Selling into China: 3 Pitfalls to be Avoided

Partnering with a local expert who can streamline the logistic process will forestall customer complaint about delivery time. A qualified partner should be equipped with adequate warehouse and shipping capacity.

by Azoya

As more and more Chinese consumers are buying directly from overseas through cross-border eCommerce, the option of selling into China via cross-border eCommerce can't be dismissed without thorough deliberation. This option offers branded manufacturers the benefits of selling to Chinese consumers with lower risks while leveraging existing fulfillment capacity in their own country. It is a viable option for those considering getting their feet wet by using a pilot program to test market reactions to brands and products.

However, it's not a market without risks. Outsiders may find it difficult to introduce a new product or retail brand that is less known to the Chinese customers. 

There're 3 pitfalls that overseas retailers should be aware of to sell into China through online.

#1 Traffic acquisition cost can be a blackhole.

 Establishing an online brand recognition from zero in China's saturated online market is not an easy task. Without incentives, customers won't visit a newly opened store they've never heard of. So online advertising and promotions become extremely important in order to solicite new customers.

However, there're a lot of tricks in finding the most suitable marketing channels. Different channels have their own positioning and targeting. If you invest a lot in a channel that is not congruous with your catagory or brand positioning, you will waste your money.

Choosing advertising channels that charge basing on performance is a way to avoid this problem, but an unmatched channel will waste your time, if not money.

#2 Your previous investment on SEO and social media marketing will be of no avail.

Your investments in Google’s SEO services and social media cannot be leveraged as Google, facebook, Twitter are all blocked by the Chinese firewall. This has added additional operation cost to your local business. You can outsource these jobs to local services providers. However, since SEO and social media conversion have a great impact on your business, you can't trust a stranger easily.

It's a common practice among many Chines SEO agents to increase SEO performance by attracting traffic using negative keywords. For example, when a user search for "counterfeit" on Baidu, he will probably find your Chinese store. The number one tip is to be cautious and choose a truely responsible local partner.

#3 There're too many factors that may cause customer dissatisfaction.

Customs clearance and delivery time remains one of the key challenges under cross-border eCommerce. Control over delivery to consumers and the ability to support returns can be key drivers for customer dissatisfaction.

Partnering with a local expert who can streamline the logistic process will fallstall customer complaint about delivery time. A qualified partner should be equipped with adequate warehouse and shipping capacity.

To solve other factors that trouble customers, a local operation team is a must. When a dissatisfied customer want an answer, you'd better respond without delay. However, considering the man power cost, it's not wise to assemble your own local operation