As we all know, Amazon has become the epicenter of all eCommerce transactions and purchases in the entire world. However, China is an exception.
Jeff Bezos has publicly stated that he regrets not focusing on the Chinese market, where JD.com and Alibaba now control more than “https://www.eastwestbank.com/ReachFurther/News/Article/JD-vs-Alibaba-ECommerce-War-Of-China”80% of all eCommerce trade. However, Chinese sellers are becoming more and more interested in Amazon.
This increase in interest has created a more competitive market, resulting in some uncanny sales tactics. We have a lot to learn from Chinese sellers, for both selling into China, as well as selling B2C internationally. These 7 tactics exemplify Chinese eCommerce creativity.
1 – Using apps to promote their products
Even though lots of Chinese sellers invest in Amazon sponsored ads, they know that their biggest advantage lies in word-of-mouth marketing.
People in China generally have a habit of believing not just customer reviews on Amazon, but personal impressions from their friends. Instead of limiting themselves to Amazon, Chinese sellers use a myriad of different apps to promote their new products, sales, and special offers.
Meipai, for instance, is one of the most popular apps for promoting Amazon products in China. Manufacturers and retailers have a habit of publishing short promotional videos or tutorials about their products. Approximately 433 million people watch videos regularly in China, making apps like Meipai the perfect platform for video marketing of Amazon products.
Advertising and sales are multiplatform activities, only using Amazon as the final destination to make the sale.
2 – Following trends
China has experienced an incredible economic boom in the last few decades. Since they always feel the need to compete with American and other western sellers, Chinese Amazon retailers have mastered the art of following trends. They have become well-versed in analyzing the most popular fads in fashion. Upon concluding which best-selling items to focus on, they use them as an example and make their own versions for the Chinese market.
Take Huawei as a prime example. They’ve cleverly realized that Samsung possesses the best phone design, while Apple boasts the best software. To create the best product, they’ve combined the two facets.
Chinese companies are known to have entire teams of analytic experts, constantly combing through Amazon lists to find the best-selling items to copy. With such vigor, it’s easy to start selling B2C internationally. For every international project, Chinese Amazon sellers conduct experiments within their demanding and competitive domestic market.
3 – Local sourcing
Have you ever wondered why Chinese products are so inexpensive, despite their supreme quality sometimes? The answer lies in the vastness of China, a country consisting of more than 30 different regions, spanning all across East Asia. Considering the fact that these regions have their own special industrial niches, it’s easy to source products locally.
As a result, Chinese sellers on Amazon always seem to have an infinite stock of products. This is because they are using the “home field advantage.” Since every region is dedicated to a certain type of production, Amazon retailers can avoid international import taxes and other expenses. All this is possible with fast delivery of any product imaginable.
For instance, Shenzhen is known as China’s Silicon Valley. All the major tech companies are located there. If an Amazon seller wants to sell electronics, they just have to do the following:
- They go directly to the factory to inspect products, making sure they will sell quality goods
- Subsequently, they meet with a manager or owner, ready to close a deal
- Since they are buying in bulk and without any major taxes, the Chinese seller on Amazon are able to save millions of yuan.
- Because they bought the product for cheap, they can drive the price down and drive away the competition – all because of local sourcing!
4 – Product descriptions
Chinese customers love to see long, verbose explanations and product descriptions. Amazon sellers have caught onto this trend, hiring writing services such as UK CareersBooster for product descriptions.
Usually, these product-related texts are both detailed and simple, created not just for one niche group – but for everyone. Almost every Chinese seller is able to focus on the logistics while leaving the product-related content to an assignment writing company.
This method can serve as a valuable example to all Amazon sellers. It’s more effective to invest money into a service than to do multiple things and at once and fail to satisfy your customers. Those who wish to start selling into China have to focus on product descriptions.
5 – Fast and reliable service
The advantage of living in a 1.5 billion-people country is that you don’t have to have your products go through customs. This alone accelerates the process of product delivery for even the biggest orders.
With big rivers and a developed air traffic network, alongside rapidly developing roads, Chinese sellers on Amazon are able to provide whatever, whenever, at amazing speeds.
Westerners sometimes don’t believe how fast the life in cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing is. Speed is an integral part of Chinese culture, as they value doing things as soon as possible. Chinese sellers on Amazon are a prime example of why excellent service is sometimes more important than the product itself.
6 – The advantage of low prices
American Amazon sellers have to go through a series of network to source their products. They first have to contact the representatives of a company. Afterward, they schedule a meeting.
Once the meeting is done, they travel to the factory to close the deal. This isn’t even half of the entire process, as paperwork, inspections, taxes, and delivery through customs await. All of this drives the price up as much as 400%!
Chinese Amazon sellers can just visit the factory and close the deal. They have no language barrier, and there is no difference in time zone whatsoever. Local sourcing provides many advantages to Chinese sellers on Amazon.
7 – Effective local targeting
A mistake which many US Amazon sellers make is thinking that only a global influence is the definition of success. On the other hand, Chinese Amazon sellers don’t have the burden of conquering markets abroad. Instead, the first item on their agenda is targeting a local audience and effectively selling their products.
Only when their local goals are fulfilled, Chinese sellers on Amazon make serious efforts to expand to Europe and the USA.
Concluding thoughts
The Chinese market is a fertile ground for innovations. Amazon sellers take advantage of an expansive domestic market and the unique nature of social media and marketing methods. We can all learn something from them.
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Author
Alexandra Reay is one from professional essay writers team. She is fond of horse-riding, reading and rock music. Alexandra keeps her spirit in writing fluent articles as well. Meet her at Twitter.
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