Chinese Business Insights Chinese Business Secrets Exposed ISSUE 1
How Will You Sell Your Product In China? ISSUE 1: In this issue we will give you insights on how to market your product in China properly and how to get the most out of your money. The Western World has not yet recognized Chinese Social Media. This issue will guide you through a step-by-step plan on how to market your product on WeChat and how to generate more sales on Chinese Social Networks. We will furthermore make clear to you how Chinese people think and will analyze differences in behavior towards buying a product.
Nov. 14th, 2015
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ISSUU Leon Chaudhari
© Leon Chaudhari 2015. Beijing, China. All rights reserved. Published independently. State the author if you want to use parts of this paper for personal or academic use. You may distribute this paper. Follow Leon Chaudhari on Facebook or @leonchaudhari on Twitter. For the lastest updates visit leonchaudhari.com. While I am in China please contact me under leonchaudhari@yahoo.com Leon Chaudhari is the CEO & Co-Founder of TAPTAB and Publisher & Managing Partner of HowTo Magazine. He spent time studying in China and the United States of America, is about to publish several masterclasses on Business Development, Equity Management, Language Learning & Personal Development on Udemy, and regularily gives updates about developments in Chinese economy and stock market. Leon is furthermore renowned for his inventions, which won him several national and international awards, and his public speaking. TABLE OF CONTENTS What Chinese People Like/Don’t Like 1. Consumer Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. How To Sell A Product In China That Was Made in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 WeChat Marketing – How To Sell Your Product On WeChat & Gain Exposure in China 1. WeChat [Introduction] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Group Chats & Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3 3. What To Sell/What Not To Sell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Street Businesses in China 1. What Do They Normally Sell? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2. How To Figure Out Your Niche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 What Chinese People Like/Don’t Like 1. Consumer Behaviour Chinese people think differently from the people in the western world. In case you want to sell a food item or want to open a restaurant in China, do not try to sell a product that is sweet. You will not generate any sales. Remember: NORTH → Salty; SOUTH → SWEET/SPICY, EAST → SOUR, WEST → ROASTED/SPICY; MIDDLE OF CHINA → SPICY Chinese people want a product that actually benefits them from the moment they buy it. 80-90% of all products advocate their specific advantages in the cover. Chinese people think pragramticly. 2. How To Sell A Product In China That Was Made in China The only way you can sell Chinese people a product that was made in China, is to make them understand the product is Western. China has its own Amazon, called Taobao, even though Amazon gained some expsoure in China in recent years. Taobao for example sells Nike shoes, offered by a Chinese reseller and it clearly states “Made in China”. Chinese people want to have the feeling they are buying from a company that is well known in the west and is trusted by many people in the West (because of course these people are always right). It starts by choosing the right username on the platform you sell. Do not try to fit in and use a Chinese Username. Take the “Western” alternative, and, believe me, you will generate more sales. Make the impression that you are American. Chinese people, young to old, believe “the West” is basically the United States. Look for clothing or other products that are popular in Chinese Media and Music. Analyze western stars that have exposure in China. The most popular ones are Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.
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And Chinese people want the clothes they wear, eat the food and live the lifestlye they associate with them, and for sure listen to the music they produce. Write all your blogs in Chinese (or get someone to help you to write them in Chinese) but keep your public image western. The same products you are selling will also be available in China, probably even cheaper. So, when you want to sell it for a higher price, make the impression that you buy the products in the West one by one for your customer. WeChat Marketing – How To Sell Your Product On WeChat & Gain Exposure in China 1. WeChat [Introduction] Chinese people usually refer to WeChat as Weixin 微信, so don’t be confused if they do not know WeChat. Currently, WeChat has over 500 Million users all over Asia but is most regularily used in China. WeChat is as addictive as Facebook. Everyone is on WeChat all the time. It’s the perfect platform for selling clothes, music, and other items. Do not try to sell machines or technical devices on WeChat. WeChat has its own pay system but many people do not use it. Chinese people do not use Paypal. They use Alipay. Keep that in mind when selling products on WeChat. WeChat is available in almost every App Store. Just check for WeChat or Weixin. 2. Group Chats & Posts You have three ways to post content. You can comment on existing posts, you can make groups (or chats) and advertise your product or you can make a post yourself with the products you want to sell. I recommend that you don’t try to comment on existing posts to sell your product. You will just creep people out. WAY NUMBER 1: MAKE A POST to sell your product on WeChat. Posts are quite effective because everyone sees them on their wall and will definitely scroll over them. It has many advantages to make a post yourself but it can easily creep people out as well. It is boring if you want make posts trying to sell your product. I recommend 80% posts that are fun and interesting to people and only 20% of your posts in order to advertise your product. That’s how you will generate sales. Ask the people in your post to write you a personal message if they are interested in the product you are selling. And, do not state they price of your product but just ask people what they think about the product you are selling. Example: You are selling a dress from CHANEL that Taylor Swift wore at the last MTV Music Awards. Post the photo of Taylor Swift wearing the dress together with photos of the dress itself. People will easily get attracted to it. Then, ask what they think about the dress. They will comment. In case they like it, send them a message that you could make a good price for them and state that you will buy it directly in the CHANEL shop in your town (in the West). Ask them to pay you over Alipay. For most people in China it’s the most convenient way to pay for a product online. Try to stay as credible and trustworthy as possible. Make sure that your customers comment on your next posts. Perhaps even ask them to leave a good review (by making them commenting “Thank you so much. Great offer. Fast shipping. From now on, I will only buy from you!”).
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Give them a 20% discount on the next product they buy from you. Here are some people who did it successfully:
> Your WeChat Wall
> How Your Post Will Look
> When Customer Clicks on Post
WAY NUMBER 2: GROUP CHATS are perhaps one of the most effective measures to sell your product on WeChat. Just make a simple post stating the product you are selling, the price of it and send photos with it. The maximum amount of photos for a single post on your WeChat wall is 9 photos. In a chat you are limited to one photo. You should not post twenty photos for every product in your chat. You will probably end up generating no sells because people will get annoyed and leave the group chat. In order to get many people in a group chat, ask your friends on WeChat to invite all their friends on WeChat to the group. Chinese people do not tend to leave groups on WeChat. So, the more people you have the better. Don’t just add random people and invite them to your group chat. They will think you are spam; And, that’s why will not buy your product. But, if one of your friends invites other people the group, your friend’s friends will trust you.
Now, you can state your offer simply as written text < Product Name, Company, Price SPECIAL OFFER, and ways how to pay you >. Or you can support your text with a photo. I recommend that. Take a powerful photo, for example the same jacket worn by an American pop star.
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Street Businesses In China 1. What Do They Normally Sell? Once arrived in China, you will see street businesses everywhere. Most of them look quite dirty and unprofessional. And that’s because they are. Chinese people still like them and they make some good sales. So, why not an opportunity for you to make some money? Right now, these shops only sell food or paper money (that gets burned when family members or relatives die.) But until now, those shops do not sell anything else then these two goods. A chance for foreign investors? In the last couple of years, many of those small street shops had to close because too many restaurants offered even cheaper food with higher quality. But, there are still many niches you could fill in. 2. How To Figure Out Your Niche Ask yourself the following questions: 1. What product do I want to sell? 2. Do people from the West like it? 3. Do people from China now that people in the West like it? 4. Is it helpful to Chinese people (they think very pragmaticly), or, in case you sell food, does the Chinese consumer like the taste? Remember: NORTH à Salty; SOUTH à SWEET/SPICY, EAST à SOUR, WEST à ROASTED/SPICY; MIDDLE OF CHINA à SPICY. 5. How much is the product worth to Chinese people? 6. Is the product you are selling cheaper or more expensive than the product that the other street shops sell? 7. Does your shops look Western? YES à GOOD; NO à Make it look western or make less of a profit 8. Can consumers get this product anywhere else in China easily (or even on the streets)? 9. What age has your target group? 10. On which streets is your target group? (What other things do they enjoy?) If you figured out the answers to these questions, you are ready to go!
Thanks for reading!
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