TO SELL IN CHINA, BE DIGITAL-READY
Commercial counsellor at Beijing’s Philippine Trade and Investment Center Glenn Penaranda says e-commerce has become a lifestyle for most Chinese consumers
Filipino entrepreneurs planning to tap the Chinese market are advised to become digitally-ready as e-commerce in China has become part of their lifestyle.
“Going digital is a big trend in China. They now do everything online,” said Glenn Penaranda, commercial counsellor at the Philippine Trade and Investment Center- Beijing.
“They are getting hooked on convenience and the pursuit of a better quality of life,” he added.
Penaranda said there are about 400 million middle class individuals in China, who can become potential buyers of Filipino high-end products.
He said there are about 778 million internet users in China and 510 million digital buyers. About 80 percent of China’s total population shop online at least once a week.
“If you want to enter the Chinese market. You’ve got to be ready online too. You also need
to have an efficient logistics system and better warehousing,” said Penaranda.
Alibaba is an example of China’s biggest e-commerce platform, which has been raking in millions in sales online daily. It has a complex and vast ecosystem, which includes Taobao, TMall, and Alibaba.com.
It also started AliPay, which allows users to pay through its own platform, and AntFinancial, which gives financing to businesses.
Alibaba has more than 500 million people using its shopping apps every month and has operations in more than 200 countries.
During last year’s 11/11 shopping day, also known as Single’s Day, which Alibaba started, the e-commerce site generated $25.3 billion in online sales.
Some Filipino products, according to Penaranda, are already present in China’s online market.
However, the Philippine government wants to see more, citing China’s efforts to shift to a consumption-driven economy.
“China’s population is big and
is powered by increased spending power, so demand for better and imported products is high,” he said, adding that the Chinese government’s plan to ease its one-child policy also presents a huge opportunity for a sustainable market.
Penaranda also noted that Filipino entrepreneurs who think they would have difficulty addressing the demand may explore the possibility of collaborating or engaging in joint venture partnerships with Chinese investors to scale up production, access wider market and achieve a better market position.
Cross-border e-commerce trade went up by 80.6 percent last year to log 90.24 billion yuan.
China’s e-commerce exports surged 41.3 percent to 33.65 billion yuan last year, while imports skyrocketed by 116.4 percent to 56.59 billion yuan.
On Nov. 11, the Singles’ Day online shopping festival, Chinese customs processed a total of 16.2 million orders, about 187 per second.