Chinese consumers often break online world records. In November, 2014, Chinese online retailer Alibaba has taken more than $9.3bn in sales as Singles Day, the country’s biggest online retail event, dwarfs other sales bonanzas around the world such as Christmas in the UK or Black Friday in the US. The most popular product category was home decor and Alibaba revealed that over 1.2. million home appliances were sold on that day as well as over three million light products.
Sales volumes near 10bn yuan in the first few hours of China Singles Day online event at the Alibaba
Below you will find five reasons why you should join the Chinese eCommerce wagon and some pieces of advice for riding it.
1. Chinese Market is Huge and the Potential is even Bigger
China is the world’s largest auto market. The country sells more smartphones than anyone else: more art, beer, groceries and antiques. A growing portion of Chinese population make purchases every day, and there are no signs of stopping. By 2020, according to BCG forecasts there will be well-to-do consumers in the nation with income of $20K to$1m. Whatever your business is, it is hard not to take notice of China.
2. Ecommerce Takes China by Storm
Ecommerce business in China is a multi-hundred-billion-dollar-behemoth. 193 million Chinese ordinarily shop online, more than the US, Japan, Russia, Indonesia and India combined.
3. Chinese Consumers Prefer Western Brands
Just as Chinese consumers love shopping online, they love buying Western brands. Western brands are usually perceived as safer and of higher quality. BCG reports that 61% of Chinese would pay more for products made in the U.S. In luxury category, the preference is even higher.
4. Reducing the Risk of Fakes
Chinese shoppers are less trusting than consumers across the globe. Taking this fact into account, China’s most popular business-to-consumer website, TMall, only sells products directly from an authorized distributor, allowing its consumers to shop with the confidence. That bodes well for international brands who are much more likely to be copied.
5. Reaching the Inaccessible Masses
Another feature that evokes interest for eCommerce is that it can reach markets in China that are difficult or expensive to service otherwise. 75% of China’s well-to-do middle class live in smaller cities and most of these cities don not have the bricks & mortar stores featuring the international brands they are looking for. So they buy these items online. There are about 200 cities with population over million people in China, and selling online is the most efficient way to reach them.
The Chinese market is constantly changing and there do not exist 100% fail-safe rules for selling your products in it; but one thing is certain, you should be selling to them online. Good luck!
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