China E-Commerce & Social Media

Trade Advice

E-commerce and social media have rapidly become part of daily life in China and the digital world presents an opportunity for many NZ companies. From our population base here in NZ of less than five million the numbers are simply staggering.
As many companies in NZ are already aware:
•     There are now over 640 million active Internet users in China
•     China has quickly grown to almost 20 percent of the world’s total e-commerce user base
•     Over 340 million people shopped online in China last year
•     And they made 16 billion individual purchases
•     Within two years, two thirds of China’s urban population will have shopped online
•     And within two years China will account for more than half of global e-commerce

Recently New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), with the support of the New Zealand China Trade Association (NZCTA) and the New Zealand China Council (NZCC), held full-day China e-Commerce workshops in Auckland and Christchurch and brought speakers and panellists to talk past the sheer size and scale of China and instead to go deeper with insights and information to help NZ companies better understand the market, better understand potential consumers’ needs and motivations, and better understand how their own product and business proposition fits with that market and its consumers. The end result was a day packed full of information to help develop and implement well-planned digital market strategies for China. The speakers gave practical approaches for understanding consumer decision making, reaching potential customers, and engaging the consumers through social media, search engine optimisation, and using key opinion leaders and influencers. In addition, the attendees received insights on sound overall market strategy to back up their e-commerce plans – including choice of business model, market research, consumer testing, data-driven insights, and keeping track of regulatory changes.

Click here to download a brief overview of the key themes that came out of the workshop.

Jul 21, 2016