Do you know that robots for foreign trade positions have arrived?

——A new engine for digital transformation of foreign trade enterprises

In the past few decades, Chinese foreign trade enterprises have established their reputation as "world factories" through cost advantages and diligent efforts. But after entering a new stage, the foreign trade industry is facing unprecedented bottlenecks: difficulty in recruiting talents, difficulty in retaining teams, low customer acquisition efficiency, and low conversion rates. Many business owners bluntly say, "The market is not without opportunities, but we ourselves cannot keep up

The real dilemma of the foreign trade industry

Firstly, the talent crisis.

In Shunde, Guangdong, a company that exports smart home appliances, the boss told reporters that it often takes several months or even six months to recruit a qualified foreign trade salesperson. Even so, well-trained salespeople can be easily poached by high paying competitors, taking away not only people but also valuable customer resources. The saying 'when people leave, the orders also follow' has become a concern for many foreign trade bosses.

Secondly, the customer acquisition efficiency is low.

Taking running exhibitions as an example, a certain light industry enterprise participates in more than ten exhibitions every year, investing millions, but it can attract less than 100 high-quality customers and achieve a conversion rate of less than 3%. The boss smiled bitterly and said, "I feel like all the money has been spent on 'showing off', but the customer base is still limited

Thirdly, the conversion rate is low.

At a mechanical equipment company, salespeople need to screen a large number of email and platform inquiry information every day. The result is that over 80% of inquiries are invalid, while truly valuable customers are lost due to delayed follow-up. The sales manager said helplessly, "Every day is like searching for gold in a pile of sand, it's too exhausting

Fourthly, the promotion cycle of new products has been delayed.

In Dongguan, a company independently developed an innovative furniture product, but due to the slow integration of the foreign trade team, it took a year from formation to actual market launch. By the time the team could produce results, the market heat had already passed and the best promotion period had been missed.

Behind these examples, they reflect the common problems of the entire industry: heavy reliance on manpower, and a disconnect between efficiency and market pace.

Foreign trade job robots: AI driven 'job talents'

If in the past foreign trade relied on "human wave tactics", then in the future, foreign trade enterprises will increasingly rely on "robot teams". Unlike traditional industrial robots, foreign trade robots are software robots driven by artificial intelligence, capable of performing tasks that were originally done by humans in different positions.

After two years of research and development, Zhidong has launched three foreign trade position robots:

Foreign trade customer acquisition robot

Equivalent to a top marketing executive, searching and verifying potential customers around the world 24 hours a day without interruption. In the past, a salesperson could screen one or two hundred customers per day, but now robots can process tens of thousands of data per day, directly handing over the most accurate customers to the enterprise.

Foreign trade inquiry robot

Like a seasoned sales manager. It can not only quickly screen the authenticity of inquiries, but also take over the dormant customer data of enterprises for many years. By analyzing customer historical behavior through AI, generate a "thousand person, thousand face" cooperation plan, and then use five rounds of intelligent activation and multiple rounds of negotiation to bring the customer back to the negotiation table. Many companies have provided feedback that previously forgotten customers have brought in new orders.

Foreign trade content creation robot

Equivalent to a 24/7 brand and marketing team. Supporting over 80 languages, it can automatically generate copy, images, and videos according to different market needs, and accurately deliver them to platforms such as LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, etc., ensuring the continuous exposure of the company's brand in the global market.

The combination of these three job robots is a foreign trade team that never leaves, never gets tired, and always stays on duty.

The gap between human teams and robot teams

The most intuitive comparison case is:

In Shenzhen, a furniture export company has a traditional team consisting of a 5-person marketing department, a 10 person sales team, and a 3-person brand team, with a total annual cost exceeding 3 million yuan. However, even so, there are still problems such as insufficient customer acquisition, low inquiry conversion, and lagging promotion.

Later, the company tried out a team of robots for foreign trade positions. The results show that:

Customer acquisition efficiency has increased by more than 50 times compared to manual teams;

The activation rate of dormant customers has increased by 40%;

The content production capacity is equivalent to the monthly output of an 18 person team.

And the cost is only one tenth of the original team.

The head of the company sighed and said, "This is not just a matter of saving money, but a completely different efficiency. Robots will not take leave, switch jobs, or take away customers

Resonant with national strategy on the same frequency

It is worth noting that the rise of robots in foreign trade positions is not isolated corporate innovation, but highly consistent with national strategy.

In August 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission led the joint release of the "Action Plan for Empowering High Quality Economic and Social Development with Artificial Intelligence" by more than 20 ministries and commissions. The document proposes that by 2027, the coverage rate of intelligent terminals in China should reach 70%; By 2030, break through 90%; Achieve full coverage by 2035.

This means that AI is no longer an "option" for businesses, but a national will. The competition in foreign trade in the next decade will no longer be about 'whose salespeople are more', but 'whose robot team is stronger'.

The future of foreign trade: competition between AI and AI

From the Industrial Revolution replacing manual labor with machines, to today's AI gradually replacing some intellectual labor, every productivity revolution will rewrite the industry landscape. Foreign trade is no exception.

In the future, whoever can have a robot team first will be able to occupy more market share at lower costs and faster speeds. On the contrary, those enterprises that are still stuck in traditional models will find it increasingly difficult to keep up with the pace.

Exploration and Contribution of Shenzhen

In this process, Shenzhen Zhidong Huke Technology Co., Ltd., as a pioneer in the industry, has become the first enterprise in the foreign trade field to implement "job robots". It not only helped hundreds of foreign trade enterprises solve the problems of customer acquisition, conversion, and brand promotion, but also provided replicable and promotable practical samples for the national "AI+Action" strategy.

Industry insiders commented, "Zhidong Jieke is not just making simple software, but creating a new 'talent output model' - directly outputting job robots that can be on duty at any time and have immediate results. It has shown Chinese foreign trade enterprises the competitiveness of the future

Conclusion

Robots for foreign trade positions are not a distant concept, they have already been implemented and applied in many enterprises, bringing about tangible changes. They are not "tools", but intelligent talents who are ready to use for their positions and are becoming a new growth engine for foreign trade enterprises.

For foreign trade bosses, today's choice determines their survival in two years and the pattern in five years. The future of foreign trade will be a competition between AI and AI. Are you ready to make the robot a member of your team?

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