China eCommerce market is full of opportunities, along with challenges. We witnessed number of foreign brands reached tremendous success in China market, while many others sink away in defeat. Why? One big reason is whether a foreign business has a serious China eCommerce localization strategy. Then, how to succeed on Chinese eCommerce platforms?
Below are the localization tips you must consider when tapping into China eCommerce.
Brands can easily get lost or undervalued in China. Foreign brands need to approach e-commerce expansion strategically and find the right marketplace for their brand and products. Poor decisions made overseas will have a direct and lasting impact on brand performance and pricing in China’s eCommerce marketplaces.
The graphic below shows the incredible growth of the Chinese e-commerce market: From 108 million online shoppers in 2009 to 842 million online shoppers as of 2021. Now the numbers exceed 900 million. China’s digitalization and the daily use of smartphones connected to the internet have greatly contributed to this growth as consumers spend a lot of time on their smartphones.
It is estimated that by selling on the Chinese eCommerce market, companies can increase their sales by 20%. In China, E-commerce is not only essential for businesses, but also for the country’s economy.
Now, if we look at the projected increase in e-commerce sales worldwide, China is by far the leading country with 862.6 billion dollars as of 2019 and is expected to reach 1,556.2 billion dollars in 2024. It’s expected to represent more than 60% of total retail sales in the country.
The important thing to understand is that just being present on Chinese e-commerce platforms is not enough to generate sales in China. The competition is big and you need to stand out from the crowd for Chinese shoppers to notice you. To do so, you need to take care of your marketing strategy, so that people start to recognize your brand.
Websites, Baidu SEO & SEM for traffic & credibility
To succeed in China, you will need to increase your visibility. How? You can start by focusing on the most popular search engine in China: Baidu (百度). As a matter of fact, more than 70% of online research is conducted through Baidu.
After creating your Chinese website (in Mandarin), you will have to focus on Baidu to increase your visibility and e-reputation. Baidu SEO is one of the most cost-efficient ways of not only gaining traffic but also controlling your online brand reputation. In short, it’s one of the best investments for the traffic you can make that will subsite in the long term.
To develop your visibility on Baidu, you can use different marketing solutions such as:
- Pay Per Click advertising (PPC)
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): you will need to create qualitative content, and shareable information, use keywords to increase your online presence on Baidu, etc.
Use the top Chinese social media platforms
With the country’s digitalization, the way of advertising and promoting products has shifted to social media. Chinese users are very active on social media platforms and are used to commenting, sharing their purchasing experience as well as giving purchasing advice.
WeChat: #1 social networks
With more than 1.26 billion monthly active users, WeChat is the most popular app in China. Even though it was at first a messaging app, the app released under the giant Tencent in 2011 quickly became a vast ecosystem of services. Nowadays, WeChat is a must-have for every citizen and business as it became a new player in the e-commerce industry.
One key point for successfully promoting your brand through WeChat is to create a WeChat Official Account. Then, to successfully promote your brand, we can launch campaigns to create buzz, as well as create an H5 brochure in order to promote your brand. There is also a possibility of launching a WeChat store, one of the most efficient marketplaces in the Chinese e-commerce market in 2023.
Weibo : The place to be commercial
Weibo is one of the most popular social media apps in China with more than 600 million monthly active users. 94% of its user base uses the mobile app. Weibo is an open social media, and just like Twitter, is one of the most efficient platforms to create buzz and gain visibility.
Contrary to Wechat, which is private, Weibo is open to advertising and its users are as well. That is the place to advertise and engage in a commercial way with your followers.
The social media platform attracted more than 150 000 companies wanting to develop their e-reputation. Brands have to create Weibo Official Accounts to improve their presence in China by attracting followers. It is estimated that more than 62% of Weibo users follow at least one brand on Weibo.
KOLs can help to promote your brand
In China, one of the best ways to promote your brand and your product is to collaborate with KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders). They act like influencers who are able to sell hundreds (or millions) of products in a short amount of time.
E-reputation to increase your sales on Chinese eCommerce platforms
In China, brand reputation is the key to success. You have to do everything you can to always have a good image. If you lose your reputation, you will lose everything.
You need to make sure that you get good comments for your brand on forums, social media, and other websites. Chinese consumers only trust brands that have good comments and recommendations from friends or family and on media platforms. If we look at the main sources of new brand discovery, word-of-mouth is the most effective way to get new clients. It is even more powerful than search engines and brand websites.
If you want to successfully sell your products on Chinese ecommerce platforms, you can contact Deep Digital China and we’ll take care of everything.