Entering China through E-Commerce

The second session of the webinar series “Entering China through Digital” organized by the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce (CICC) together with our Quality Council (QC) was held on June 29th.

Here is a summary of the main issues addressed during this session.

How should a company plan a successful entry strategy to China in 2022?

Considering that Chinese people buy more products online than offline, entering the Chinese market today means entering it through e-commerce.

As co-CEO of Adiacent China, Lapo Tanzj stated that a digital strategy is nothing if you don’t have a clear idea of what your country strategy is. A good country strategy for China should focus on the mid-long term; businesses should be prepared to properly manage their IP in China, be well aware of regulations and licenses and prepare a financial plan that takes worst-case scenarios into account.

Localisation is another relevant topic when discussing entry strategies to China; the choice between domestic and cross-border e-commerce comes with drawbacks and benefits on both sides. A domestic business model requires a legal entity physically in China and high expenses for licenses and importing procedures but ensures maximum flexibility and more distribution channels. On the other hand, a cross-border business model through authorised platforms has fewer initial costs and the management of the supply chain and duty is done by the platform, but the decreased flexibility makes it more suitable for selected categories of products, such as limited editions or products with strict import regulations.

The second speaker, Erik Panič, Territory Development Manager for Medex, shared his experience in launching a cross-border business in China using the platform TMallGlobal.

One step back, what is Medex? Medex is a company specialized in apitherapy that develops innovative food supplements based on bee products.

To access the platform, an initial deposit for opening the online store, an early fixed fee, commission on sales and mandatory promotional activities are required. But if you want to quickly enter the Chinese online market this is one of the best solutions, stressed Erik Panič.

The next speaker, Andrea Coppola, Managing Director at Mint Italia, provided insights on how to achieve a superior supply chain performance, where we mean performance in terms of costs, quality, flexibility and time.

Integration is the key to achieving superior supply chain performance in the global shipping and logistics industry. The integration goes even further to include the supplier's supplier and the customer's customer to leverage the power of the "network", beyond their own.

Considering the high number of actors and segments involved in a global supply chain, integration is really essential to achieve a cost-effective service. 

The webinar was moderated by Andrea Fenn, co-CEO Adiacent China.