An Aussie marketing start-up is helping connect businesses to the lucrative market of Chinese consumers.
With an $8.1 trillion online retail spend and more than a quarter of the world’s online population, the Chinese market is one of immense opportunity for retailers, but one that is often difficult to access, with prohibitive costs and China’s unique digital landscape.
But a new digital platform, Sinorbis, is putting retailers in the fast lane to this market and helping them to market their products to Chinese consumers.
CEO of Sinorbis, Nicolas Chu told Retailbiz that the Chinese market is one of immense opportunity for Australian retailers, with 800 million online consumers.
“The dramatic rise in Chinese spending power and consumer confidence that we have witnessed over the past decade and there’s no doubt that China’s digital economy represents the opportunity of a century for businesses in the West – and that includes retailers in Australia.”
Chu said that while the health and wellbeing sector is one of “innate advantage” in the Chinese market, other sectors also have huge potential in China.
“Australia is renown in China for its natural beauty, clean environment and has become almost synonymous with good health in the minds of Chinese consumers. Given these associations, products in the health, supplements, organic cosmetics, baby and maternity care have an innate advantage.”
Despite the potential for retailers in this market, Chu says that Chinese internet regulation and the absence of Facebook, Google and Twitter make it extremely hard for retailers to access Chinese consumers – particularly SMEs.
“The cost of this approach can be prohibitive for small businesses – or even if you are able to afford it, the challenges of managing an agency from afar can be huge. Before Sinorbis, this meant that the Chinese market remained out of reach for many small to medium sized businesses.”
The platform breaks through these barriers to enable SMEs and other businesses to access the market without the risk and costs.
Chu says that retailers really need to challenge the widespread belief that the Chinese market is too risky to enter.
“I’d like to debunk the myth that it is too difficult, risky and costly for small companies to do business in China. With a good strategy, solid processes and some patience I have seen even very small businesses do very well in China. The key is to set realistic expectations on how long it will take to build relationships and set up your foundations.”
Having received a $4 million funding boost recently, the software’s expansion is set to accelerate.