The inside scoop

Maggie Zhou is the managing director for Alibaba Group in Australia and New Zealand. Zhou shares her insights on the Chinese market and her advice on what businesses should do to give themselves the best chance of cracking this enormous opportunity.

Alibaba Group opened its Australian office this year. What does the group’s overall strategy look like?

Alibaba Group’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. We are delighted to see so many Australian companies achieving success through our platforms, with Australia being ranked fifth globally on our Tmall and Tmall Global platforms. Today, we have more than 1300 brands on our business-to-consumer platforms Tmall and Tmall Global. For more than 80 per cent of these brands, they have accessed the market in China for the first time through these platforms. As part of our strategic partnership with Australia Post, they opened a flagship store on Tmall Global in 2014. This has been an essential tool to help Australian brands access the Chinese market. Many of the brands showcased on the Australia Post store are small and medium-sized and this channel has provided easier access to some of the 529 million mobile monthly active users on our China retail marketplaces.

Once a brand gets its products into one of those flagship stores, what does it need to do next?

Companies must have a commitment to, and a strategy for, the Chinese market and put a marketing budget there in order to see growth. It takes time and commitment to build a brand in China. Chinese consumers want to hear about the Australian lifestyle. It’s not just about selling the products by listing them on the flagship store, the marketing content is really important: if it attracts Chinese consumers, they will like your product and buy it directly. Engaging Chinese influencers or celebrities is another important strategy but you have to find the right fit for your brand. For example, The a2 Milk Company found a Chinese TV star, who’s also a young mother, to promote their infant formula.

As well as health, beauty and baby products, wine is a growth area. Tell us about the special day you have for it on Alibaba Group’s platforms.

In Chinese, “wine” and “nine” have the same pronunciation so last year we began our 9.9 Global Wine & Spirits Festival. We are seeing growing demand for Australian wine in the Chinese market and increased recognition by Chinese consumers. Education is a great way of marketing wine in China. Rather than simply promoting products, having live-streaming sessions within flagship stores – with sommeliers showing how to taste wine, sharing their knowledge and explaining the wine lifestyle – is a great way to showcase Australian wines to Chinese consumers.