Trade Advice
In a beast as huge, diverse and dynamic as China’s e-commerce market it’s easy to get distracted by the size of the opportunity and forget to focus sharply on your brand proposition, who exactly you’re targeting and what they want, think and believe.
Focus, focus, focus! This was the refrain from experts at the recent China e-commerce workshops held in Auckland and Christchurch.
Alex Qian, Business Development Director for Chinese company Leqee and NZTE Beachheads Advisor, pointed out at the roadshow: “The opportunity of China’s e-commerce is massive, but [Kiwi companies] tend to lose focus.”
Glen Murphy, NZTE’s Regional Director for Greater China, built on this sentiment: “Being focused is critical. New Zealand is really small. All of our companies are small. So it is really hard to compete in such a complicated, ever-changing market particularly in the e-commerce environment. So – be nimble. Get close to your customers, get close to your channels so that you can adjust really really quickly. Make use of your smallness.”
Speakers at the roadshow also gave practical approaches for understanding consumer decision making, reaching potential customers, and engaging consumers through social media, search engine optimisation, and using key opinion leaders and influencers. They also delivered insights on sound overall market strategy to back up e-commerce plans – including choice of business model, market research, consumer testing, data-driven insights, and keeping track of regulatory changes.
Take a look at these clips to hear the highlights:
https://www.nzte.govt.nz/en/news-and-media/features/e-commerce-experts-on-the-laser-like-focus-needed-from-kiwi-companies-in-china/
E-commerce in China
E-commerce and social media have rapidly become part of daily life in China and present an opportunity for many New Zealand companies. From our population base of less than five million, the numbers in China can seem simply staggering.
China has:
* Over 640 million active internet users
* Almost 20 percent of the world’s total e-commerce user base
And
* Over 340 million people shopped online in China last year
* They made 16 billion individual purchases
* Within two years, two thirds of China’s urban population will have shopped online
* Within two years China will account for more than half of global e-commerce
NZTE partnered with New Zealand China Trade Association (NZCTA) and the New Zealand China Council (NZCC) on the workshops.
Sep 26, 2016