Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 19, No. 1, 2025 111 Research on the Influencing Factors of Consumers' Willingness to Continue Using Cross-Border E- Commerce Platforms Riya Su * College of Business, Hunan Institute of Technology, Hengyang 421002, China * Corresponding author: Riya Su (Email: sry315249@163.com) Abstract: As the global digitization process accelerates and consumer demand for cross-border goods continues to grow, cross- border e-commerce has become an important growth engine for international trade. However, consumers' willingness to continue using cross-border e-commerce platforms is affected by a variety of factors, including insufficient advertising, uneven product quality, unreasonable interface design, lack of promotional activities, and imperfect cross-border logistics systems. These issues result in low consumer retention, low frequency of use, and low acceptance of the platform. By analyzing the factors that affect the continuous use behavior of consumers, this paper proposes optimization strategies, including precise advertising, improving product reputation and experience, improving logistics supply chain, simplifying operation process and subdividing customer groups. The research results show that by improving these key factors, consumers' perceived usefulness and ease of use can be effectively enhanced, thus enhancing their willingness to continue to use, and providing theoretical support and practical guidance for the sustainable development of cross-border e-commerce platforms. Keywords: Cross-border e-commerce; Willingness to continue using; Consumer behavior. 1. Research Background With the acceleration of global digitization and the continuous increase in consumer demand for cross-border goods, cross-border e-commerce has become an important growth engine for international trade. Especially from 2015 to 2025, through multi-dimensional collaboration among sellers, service providers and platforms, China's cross-border e-commerce has formed a prosperous ecology covering operational model innovation, which has had a profound impact on the pattern of global trade. However, differences in products, payment and logistics among platforms lead to differentiation of consumers' purchase intentions, coupled with insufficient user stickiness and other problems, highlighting the urgency of exploring consumers' willingness to continue to use. 2. The Problem of Consumers' Continuous Use of Cross-Border Electricity Supplier Platforms 2.1. Low Consumer Retention Rate Shanghai Customs Information of the People's Republic of China: Shanghai Customs to expand cross-border e- commerce export channels, open cross-border e-commerce "9610" sea export channel, pilot the operation of cross-border e-commerce export business, promote cross-border e- commerce retail export cross-customs return supervision mode, and constantly improve the overall efficiency of cross- border e-commerce logistics operation in Shanghai port. According to the statistics of Shanghai Customs, in 2024, the single volume of cross-border e-commerce export at Shanghai Port increased by 12.4% year-on-year.[3] In recent years, many consumers no longer use cross- border e-commerce platforms because of the long logistics cycle of cross-border commodity distribution. Therefore, the consumer retention rate of cross-border e-commerce platforms is low, [2] because the commodity logistics distribution cycle is in a transnational situation with a long cycle. 2.2. The Continuous Use Frequency of Consumers is Low Further analysis found that only about 38.4% of the respondents often use cross-border e-commerce platforms for shopping activities, while more than half of the population only occasionally. This phenomenon may be attributed to the following reasons: First, some potential customers find it difficult to operate smoothly due to language barriers, cultural differences and restrictions on payment methods; Secondly, high logistics costs and long delivery time have become one of the main reasons to prevent people from frequent visits; Finally, it is about the quality assurance of goods -- the proliferation of fake goods has seriously affected the user experience satisfaction. 2.3. Consumers' Recognition of Cross-Border E-Commerce Platforms is Low As can be seen from the results of the questionnaire on continuous use behavior, 51.73%, 50.3% and 50.46% of the respondents feel that "cross-border e-commerce platform has enough commodities for me to choose", "Online shopping through cross-border e-commerce platform can improve my purchasing efficiency" and "cross-border e-commerce platform is of great help to my life". Indicating that cross- border e-commerce platforms have not made most of the respondents have a positive impact on their usefulness, nearly half of the respondents do not think cross-border e-commerce platforms are useful for shopping, and 9.2% of the respondents believe that cross-border e-commerce platforms are very helpful for their lives. It indicates that the usefulness of using cross-border e-commerce platforms to their lives is 112 low for some respondents, which indicates that consumers' perceived usefulness of cross-border e-commerce platforms is at a low level, and that most consumers do not feel that cross-border e-commerce platforms are useful to their shopping lives. It also shows that the product content quality of the current cross-border e-commerce platform does not make consumers perceive the usefulness. Only 30.4% of the respondents feel that the interface of the cross-border e- commerce platform is friendly and easy to operate, and only 25% of the respondents feel that the cross-border e-commerce platform is convenient to search and will not take too much time. 3. Factors Affecting the Continuous Use of Cross-Border Electricity Supplier Platforms by Consumers 3.1. Inadequate Advertising Nowadays, consumers use shopping platforms more and more frequently. When purchasing products, they also follow the trend and keep up with brands. Therefore, many shopping platforms have adapted to the marketing methods and advertising delivery that consumers are willing to understand and accept, and have made great adjustments in these aspects, such as adopting digital technology and using various new media platforms to create and support themselves. Consumers' favorite image, the use of the most popular short videos, advertorials, small red book Amway, etc. to push to the target consumers, attract more consumers to understand and buy, advertising will affect consumers' perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of cross-border e- commerce platforms, thus affecting consumers' continuous use behavior, but not all platforms. Can play the biggest role in advertising, advertising will also play a hindrance in the continued use of cross-border e-commerce platform consumer behavior. 3.1.1. The quality of products on the platform is not good The quality of products is the cornerstone of cross-border e-commerce platform survival and development, cross-border e-commerce industry is a prominent feature of the long industrial chain, only the first-line suppliers can directly control the quality of the source of goods, while the e- commerce platform is often difficult to directly get the authorization of overseas brands, the platform is bound to require relevant suppliers cooperation, due to the large regional span, supplier reputation is uneven, The quality of goods is difficult to guarantee, so there are often some fakes and dross flowing into the domestic market; In addition, the difficulty of attracting investment for overseas high-end goods also makes the supervision of the supply chain of cross- border import e-commerce platforms not very strict, which leads to the repeated prohibition of counterfeit goods, which is also seriously disrupted. With the advent of the Internet era, it is becoming more and more convenient and frequent for consumers to use various technology platforms to pursue trends and keep up with brands while purchasing goods. Therefore, all shopping platforms have taken marketing methods and advertising as their focus and launched some major measures, such as using digital technology and various new media platforms to create the favorite image of consumer groups. With the power of short video social platforms to accurately push to their own consumers, advertising will affect consumers' perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of cross-border e- commerce platforms, and then transfer to consumers' continuous use behavior, but not every platform could maximize the usefulness of advertising. It is often a factor that hinders the continuous use behavior of consumers on cross- border e-commerce platforms. The industry reputation of cross-border e-commerce has been affected a lot. Some media have exposed that many well- known companies have done fake goods, such as in some stores of Jingdong Global Shopping, there are also some fake luxury goods. Then what affects consumers' cross-border online shopping may be the difficulty of cross-border e- commerce platforms in opening or controlling the upstream supply chain. And this has led to a lot of companies lack product monitoring, for suppliers did not do the corresponding audit and supervision. 3.2. The Platform Interface Setting is Not Reasonable The convenience of the platform is mainly reflected in that consumers can quickly find the products they need when using the cross-border e-commerce platform, and the interface of the platform is easy to get started, which means that the operation of the platform is very convenient. Good and convenient performance enables users to reduce unnecessary time in the process of using the cross-border e- commerce platform, so that users can have a good experience, and thus generate the idea of using it. But the actual situation is that some cross-border e-commerce platform interface design is unreasonable, so that consumers in the use of poor experience, mainly reflected in a long time cannot find the desired products, the platform operation interface is not friendly, the platform system is not stable, the platform advertising too much, the overall design of the platform is not beautiful. The unreasonable interface design of the cross- border e-commerce platform leads to the inconvenient operation of the platform, which makes it difficult for the platform to bring a good experience to consumers and thus affect their use behavior, resulting in consumers not wanting to continue to use the cross-border e-commerce platform.[4] 3.3. The Preferential Promotion Activities Are Not Abundant Preferential promotion is an important marketing method for cross-border e-commerce platform experience, and it is also an important factor affecting the continuous use behavior of consumers on cross-border e-commerce platform, because consumers can experience relevant products only through preferential promotion activities on cross-border e-commerce platform. And the experience of cross-border e-commerce platform will have a great impact on consumers' perception of the usefulness and perceived ease of use of cross-border e- commerce platform, which in turn will have a great impact on consumers' continued use of cross-border e-commerce platform. At present, some cross-border e-commerce platforms are not rich in promotional activities. As a result, many target consumers of cross-border e-commerce platforms are afraid of consumption and do not want to try because of price or safety, which hinders consumers' use behavior. 3.4. The Cross-Border Logistics System is Not Perfect Slow logistics and high cost have always been the 113 restricting factors for the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce. In recent years, bonded imports have made customs clearance more convenient. However, how to reduce the time of transporting goods to the domestic bonded area is only one of the many problems faced by cross-border e- commerce enterprises. And adopt the logistics mode of overseas co-construction and centralized distribution to China, while it is unknown for other imported cross-border e- commerce platforms without such financial strength. Short and long logistics distribution time will inevitably affect consumers' consumption experience, and there are many cross-border e-commerce logistics transfer points, which makes the safety of goods in the distribution process cannot be guaranteed. Thus, it will also lead to high return and exchange costs and poor after-sales channels. As for the factors affecting consumers' dissatisfaction with the return and exchange of goods on imported cross-border e-commerce platforms, Yu Juping (2022) puts forward: First, the reverse logistics cost is too high and the price of goods is not proportional; Second, the cross-border logistics delivery time is too long; Third, returns also need to pay taxes twice, which is a disadvantage to sellers and consumers, on the one hand, it increases the operating costs of sellers, on the other hand, the consumer rights and interests protection channels are not smooth, cross-border e-commerce platform consumers return less than 3 times, 58.41% of cross-border e-commerce platform consumers have never returned or changed. 34.29% of cross-border e-commerce platform consumers think that "it is difficult to return or exchange goods". 4. Strategies To Optimize Consumers' Continued Use Behavior on Cross- Border E-Commerce Platforms 4.1. Precise Publicity, Targeting Consumer Groups In recent years, with the rapid development of the Internet industry, e-commerce has also been greatly welcomed by individual consumers. This kind of shopping method that you can buy your favorite goods without leaving home is gradually accepted by more and more people; However, among individual consumers, some consumers are not very clear and understanding of e-commerce activities for cross- network trading, especially those represented by non-young consumer groups in third - and fourth-tier cities, let alone e- commerce activities with cross-border background. They also need to improve how to improve the perceived usefulness of cross-border shopping. Online retail enterprises and platforms can choose Sina Weibo, wechat, Tiktok APP and other e- commerce platforms for comprehensive service social websites to advertise, make full use of the advantages of the fast spread of network information, and use the topic effect of celebrities and various hot events to promote their own online shop or platform store, and expand the visibility, influence and attractiveness of the website on the Internet. In addition, traditional enterprises can advertise on some websites, such as film and television, automobile, fashion and other vertical websites, carry out targeted customer aggregation advertisements, adopt precision advertising, and make use of group effect to greatly enhance consumers' sense of belonging, to rapidly expand the crowd and even the market. Nowadays, in the field of marketing, product promotion through social networks has become a mainstream, for example, the use of wechat public number, Weibo, blog, forum and other virtual communities for topic marketing. The earliest account managers and salesmen of this marketing method use their interpersonal resources in business, government units, public institutions and other industries to develop users has changed to social network marketing. 4.2. Pay Attention to Word-Of-Mouth and Experience, And Enhance Consumer Recognition Evaluation of the positive impact of word of mouth on perceived usefulness has reached the greatest significance, reflecting that cross-border e-commerce platforms and merchants need to pay more attention to improving commodity sales and after-sales service when conducting cross-border e-commerce promotion activities, putting the quality of goods and services in an important position, controlling details in all aspects, and obtaining a good reputation among consumers. Besides, from the perspective of establishing the platform itself, The platform should actively make full use of the publicity of new media to seek greater scope of influence, expand visibility, and better form a good reputation of customers; At present, on cross-border e- commerce platforms, most of the products operated by enterprises are mainly cosmetics, skin care products, clothing bags, etc., and the sales are all international products familiar to domestic consumers, which leads to narrow choices for consumers and cannot meet the consumer demand of mass diversification. It is necessary to enrich the variety of products, provide consumers with more alternative products, and improve the re-purchase rate of consumers. In addition, online space to ensure the authenticity of goods is also a very concerned side of online shoppers, NetEase Kaola as the current favorite cross-border shopping APP is to escort the authenticity to win [7], which shows that cross-border e- commerce platforms should conduct a comprehensive review of the qualifications of merchants and brands, and strengthen control from the source. Whether online and offline shopping consumers worry about the degree of product authenticity directly affects shopping satisfaction, and whether e- commerce platforms and merchants can eliminate online consumers' hidden worries about the source of goods and genuine goods has become the key to online shopping satisfaction. 4.3. Improve the Supply Chain of Logistics Services to Meet Consumer Demand At present, the relevant departments of logistics are still constantly adjusting and improving the return policies of cross-border e-commerce. Compared with our traditional direct mail logistics mode, the emerging mode of bonded import can provide consumers with better experience, and the logistics mode can be further optimized and perfected. Also need to further do the following aspects: First, it is necessary to further strengthen the construction of bonded warehouses in China, further improve the quality of logistics and transportation, reduce the time cost of logistics, and reduce the loss faced by consumers to the maximum extent. At the same time, it can further bring consumers more convenient and efficient logistics and tracking services; Secondly, we also need relevant departments to further ensure that consumers can obtain the latest logistics monitoring information anytime and anywhere after placing an order, so as to better improve consumers' use behavior on the platform. 114 For traditional overseas distribution, not only the logistics time is too long, but also the situation that logistics information cannot be obtained for a period of time after placing an order, which requires relevant enterprises to further improve and adjust their work to further improve the transportation quality and level of logistics, but also optimize and improve the information acquisition of various logistics targets accordingly. E-commerce Research Center is responsible for the review of the platform logistics policy of a platform, it pointed out: Alibaba in 2014 launched a domestic bonded overseas purchase platform - Tmall International, its delivery time is usually 7 days to 15 days. Overseas direct mail products on Amazon's overseas platform also take at least seven days to reach customers who place orders. While the domestic bonded warehouse delivery can deliver most of the small red books in almost all China, with an average time of about seven to fifteen days; NetEase's Kaola Overseas shopping is a high-quality overseas shopping platform, which is relatively short in terms of delivery time compared with other platforms, and only takes about 3 days to deliver the purchased goods to consumers. At the national level, relevant policies should be introduced to further promote the cross-border layout of logistics, with the core mode of building logistics cloud service chain as the circular route, so as to shorten logistics costs and improve the efficiency of Commodity Exchange, and fundamentally eliminate and solve the problems of long logistics time and large loss in flow margin caused by the flow exchange of goods and commodities. From the perspective of encouraging the development of the logistics industry in China, the Chinese government should actively advocate the creation of and encourage the choice of efficiency, quality, price and convenience. Build the world's leading logistics cloud service supply chain with excellent logistics services (for example, China Post, China Post, China Post, China Southern Airlines and other outstanding leading logistics enterprises or groups as the main body or sub-brand). 4.4. Simplify Operation Process and Enhance Perceived Ease of Use Perceived usability represents the ease that individuals feel when they encounter information technology. In other words, the potential users choose new information technology to acquire relevant experience based on the knowledge that they can master this technology without consuming thoughts and learning for a long time. Therefore, in the process of further promoting cross-border e-commerce, cross-border e- commerce providers should pay attention to simplifying the functions of cross-border e-commerce apps so that consumers can perceive the convenience[5] of using such apps, pay attention to the publicity and promotion of cross-border e- commerce apps, strengthen consumers' awareness of cross- border e-commerce and cross-border e-commerce platforms, so that consumers can perceive the convenience provided by such apps. First, it can provide consumers with the simple and valuable things they can access through the Internet; Secondly, in the process of consumers' understanding of the purchase of products and services, they should be quick and convenient and only need to click the product to directly purchase the product or service and quickly provide additional information to the third-party suppliers. In the "Purchase and service", more intuitive digital display of peripheral information applications such as the real-time status of the current product production workshop; The last is information feedback it is a means for consumer users to obtain feedback information in this case refers to the timely consumer users it has information "consumption information" only provided to consumer users in the past can get positive information. 4.5. Subdivide the Customer Base of Cross- Border E-Commerce Platforms In the next few years or even decades, the competition between the cross-border e-commerce industry and platforms is fierce, and the domestic cross-border e-commerce giants will continue to be in a three-legged state, and the platforms with comparative advantages will still be in a trend [5] of slowly gaining a firm foothold; From a vertical point of view, the rise of niche fields or niche platform types is greater: according to the research status and the data results found in this study, it can be found that cross-border consumption of mobile terminals has gradually become a new way for consumers to consume; Therefore, according to various standards, consumers of cross-border e-commerce platforms can be divided into a variety of target customer groups. By subdividing the customer groups of consumer customers and conducting customer mining, enterprises can obtain personalized and innovative customer characteristics and requirements of young consumer groups, and then develop different marketing strategies based on them. Enterprises need to further explore when cross-border consumers will use cross-border e-commerce, what the needs of consumers who use the platform and what the differences are between the use of other platforms. In this way, marketers, companies and platforms can precisely focus their attention above the target market: Through the use of user portraits, database analysis, etc., to determine the need to support the customer group of products, types, prices slightly adjusted, and what kind of service goods purchased by the customer the fastest widely spread, and finally achieve the rapid spread of cross-border e- commerce, access to more new market opportunities, to obtain good business interests. 5. Summary To sum up, there are many factors that affect the willingness of consumers to continue using cross-border e- commerce platforms, including the external environment such as the adjustment of policies and regulations and the intensification of market competition, as well as the internal operation and management problems such as inadequate advertising and imperfect logistics services. Only by facing up to these problems and adopting practical solutions can we continuously improve user satisfaction and achieve sustainable development goals. The future research direction can further explore how to combine artificial intelligence technology to improve user experience, or deeply explore the needs of specific groups to develop differentiated marketing strategies Acknowledgments This work is supported by the Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Project of Hunan Province in 2024 (S202411528088). References [1] Li Huiwen. (2021). 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