To differentiate your product – Focus on its Quality, its Benefits & Your Story. Don’t sell on Price!
For products exported to China, there is a perceived premium associated with the product by Chinese buyers because it is from a foreign location.
Most Chinese buyers will purchase a premium product because they trust the brand name or the country where the product is from and the background story about the product.
A high product price will enhance this perception from the buyer in China, while a low priced product can quickly diminish this perception.
For most products, exporters pitch at a premium price point for their product.
Have a China Customer Support team.
It is essential to bear in mind that the Chinese buyers themselves can initiate customer interactions. These buyers prefer to be able to talk with your company in Chinese.
Having a China-based Customer Support team will pay off for you in terms of establishing trust, building relationships and overcoming language and cultural issues. Did you know that 74.7 % of people say the availability of after-sales support in their language influences their buying decision!
TCI China offers its clients a China Customer Support service.
Have a China contact address for product returns.
A china contact address is essential to establishing trust and gives reassurance to any potential customers in China. It demonstrates to any buyer that your company is serious and committed to buyers in China.
The biggest online stores require that you have a local Chinese address when registering as a merchant on their platforms. The address is required for returned sales and after-sales services.
Put a Chinese phone number on all your packing and marketing materials
“Chinese only buy in China” is a rule of thumb used by companies when selling to China. While you might ship your products from overseas to China, your buyer in China wants to be in a position to call a Chinese telephone number and speak with a person who is:
- In the same time zone as them.
- Speaks the same language as them.
- Is from the same cultural background as them.
To successfully establish a sustainable sales model for China, firms should display a Chinese telephone number on all packing and marketing materials. They should also include a Chinese business address. It is vital as it provides buyers in China with the reassurance that there is customer support available to them in China if they choose to purchase your company’s products.
Make sure that you have a dedicated Chinese website or a Chinese section on your company website
Websites which work in your country may not work in China. At the time of writing, Facebook, YouTube and Google do not work in China. It would help if you undertook the following:
- Determine if your company website functions correctly in China. Check response times, on both mobile and desktops. Investigate if videos on your website work. Also, it is worth checking if other areas, such as e-commerce functions are allowed to operate in China.
- Create a Chinese website and have it hosted in China. The benefits of this include:
- Overcoming Chinese Firewall restrictions.
- Raising your company’s reputation amongst buyers.
- Growing Chinese SEO opportunities.
- Increasing the protection of your companies’ Intellectual Property.
- Have a dedicated Chinese language page on your companies website. Pay for a translation Service. Google translate does not offer a sufficient and proper translation service!
- Get your products listed on Chinese B2B list websites. Goodada.com.cn is an excellent platform as it not only translates your company and product information into Chinese; it also enables your promotional videos to be seen correctly in China.
Pricing
Your China Sales Strategy should indicate a suitable pricing model for quoting to buyers in China. There are three pricing models which can be considered:
Ex-Works Price
This price is for the products collected by the buyer from your warehouse or factory.
It should always be the lowest price available. The reason for this is because this price only includes the cost of manufacturing and the amount of profit.
This pricing model may only be available for certain products and may not be suitable for food exports to China or in countries where an export licence is required.
CIF to China Price
It is the most popular pricing model to use when quoting for business in China.
CIF means that the price for the product includes transport to the port/ airport in China. It also means that if the products are damaged during transport that the seller is responsible for this. What it also means is that the buyer will do the customers clearance in China, and they will pay for any import duties applied by Chinese Customs for that product.
Delivered price (online Sales)
This price is used for those products listed on online stores. It is primarily focused on consumer sales. By the time your online store has become active for sales in China, you should have researched the costs for delivering the products to the buyer in China.
Conclusion
There are many opportunities to develop sales in China. TCI China offers companies seeking to generate sales in China a wide range of services, including China Market Entry Consulting and China Market Research and China Outsourced Support Services.
Ecommerce sales have begun to make it easier for foreign companies to try and generate sales into China. If you are interested in learning more about eCommerce, please visit our Ecommerce Consulting page.