The Number of Western Brands entering China's E-Commerce has increased during the pandemic
The pandemic stopped Chinese consumers from “buying overseas products abroad”, therefore, cross-border e-commerce has become a highland for foreign brands. More than 29,000 brands across 5,800 categories had joined China Cross Border eCommerce (CBEC) at the end of 2020, over 80 percent entering China for the first time.
Western Brands that entered China through eCommerce:
eCommerce only for well known brands?
Wrong, there are big opportunities for niche brands to enter China
The opportunities for “niche” brands become most obvious when considering the type of brands Chinese netizens like to share on Social Media.They tend to avoid the big name brands and instead turn their sights to niche brands and less recognized products.
While the definition of a niche brand for Chinese consumers is quite subjective and depends on the consumer’s level of sophistication, the general sentiment is that labeling something as “niche” makes the brand, or product, feel more premier (“高级“), which is the new equivalent of “premium” and “bespoke”.
eCommere Trends 2021
Livestreaming
With the rise of influencers, live-streaming became the marketing norm in China. The total scale of China’s live streaming doubled to USD 134.2 billion in 2020. In 2021 over 40% of digital buyers will purchase from live streamers.
Social Commerce
Online Sales assisted, shared and contributed by friends and family will keep their strong influence on the Chinese eCommerce. This market segment grew by 44% in 2020 and is expected to further grow by 35% in 2021.
Grocery Shopping
Partly due to the pandemic, e-groceries sales had a sales increase of 32% between January and March 2020. While the pandemic was suppressed in China rather quickly, digital grocery shopping will stay relevant in 2021.
