At the last IWNY several words were spoken on the subject of
doing business overseas that probably had little to do with the themes in Sinclair Lewis's collection of shorts, but reminded me of them anyway. In any event, companies [or individuals] that focus exclusively on developing their
product in potentially lucrative foreign markets and live to tell the tale are
often admired then copied. And, today there are plenty of markets to play in.
The biggest, in terms of m-commerce, is China. Not sure why? Well consider
these tidbits from people that know:
- 1 in 5 purchases made on China’s top
C2C site, Taobao, are mobile purchases. Taobao took RMB 200 million in
mobile sales on one promotion day last December.
- China m-commerce totaled RMB11.5billion
in 2011, representing 416% YOY growth. This growth went parabolic in the
first half of 2012.
- Chinese smartphone users check their
devices on average every 6 minutes, and use them on average for 5 hours
per day.
But digital marketers keen to take advantage of the new
paradigm in mobile commerce in China, would be wise to pay attention to a few
old rules that, according to the experts, still apply:
- An all-Mandarin site, not a Google
Translate version or mirror. Baidu, with >85% search engine market
share, de-lists any sites with more than a smattering of non-Mandarin
terminology. Translate for sales appeal, not just accuracy, and register a
pinyin version of your name for the domain, for maximum SEO impact.
- Sina & Tencent Weibo (Microblog)
remain a western organization’s social platforms of choice, as opposed to
Kaixin and Renren. The latter are for a very youthful demographic, and
friend-to-friend oriented, while the former are relied on for news and
product recommendations. Sina is still offering free enterprise accounts,
and results are limited only by willingness to engage.
- Selling online in China, despite rumors
to the contrary, is not simply a matter of opening a store on Taobao.
Brand dilution, competing with Chinese vendors on margin, and efforts to
get search results within the site make Taobao a feasible second step,
once a home site and brand is established, but a solo effort requiring
lots of work for questionable reward.
But wait a minute I hear you say. Isn’t that last one,
Taobao, the biggest B2C in China? Well, yes it is. But there’s a reason, those
looking for an in, should stay clear of it according to the group Web Presence
China. Simply put, no one trusts Taobao vendors. And, so no one will trust you. Executing a sale online any place in the absence of trust is more than a mild hassle. It's a nightmare. It’s a better [and smarter]
play to draw Chinese customers in to your own site and offer them the bells and
whistles that’ll drive them back. You've been warned.
http://web-presence-in-china.com/node/847
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