Triumphs or Woes, Marketing to a Chinese Market.
So you want to market your products to Chinese consumers…
There is no denying the proof that China is a huge, and tremendously different, market to western international markets, especially when it comes to e-commerce – which includes a multitude of brands and products.
Being a once booming market is testament to China’s unique social and commercial make-up. The issue with the current market will relate to the correction in financial markets as growth slows and anxieties rise amid the on-going trade war with the United States. Undoubtedly there will be winners as well as losers – will yours be one of the fortunate businesses’ to be in the winners circle when the dust settles?
Among the Chinese business landscape there is still a lot of money being invested and made in this short term economically unstable environment. I believe that you need to set your business apart from the pack. Just ask the executives of Alibaba, the e-commerce multifaceted technology giant who are promoting equality and trust among its vast network of consumers.
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba has figured out time and again how to penetrate China and access the fast-growing middle class by ensuring online networks infrastructure and logistics solutions with the likes Tmall , the business-to-consumer online network (owned by Alibaba) ultimately conveys trust to the centre of consumers’ minds.
The vast majority of eastern seaboard Chinese consumers are largely online but, further inland, logistics has been a challenge. So if a local Chinese behemoth is facing these challenges – what chance does a foreign international business have?
Generally organisations who do well in China have first established strong markets at home and in some cases in international western markets and have developed trust in Chinese consumers.
The Chinese want to know that a new product has already been established in the home market of that product. With hundreds of new products to choose from everyday only adds to difficulty in launching your new product. Chinese consumers are suspicious of sub-standard companies trying to access the wealth of their billions of people.
New Zealand’s companies by all intents and purposes who are focused on primary industries are greatly viewed as trusted by Chinese consumers who have grown accustomed to the long history of indulging in our products. There have been many instances where international businesses have lost trust, (a French dairy company comes to mind). Once Chinese regulators who have ultimate power when weighing in on untrustworthy businesses get involved it can make or break you in the eyes of many.
The Chinese consumer inherently makes a conscious effort to carefully research the goods and companies online, using WeChat and Alibaba and other local social networks.
New strategic directions and dealing with disruption.
Strategic thinking is particularly important for business leaders when considering how to penetrate the Chinese market. In these fast-changing days of digital disruption, marketing opportunities should be focusing on increasing engagement, loyalty and involving all layers within your business, not just top down.
Improving outcomes for consumers and businesses by applying industry expertise and digital technology are important business elements to make time to address. Cutting out unnecessary intermediaries and creating a strategic business model is the way to go. If companies don’t change, they can become irrelevant faster than most realize.
The Chinese government also spends a vast amount of time pushing domestic brands which doesn’t seem to sway Chinese consumers who have placed their trust in established international brands. However, there is show of support for the Chinese economy with the recent opening of the world’s longest sea bridge, connecting the financial hub of Hong Kong with mainland China, a symbol of China’s hopes to boost trade links with Hong Kong and Macau.
Your distributors or intermediaries have to be at coal-face to safeguard company value, it’s the only way to keep in touch with the world’s biggest and most difficult market with rapidly changing consumer habits.
