You need to understand the complexities and cultural differences of navigating its unique internet ecosystem

With the internet lowering the barriers to entrepreneurship, startups in Southeast Asia have the opportunity to tap into global markets — especially lucrative ones like China — faster than ever before. Chinese consumers spent US$750 billion online last year, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, and an increasing amount of this spending happened from both Chinese consumers buying goods and services from businesses overseas and from Chinese consumers traveling or studying abroad.

That said, China is also a daunting prospect and it is critical for any business — not the least resource-strapped startups — to understand the complexities and cultural differences of navigating its unique internet ecosystem. Over the past year, we’ve had a chance to learn a lot from our users and partners about selling cross-border to Chinese consumers. Here are four key factors to success that we’ve encountered:

Do your homework

Before you start selling cross-border to Chinese consumers, consider how you can learn from the estimated 50 million Chinese citizens living overseas. The Chinese diaspora is a powerful community of influencers to friends and family back in China.

Similarly, Chinese education networks among Chinese students and alumni overseas are very influential to peers back home. For example, in Australia, a number of Chinese students act as ‘daigou’ or purchasing agents buying goods on behalf of customers in mainland China, helping buy everything from vitamins to dairy and beauty products. Analysts estimate that these daigous turn over approximately US$ billion across the retail sector annually.

Be mobile first

This might seem obvious in Asia, but is especially critical when thinking about China. Ninety-five percent of China’s internet users are on mobile, and mobile commerce accounts for 71% of Chinese e-commerce. From responsive design to seamless checkout experiences, businesses need to meet consumer expectations on mobile.

Similarly, offering mobile payment methods is essential to cross-border success in China. Alipay and WeChat Pay are China’s largest mobile payment methods, with 520 million and 600 million users respectively, so offering these at a minimum will help you serve your customers better. Stripe recently launched support for Alipay and WeChat Pay, meaning startups using Stripe can quickly activate these payment methods with just a few clicks.

Get discovered

Getting your product discovered in China is extremely challenging as an overseas business. One solution is to leverage powerful Chinese e-commerce ecosystems like Tmall, which is a relatively low cost way to both get discovered and learn about the Chinese market before making a larger investment.

Alternatively, you can work with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), or deal sites in China – such as DealMoon and 55Haitao – to promote your product and help get discovered in the early days.

Anticipate consumer expectations

As demonstrated in Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms, like Taobao, customers also like to see products from many different angles, so consider increasing the number of product photos as part of the shopping experience.

Chinese consumers also expect to build a relationship with you (the seller) before making a purchase. Given the popularity of social media like WeChat and the widespread availability of other real time feedback tools in Alibaba’s ecosystem, Chinese consumers have come to expect near-real-time responses from businesses. Having a chat feature and using customer support tools to automate responses on your website could help bridge time zones and meet these expectations.

With hundreds of miles between you and your potential customers in China — along with cultural gaps and language barriers — spending the time to set up your internal customer support platform will help you support these customers better.

Finally, negotiating. In China, it’s an accepted norm to negotiate for lower prices. Unlike typical online auction sites where prices go up, Chinese websites like Taobao typically see the prices of their goods negotiated down. Given that Chinese consumers are accustomed to comparing prices and bargaining online, don’t be surprised if some customers write in to inquire about discounts.

While the consumer landscape in China is complex, it also present a huge opportunity for businesses able to navigate its unique norms and customer expectations, especially as the rising Chinese middle class continues to drive greater demand online and overseas.

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This article was authored by Piruze Sabuncu, Head Southeast Asia & Hong Kong, Stripe.

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