10 Ways to Market your e-Commerce Website in China

E-commerce in China represents a huge market with a lot of opportunities, it represents :

• More than 800 millions netizens in China, with 98% million of them are always connected on their phones
• 649.57 million eCommerce users in China, who spend $899.06 USD online
• 584 billion USD spend online and more than 917.7 billion USD by 2022

The online habits of Chinese people are more and more linked to online buying and that proofs that this market is more and more stable and mature.

What does it represents for the brands who wish to succeed in e-commerce in China ?

Chinese people are more and more used to buy online, and are more and more trustful with this shopping platform, and so, digital marketing strategies are more efficient and give better returns, as clients expectations are higher.

This article will explain you how to answer to e-commerce customer’s expectations.

 

Website in China, use the .cn

Before everything, your internet website must be hosted in China and have a domain name in .cn for a better visibility. It can be done in applying on CNNIC : http://www1.cnnic.cn/IS/CNym/cnymyhfaq/

Website’s layout

• The website must be translated in simplified Chinese
• The pages must load quickly

Internet in China is not as quick as in Western countries, it means that pages with big size videos, and high quality pictures will make you loose traffic, and potential customers. Besides, there is a large choice for customers on the web, and if your website is loud, citizens will go to see the other competitors.

 

 

A main page with a maximum information

Here is the rules to follow if you create a website for Chinese customers :

• Adapt the prices
• Different payment methods
• Trolley with choose products
• Attractive deals and offers

These information must be available in the main page because what is visible on this page is the most important. Besides, Chinese are very regarding with deals and price cuts, and that’s the reason why a website like Taobao is as successful.

 

Content will seduce potential buyers

You need quality content :

1. Content with high added value are appreciated when giving the most informations to your website visitors and when prices are at the top of the list.
2. Content must be written in clear and concise way because Chinese people don’t waste their time in reading difficult descriptions of your products.

So, it’s important to write short and clear descriptions in Chinese. One other important thing is quickness. A quick page load and quickness to be understood by the client are essential.

 

SEO for Chinese Search Engine

When your website answers to the criteria given above, you should improve your ranking on search engines. So, when a netizen will write specific key words in link with your website products, the website should ideally be the first one. In China, you should follow Baidu’s rules, Baidu is a search engine that represents 80% of web researches.

More information about SEO on this article about Baidu’s SEO secrets!

Our Case Study

Wine Spirit- GMA

Wine Spirit is an Online alcohol distributor. They sell wine, sake and so on online. They have its own alcohol e-Commerce website. Consider the increasing needs of wines in Chinese market, they decided to develop Chinese e-commerce wine market through Gentlemen Marketing Agency.

Solution:

• SEO on Baidu
• Ereputation
• Related Keyword Setup (SEM)

Result：

• +200% traffic

 

Why optimizing search engines ?

A good website will attract customers but will not have the visibility it deserves if you brand is unknown in China. You should work on how to be found.

The goal is to have a good ranking when we write the key words, ideally being the first result on the first page. It’s important to know that 85% of citizens stop at the first page, so a website in the second page will loose 85% of potential customers.

With a good marketing campaign on SEO, you could see your traffic increasing of 70%, it represents 70% more chances to have leads.

 

Promotions and special offers

 

In the Chinese culture, people really like promotions and prices cuts. It’s a national practice to look for the best offers, in a clothes shop or in a supermarket, it’s the same. The best promotions will be preferred even if it represents a few yuans won. So, it’s essential to offer deals and promotions to transform a simple visitor in a buyer.

 

Exchanges between buyer and seller

The chat with the seller is culturally as important as finding the best prices for Chinese people to have a maximum of information on the sale product. So, you should have available people, ready to answer to all the questions. It will show your serious and you professionalism, two key elements to do business in China.

 

E-reputation

 

 

To improve your brand image in China, you must be active on specialized forums to improve your e-reputation.

For that, you should pay much attention to customers opinion because online buyers in China like to talk about their online shopping, and give their impressions on the brands. More information here

 

Weibo

With specialized forums, there is the Chinese twitter : Weibo, and its more than 650 million active users. It’s a very useful social media for the reputation of raising brands.

 

WeChat

 

How to not talk about the reference of social medias in China, and that begins to be know in western countries.

Wechat allows to use official accounts to share news about your brand and your producs, services and promotions. It also allows to improve your clients loyalty to your brand.

These listed methods must be followed to buil and keep the loyalty of your customers to your brand. With many scandals, online buyers have become more and more suspicious, and it’s important to reassure them. More information about wechat Marketing here

Our Case Study Nano Japan- GMA

NANO JAPAN is Asia’s leading brand in health dietary supplement and beauty care products available exclusively online, With products carefully R&D and produced in Japan, Singapore and New Zealand.

Our Missions:

• Social media campaign(Wechat+Weibo)
• E-Reputation
• JD store

Results:

Only after one month:

• +3 000 followers on Wechat and +6 000 On Weibo
• Top on Baidu
• Increase visibility

So your client is reassured and ready to buy your product, how will he pay ?

The payment of a product shouldn’t exceed three steps if you don’t want your potential buyer to go to see competitors. Besides, forget Paypal and similar websites, in China, it’s Alipay owned by Alibaba or Hijaouax from tencent group.

Conclusion

E-commerce market in China is different than westerns market. The customers mood change regularly, and if you are active and strategic, choose digital marketing experts, you will have the opportunity the meet succeed in E-commerce in China.

More information about e-Commerce in China here. 

 

Our Agency

You need a partner to launch you brand in China? Contact us!

We help companies wishing to sell on the Chinese market. We are specialists in:

E-REPUTATION: Primordial before launching, we work together on your unique selling point, then on the social networks and with the help of PR, we make sure that your image on the networks is totally clean and reliable for the Chinese users.

SEO: Search Engine Optimization of your website will be essential, our team of specialists will take care of your e-reputation, the management of your social networks while setting up an SEO / SEM campaign allowing you to gain places in the ranking of the Baidu Chinese search engine.

LEAD GENERATION: Our teams are professionals in lead generation. To optimize it, your e-reputation must be irreproachable. Investing in online advertising and creating quality content will help you develop your e-reputation. Finally, the evaluation of the results will be important to guide us in the next stages of your development.

DIGITAL SOLUTIONS: Website creation, development and audit; social media marketing (including WeChat & Weibo); PR; monthly reports and analyzes by our team of experts.