

About international express, as shown in Table 1, its biggest advantage is stable and fast and the information is very transparent. Consumers can obtain the transportation route and transportation time of goods by querying the logistics information and the phenomenon of packet loss is rare, which is relatively stable [16]. The time limit is basically maintained at about 3–5 days, and there is no great restriction on the weight of goods, so it is also a logistics mode that many cross-border e-commerce enterprises are willing to choose. Express giants also have their own unique characteristics; especially when different weights of express are sent to different continents, there are obvious differences. For example, when it is sent to Western European countries, TNT’s customs clearance speed is the fastest, while UPS’s speed is extremely fast when it is sent to the United States.

But it also has its own disadvantages, mainly in the following two aspects. First, the price is more expensive. Under the same weight, the charge standard of international express is almost twice that of the international small package. Therefore, if you are not so eager for the goods you are shopping for, you will not be willing to choose the international express mode. Second, there are surcharges in remote areas. International express has not covered its distribution network all over the world. Therefore, compared with the small package, there are many places that cannot be covered. There will be such a situation when the customer has paid the express fee, but when the goods are transported to your hands, the relevant express company will charge a surcharge of 100–300 yuan in remote areas.

3. China EU Cross-Border e-Commerce Logistics Path Selection

There are two logistics modes available for cross-border enterprises in the past, one is mail express and the other is to deposit goods in overseas warehouses. On this basis, the logistics model is divided into parcel express and overseas warehouse, among which overseas warehouse can be divided into the self-supporting mode and outsourcing mode [17]. The effective cross-border e-commerce logistics mode is selected reasonably for comparative analysis, as shown in Table 2.

From the analysis of Table 2, it can be seen that the external factors have the greatest influence and the internal factors have the least influence. Its function mode is certain economic, and the institutional environment is the basis of restricting the formation of a cross-border e-commerce logistics mode [18]. Technological progress improves management efficiency and reduces transaction cost, which is the economic portrayal of logistics mode transformation. Under the joint action of the economic system environment, consumer behavior preference, and technological progress, transaction cost has a direct impact on the choice of the enterprise logistics mode, so as to obtain the maximum benefits. Based on this, the selection conditions of the logistics mode are standardized, as shown in Figure 2.

Among them, logistics cost is the first link of enterprise logistics decision. When multinational e-commerce enterprises choose the logistics mode, they must consider the total cost of the logistics system. According to the different links of logistics, the total logistics cost can be divided into inventory maintenance costs, transportation costs, customer maintenance costs, etc [19]. If represents the total logistics cost, the total logistics cost is shown as formula (1) as follows:

In formula (1), represents the cost of inventory maintenance, which includes the cost of inventory management, packaging, and rework. is all expenses incurred in transportation; is the batch cost, i.e., material processing and purchasing cost; is customer cost, i.e., shortage and customer loss cost; is order processing and information cost; is fixed and warehouse variable cost. There are contradictions and conflicts in the composition of logistics cost. For the choice of the logistics mode, we should first consider the logistics cost and then make a reasonable choice.

4. Constraint Algorithm for Logistics Mode Selection of Cross-Border e-Commerce

When cross-border e-commerce logistics services are provided, the demand function is set as and the seller chooses to deliver the goods at time and store the goods to the overseas warehouse. The change rate of the demand is , in which ; if the initial investment profit of logistics express is , the transportation cost allocated to each cargo is , the monetary unit of the discount rate. Based on the general dynamic equilibrium model, the discount value of the long-term profit maximization function is given.

Firstly, the weight of each index is determined and each index is analyzed and decomposed. The highest level is the target level, the middle level is the index level, and the lowest level is the scheme level. The priority judgment matrix is established. According to the relative importance of the elements of this layer to the elements of the upper layer, the fuzzy consistent judgment matrix is established. In the process of actual decision-making analysis, due to the complexity of the problem and the one sidedness of people’s cognition of the problem, the constructed judgment matrix is often lacking of consistency, which needs to be transformed into the fuzzy consistent judgment matrix by using the transformation formula. The transformation formula is shown in formula (3).

In formula (3), and the priority judgment matrix is transformed into a fuzzy consistent judgment matrix.

In terms of logistics mode, there are three main logistics strategies of enterprises: always choose the parcel express mode and directly the choose overseas warehousing and distribution mode and the overseas distribution mode within a certain period of time from parcel express to the destination. According to the fuzzy consistent judgment matrix, formula (2) is differentiated and simplified and the basic conditions are obtained, as shown in formula (3).

In formula (5), according to the above formula, when , the value range of is ; if is less than 0, then,

Through formula (6), it can be seen that in the calculation process, the higher the value of , the higher the profit margin of using high-value products, the easier it is to maximize the profit of overseas warehouses by using overseas warehouses, the more sensitive transaction costs are, and the easier it is for to maximize the operation of overseas warehouses in this region; the more the capital investment of enterprises, the later the use of overseas warehouses will be. It can be seen that the higher the commodity price, the stronger the logistics cost bearing capacity and the stronger the market sales ability [20]. The use of overseas warehouses can increase profits. On this basis, from the current opening strategy of cross-border e-commerce, developed countries have basically formed the export of warehousing goods to Europe and the United States. The main reasons for this phenomenon are that the relevant legal system is not sound, the policy is not transparent, and enterprises are more suspicious of investing in overseas warehouses, because these countries have too much foreign exchange reserves, which makes it difficult to recover the investment. Put forward the important role of policy threshold in the choice of the logistics mode. Labor costs are also an important part of the cost. There is a huge gap between China and European countries. European countries have higher social security costs, minimum wage levels, working hours, and rest and vacation standards than China, so labor costs are also higher. In addition, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) issued by the European Union may be a challenge for China-EU cross-border e-commerce logistics. As China’s awareness of personal information data protection increases, China-EU cross-border e-commerce logistics will become more standardized.

5. Suggestions on the Development of Cross-Border e-Commerce Logistics between China and Europe

With the development of the economy, consumers’ shopping demand is also growing. When the domestic market cannot meet the demand, consumers will turn their attention to foreign countries. From China’s per capita consumption data, cross-border e-commerce provides a huge growth opportunity for per capita consumption [21]. At the same time, with the development of economy, the logistics mode of cross-border e-commerce has changed from the traditional “container-type” transportation to the current multiple transportation modes, enabling enterprises to set up warehouses overseas and choose the third-party logistics, so as to better provide logistics services for customers. With the rapid development of China’s economy, consumers’ demand for purchased goods and logistics is growing and the cross-border e-commerce logistics mode is constantly emerging. The main reason for overseas shopping is the uneven distribution of resources, which can bring about user experience. It should be the focus of cross-border e-commerce enterprises, and economic development will inevitably affect the scale of cross-border e-commerce and the choice of the logistics mode.

The freight industry is a very complex industry. The global development of network makes freight transportation an indispensable part of people’s life, helping customers understand the international logistics system and promoting cross-border trade [22]. When choosing logistics for different goods purchased by foreign consumers, we should pay attention to the return information of customers at any time and update the logistics information of commodity distribution in time, so as to promote the coordinated development of online and offline and better carry out cross-border logistics. In the network era, the cross-border logistics testing industry has developed rapidly. In the face of global customers, the logistics workload is increasing and the pressure of supervision is increasing [23–25]. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen logistics supervision to ensure the normal operation of cross-border logistics in a certain period of time and it cannot be stagnated due to regulatory problems in a certain link. It is the ultimate goal of logistics enterprises to deliver goods to consumers within the specified time. In order to carry out international e-commerce logistics, we should not only pay attention to the cooperation between logistics but also attach importance to the integration of enterprise advantages, so as to shorten the transaction time and reduce the logistics cost.

The outbreak of the new crown epidemic has had a serious impact on the global economy. As an export-oriented country, China is an importer of basic daily necessities in most countries. The epidemic may promote the development of e-commerce and at the same time have a certain reform and promotion effect on the logistics model. The integration of digitization and intelligence may become an important direction of the cross-border e-commerce logistics reform model, and it is also an opportunity for Chinese-funded enterprises. The current cross-border logistics cannot meet the needs of the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce. The development direction of cross-border logistics is to shorten the logistics cycle, reduce transportation costs, ensure the safety of goods, and realize the traceability of logistics information. Modern logistics mode needs innovation. On this basis, we will explore and innovate the third-party logistics mode to better meet the needs of cross-border e-commerce development in China. Cross-border e-commerce logistics will continuously improve the efficiency of warehousing, inventory, ordering, distribution, and other links and provide more convenient services for cross-border e-commerce.

6. Conclusion

Under the environment of e-commerce, whether the digital management of logistics transportation can be realized is an important symbol to measure the development level of a country. In today’s world, the development of the economy and market is increasingly integrated. With the advancement of the “Belt and Road” Initiative and the rise of the digital economy, China-Europe cross-border e-commerce will move to a new level and the logistics industry will also develop rapidly. How to effectively apply e-commerce to data processing, so as to realize the transformation from logistics reexport to transportation management, is also a powerful means to further improve the efficiency of logistics services. Through the analysis of the current situation of logistics and transportation management in China, the development and development path of the logistics mode of cross-border e-commerce in China and Europe under the background of “Internet plus” are studied. The optimization suggestions are put forward accordingly to maximize the economic benefits. The international community should pay attention to the development of logistics transportation, face up to, and solve the existing problems from the reality, so as to provide more innovative models for the development of cross-border logistics transportation in China.

Data Availability

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Copyright © 2021 Wangli Zhu and Meixia Shi. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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