Should you use the services of an agent or find a local distributor yourself ? Set up directly on the territory, or go through e-commerce ? It's true, Chinese growth is stalling. However, it is no less appetizing for any SME looking for an international dimension. What tactic to adopt to invest this territory, sometimes frightening by its size and its specificities ? The point on essential questions, when one plans to attack the gigantic Chinese market here.
Use a sales agent
A sort of technical sales representative for your company, the agent promotes your offer to his network of customers and helps you with customs and import formalities. Find
other technique here. Taking on an agent is always risky. It can take time to find the right one. He must be at the same time a trustworthy person, particularly on intellectual property issues, and at the same time a competent professional.
And even after finding the rare pearl, things can turn sour. Elsewhere, we are used to talking about the technicality of our product for hours, while the Chinese, all they care about is the price and the function of the machine. Result, to sell there, you must develop specific products, less expensive and stripped of their technicality.
Play the e-commerce card
For some time now, foreign operators have had the right to set up online sales platforms in China. However, this solution cannot reasonably be considered by an SME. To copy and paste your French website, with a simple translation, is to run to failure. We do not speak in the same way to an English or Chinese consumer. And even if this platform were designed in the right way by a Chinese, there would be a serious communication and visibility problem.
Another solution is cross-border e-commerce, for which there are now exchange facilities for products sent to individuals in the form of small packages. Cross-border sales benefit at this stage from such facilities because the government wants to encourage domestic consumption. However, it is difficult to know how long they will still last and in what proportions.