How Can Foreign Companies Sell Online in China?
China’s government has made tight control and restrictions on selling foreign goods to Chinese customers to protect its domestic market. Mostly the information to sell to China online and the legal process are in Chinese; therefore, most of the investors aren’t aware of the basic requirements needed to sell in China.
Get Selling In China
Chian e-commerce industry is one of the largest e-commerce markets. 40% of the world’s e-commerce transactions currently taking place in China. Before your products sell to China, first familiarize yourself with the Chinese digital market. Selecting a few of the most suitable Chinese channels to market and sell your goods to Chinese customers is key to ensuring your investment wisely. Here are a few options.
Chinese E-Commerce Platforms
TMall(Alibaba)
56% of the customers in China use TMall for shopping. TMall has a high demand for foreign goods, and it mainly focuses on clothing, household items, accessories. TMall is a premium version of Taobao and has a higher barrier entry level for sellers. Advertising on TMall is a good way to attract more customers in China and popularized your brand.
Taobao(Alibaba)
Taobao follows the consumer-to-consumer model and is a great platform to sell foreign products directly to the customers. It even allows a small business to sell products online. Not only is it an ultimate go-to platform for low and medium-end consumers, but it is easy to create an account on Taobao and sell online goods.
JD.com
JD.com covers 25% of the Chinese market and uses the B2C e-commerce model. It is the second-largest e-commerce market in China and mainly focuses on online retail. If your brand deals with selling home appliances and electronic equipment, then JD.com is the best platform to sell to China online.
Similar to TMall, JD.com also follows strict rules and legal documents to sell foreign goods in China.
Wechat is one of the famous platforms to sell your products in China. It covers more than 1 million users as Wechat is a big part of your marketing strategy when it comes to selling products to China.
Due to its more number of potential customers, it helps to drive traffic to your website and create more leads for the business and increase brand awareness. To sell foreign goods through WeChat, you have to set up a WFOE(Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise) for the full benefits of WeChat.
Weibo is a Chinese version of Twitter in China. It is mainly used as an entertainment and news platform. Have gripping in the Weibo app, it is essential to publish quality content to gain visibility and brand recognition in China. More than 50% of the users in Weibo are below the age of 25.
Key Opinion Leader
Kols is another Chinese version of “Influencer market” and has more number of young audiences. Celebrities mainly use Kols or social media influencer who has a large number of followers. More users buy products that are recommended in Kols.
WeChat and Weibo are two major social media platforms used for Kol. Targeting a broad audience through Kols through WeChat and Weibo is possible, mostly if you are selling luxury or cosmetic items.
Baidu
Baidu is one of the successful platforms in China. It helps in promoting millions of businesses through its platform. Creating a business account in Baidu includes search marketing, content network marketing, and it can allow you to reach 700 million users.
As a foreign seller, you can use paid Ads as an effective way to enhance your brand recognition and increase traffic through Chinese customers. Setting up and advertising on Baidu is a little complex as it requires a WFOE document.
Toutiao
Taotiau is a social media platform like Wechat and Weibo. It is a news and information content platform offering personalized content to each of its users with full of Ads. It has more than 120 million daily active subscribers and can be an exceptional platform to advertise your product.
Most of the users in Toutio are from 18 to 30 years of age and sell to China online products easy on this platform, along with brand recognition.