Purchase From Overseas Shopping Websites Consumers place orders directly on overseas shopping websites. Reliable and “Best” way Actually it is the best way of HaiTao in my eyes if you can have a fully localized web store designed for Chinese consumers. It is reliable to provide authentic products. But not every overseas shopping website is user […]
China Cross-border online shoppers are most valued pioneer consumers.
Compared to average online shoppers on domestic eCommerce websites in China, they are early adopters of new things and can afford to buy more from overseas.
Let's picture them:
Elder
Higher income
Higher education
Mainly white-collar employees and business owners
More than half are parents
Most live in the 1st, and 2nd tier cities in the coastal area.
Lower frequency of purchase
Higher basket size
They are seed customers of cross-border eCommerce, they influence the market and lead the market.
The number of these people is still not huge, and has a full potential to increase.
Here are 9 Market Trends of China Cross border Online Shopping after the new policy released by the government earlier this year. 1. Regulated Market We can see China Government’s efforts to head off the illegal gray-market imports and all the regulations will make the market more healthy. Trade zones were set up to qualify for the […]
Now You can enter China market at a much lower cost with a significant number of potential Chinese cross-border online shoppers out there.
And it is pretty efficient.
It is true that China sells various types of goods around the world.
In the mean time, Chinese buers love western brands, esp. luxury goods, infant formulas, healthcare products, cosmetics, etc.
Chinese buyers want to access to more foreign brands in an easier way, and they are ready to pay a premium for high-end products.
It is the good timing to get more Chinese buyers.
You can fully localize your web store, you can provide direct shipping to China, you can support Chinese customer service. When Would a Chinese Consumer Buy from Your Web Store?(Photo by Chao: In Southern Georgia, USA, Oct. 2016, I love the bales of the three little pigs)
With the attractive potential ahead, new players joined this game without hesitate.
This May, I attended the 5th Cross-border eCommerce conference China 2016 in Shanghai. The meeting lasted two days, the first day focusing on import and the 2nd day focusing on export.
The one sitting left to me is a senior director from a top newspaper in China, they are also working on a cross-border eCommerce program. A big challenge for them is the difficulty in recruiting qualified talents with experience in this field.
Actually I’d been in the same event twice last year. We can see obvious changes in a short time, and more new faces in the market.
the 5th Cross-border eCommerce conference China 2016 in Shanghai
Emily, my daughter dislikes her car seat since it becomes uncomfortable when she grows up. We also found it quite difficult to adjust and occupies too much space. So we decided to change a lite one which is easy to carry and set up. But all car seats in China physical store are quite traditional like our existing one.
4 weeks ago, Vicky sent me a shopping list before my travel in North America and stressed that Trunki Hello Kitty Boostapak is priority No. 1.
A Challenge But I Made It
Trunki is quite popular in UK and Hongkong. There are many fake ones in the China market too.
For this type of car seat, Trunki is not available in most American physical stores.
Though we can find standard pink and green version in many web stores, Hello kitty is quite difficult to find.
I failed to complete the mission in the United States and finally got the car seat from Taobao back home in China. Yesterday it arrived and Emily loved it.
Most important thing is, It took me less than 48 hours to get it.Finally, I Got A Trunki Hello Kitty Boostapak
This Thursday evening, the eve of 2016 Singles’ Day (Nov. 11, 2016), there is not much traffic on the streets.
Chinese consumers were busy collecting coupons, searching and adding products into their shopping carts.
Deep Discounts
Online shopping discounts encourage consumers to spend more on this special day, sales have already outdone Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in the U.S. in the past years.
New Record on Sales This Year on 2016 Singles’ Day
Task of the Year Before Sleeping
After midnight, it was 24 hours fight to empty the shopping carts of different online shopping sites.
In less than 52 seconds, 1bn yuan (US$147million) of products had already been sold through Alibaba’s platforms. The same amount of sales had been sold through mobile devices took only 57 seconds.
It has been really like a holiday, entirely devoted to online shopping and sales.
Chinese shoppers have been engaged in cross-border import trade over recent years.
Buying overseas products is generally referred to as “HaiTao” in Chinese.
“Hai” (Sea) means overseas, “Tao” (Search) means find and purchase.
How Do Chinese Online Shoppers Buy From Overseas?
Official Brand Web Store
It is the most reliable way for Chinese consumers to buy if they know your brand.
In the beginning, most foreign e-Commerce sites don’t offer the direct shipping service to China. Chinese consumers bought through overseas e-commerce sites, and ship the purchased products back to China through intermediary shipping companies.
Language barriers, different payment, customer service and after-sales service are also obstacles for average Chinese consumers.