Even though sell to China online has challenges, businesses selling through cross-border enjoy reduced tariffs and lower regulatory requirements. It provides an opportunity for companies to test the Chinese market without setting up a physical presence in China.

Here are a few key points to help you sell to China online.

China is the world’s largest eCommerce market, and the unique about Chinese cross-border eCommerce is that large amounts of transactions flow both ways. Chinese customers love foreign goods and inexpensive items.

Chinese Marketplace

Chinese top e-Commerce market place that host foreign sellers include the following

Tmall Global: It is a cross-border version of Tmall e-Commerce that leads the domestic online marketplace. Tmall offers to sell only imported merchandise via foreign merchants’ stores hosted on Tmall’s website. It uses Alibaba’s proprietary Alipay for payments.

JD Worldwide: It is the second-largest cross-border online mall and dominates home appliances and consumer electronic goods. It uses Tencent’s online payment services for transactions.

Sunning Global: It is a cross-border online mall of China’s largest commercial company that features more than 300 foreign storefronts and offers store operators and financial support services. It is mostly famous for electrical appliances and uses its own online payment escrow service, Yi-Pay, to complete transactions in RMB or foreign currencies.

Amazon China Global Store: It is an Amazon China platform for Chinese customers and uses Alipay, Tenpay, and UnionPay to complete RMB transactions or a foreign currency.

Online Supermarket

E-commerce supermarkets purchase large quantities of overseas goods and sell their goods to hypermarkets at a negotiated wholesale price.

Kaola: It is a cross-border eCommerce hypermarket with the most massive bonded warehouse in China that allows more than forty countries to sell their products on the Kaola platform.

JD.com– It also operates a hypermarket business that acts as a middleman, purchasing inventory from overseas companies and reselling it to Chinese consumers.

Suning is also a hypermarket model stocked by direct sourcing.

Below are the five key points that are driving China’s e-commerce market

E-Commerce shopping festival

With more shopping festivals and themes, e-Commerce is trying to gain more potential customers. According to a Double 11 festival survey, 79% of the customer participated that created an opportunity for local brands and foreign brands to leverage the collective enthusiasm for shopping among Chinese consumers. These holidays are perfect for experimenting and trying new things to gain customers. It also provides an opportunity for new brands entering the market to get noticed.

Consumption upgrade

Consumption upgrade means consumers are more confident in spending their money on several categories, especially food, cosmetics, and clothing. The Chinese customer recognizes imported goods for their attention to quality, health, safety, and even package design. Through various online platforms, Chinese consumers now have broad access to products from all over the world.

New Retail: Online and Offline

The Online to Offline (O2O) business model helps transform the retail industry and bring both challenges and opportunities to the market. Alibaba has evolved with other supermarkets to encourage super engagement with supermarkets. Before shopping, they request customers to download an app through which products are purchased, and where spending and consumer profiles will be saved and stored online. Thus, customers can enjoy door to door delivery within 30 minutes.

Digital Payment

Alipay and Wepay are the most popular online payment methods in China. Just as credit cards drove demand and enabled the US market, financing from e-tailers will also have a trend in China. Many consumption loan provider expanding their businesses by cooperating with offline channels, providing comprehensive portfolios of services to their potential customers.

From Online platform to Media platform

Social media help people interact with one another, making it an ideal place to share and comment on products. Also, the high amount of mobile commerce has increased the e-tail advertising ecosystem’s transition from open to closed loop. Thus social media is an essential tool for marketing, especially when communicating and engaging with potential consumers.

In China, KOL is a massive marketing platform that helps push products through live streaming Applications and get paid live from their audience with gifts.