What does Google do in China?

With offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, Google’s China operations include cloud computing, app development, advertising, and more. Overall, Google’s main business is helping Chinese companies expand into foreign markets. With around 30% share in the US advertisement market in 2020, Google is a gateway to the west for Chinese brands.

Ad revenue has always been a key component of Google’s revenue. To clarify, Google includes three main ads. Firstly, Search ads, which are text ads that appear at the top of the Google search results page. Secondly, Display ads, which are image ads that appear inside websites on the top and sides of the webpage. Lastly, Video ads, which appear before YouTube videos.

Google’s operations in China include

• Advertising: Google advertising helps Chinese companies grow their brand power and consumer recognition in foreign markets.
• AI research center: Launched in 2017, the AI research center based in Shanghai and Beijing mostly deals with translation software, which is the first of its kind in Asia.
• Cloud computing: Rather than trying to competing against Alibaba and Tencent in the domestic market, they are just supporting Chinese businesses. These businesses operate in South East Asia and want to use Google cloud computing.
• Hardware: Mostly based in Shenzhen, they recruit engineers to develop hardware for smartphones, smart speakers, and thermostats.
• Bringing Chinese apps and games onto the Google PlayStore: PlayStore tried and failed to launch in China in 2015, and is now blocked in China. So, Google recruits business developers to Chinese apps and games grow in foreign markets.
• Product launches: In China’s domestic market, Google has launched some small products. For instance, Files Go – file sharing app which is available on Xiaomi, Tencent, Huawei, and Baidu app stores. They have also released the Translate app in 2017 and have brought some of their AR and VR technology to China. ARCore apps are available on Xiaomi and Huawei devices.

Google’s China partnerships

In China, Google has made patent partnerships with Tencent and JD.com. (Tencent is number 1 in social media and games, while JD.com is number 2 in eCommerce). Also, Google has failed in making a partnership with Inspur and NetEase. (To clarify, Inspur large Chinese internet technology and data analytics company; NetEase is the number 2 in gaming in China). As foreign companies are engaged in more and more M&A in China, Google is in a good position with its partnerships with the abovementioned Chinese giants.

Google’s gaming partnerships in China

• Chushou TV: A mobile friendly live-streaming game platform. Google invested in this Tencent competitor in 2018. Despite creating a lot of buzz in its early days, the company failed in 2020. It advised its users to switch to Kuaishou (owned by Tencent).
• Tencent: In 2020, Tencent owns 45% of China’s gaming industry with a portfolio of 147 games as of 2019. The top game “Honour of Kings” has 200 million players.
• NetEase: Last year owned 16% of China’s gaming market. There was talk of Google partnering with NetEase in 2017. The aim was to launch Google Play in China and get Google’s portfolio of games into the hands of hundreds of millions of gamers. But the mooted partnership never materialized and Google Play is still banned in China. However, some NetEase games are available on Google Play Store.

Googles partnership with Tencent

Tencent and Google made patent sharing agreements on a wide array of products and technologies. Both of the companies have the freedom to access each other’s patent portfolios without the other suing for infringement. Google has made similar deals with Samsung before.

Google’s partnerships with cloud computing companies

Inspur: To comply with local laws and compete in the Chinese market, it is necessary for foreign cloud computing companies to partner with a local company. In 2018 Google was reported to be on the verge of signing a deal with Inspur but in 2020 it was reported that the plan was dead. In terms of competition, Amazon cloud services made a deal with Beijing Sinnet Technology (2017, 300 million USD) and IBM cloud services made a deal with 21Vianet Group (2014, 1 billion USD).

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Learn more about China’s digital ecosystem, see our report on WeChat mini-programs

This article Insider Talks with Google China: Insights into Google’s China operations is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research and Consulting China.

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Hi, I’m Jason Shen. I’m the creative director of Mobile Now Group. We help brands with their digital strategies and lately, we have worked a lot with creating WeChat mini-programs for brands.

Some platforms like Taobao and JD limit the amount of consumer data that show owners have access to, is it similar with WeChat mini-programs?

Jason Shen: With Tencent, there are close to no limits on the amount of consumer data on WeChat mini-programs that shop owners can access about their followers, especially when you take the fully customized solutions. But for most businesses, an off-the-shelf solution might cover 60% of their needs when it comes to customers’ data. For companies that want made-to-measure solutions, they can access a further 30% of their customers’ data and this will cost a little bit more. But for brands that want fully customized solutions, they can access the final 10% of consumer data on WeChat mini-programs, but that final 10% is mostly of use only to very big brands. But it is very doable for brands to access all of the data on their consumers that they want.

Importantly, there is a huge volume of data per consumer so it can take a lot of work to process it. I usually categorize the data into 4 groups:

1. Usability
2. Marketing and Campaign Operations
3. CRM related
4. Order & Sales related

Generally, I would say that when you are interested in a fully customized data analytics solution you are probably talking about companies with revenues in the hundreds of millions.

For Tmall and JD, the data is much harder to access compared with accessing consumer data on WeChat mini-programs.

What other advantages do WeChat mini-programs have over e-commerce platforms like Tmall, JD, and Taobao?

Jason Shen: On platforms like Tmall, JD, and Taobao, the rules are very much set and brands and storeowners must play by the rules that are set by those platforms. But these rules will actually cover the majority of needs for most businesses.

What are the limitations of mini-programs?

Jason Shen: AR and VR solutions. Stuff like virtual try-ons or changing rooms for eyewear, jewelry, and apparel. These have done much better on native apps currently but it’s probably not far off being delivered through WeChat mini-programs.

Can consumers compare products from several brands at a time using WeChat mini-programs like they can do Taobao? Or do they need to enter each brand’s mini-program separately?

Jason Shen: They can’t do this on WeChat. Think of WeChat mini-programs as more like flagship stores that are online, like an Apple store whereas Taobao is more like a supermarket where you can see many different brands selling the same product side by side.

This article Daxue Talks Transcript #118: Integrating the useful and relevant consumer data on WeChat mini-programs into your brand’s sales and marketing strategy is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research and Consulting China.

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Hi, I’m Jason Shen. I’m the creative director of Mobile Now Group. We help brands with their digital strategies and lately, we have worked a lot with creating WeChat mini-programs for brands.

How much more effort does it take to create a WeChat mini-program which can function as an e-commerce platform as opposed to a WeChat mini-program that is for interacting with a brand?

Jason Shen: There are hardly any limits to what a WeChat mini-program can do. Some non e-commerce WeChat mini-programs will be more expensive to make than those that have a purchasing platform and some will be cheaper to make. For most brands, selling products through WeChat mini-programs shouldn’t be much more expensive than not having a purchasing platform. However, selling products through WeChat mini-programs also requires your brand to develop its courier network to make sure the user gets the product in as timely a manner as they would if they had purchased it on another e-commerce platform.

Does WeChat take a commission, if so, how much? What are the other costs involved in setting up a WeChat mini-program e-commerce shop?

Jason Shen: Sometimes it is just a flat fee at the start and no commissions, and sometimes there can be commission fees because the service/ solution provider is obliged to continually update the platform.

How is shipping and handling normally handled for orders through the WeChat mini-programs?

Jason Shen: Some clients will have their own in-house warehouse tool, sometimes they will outsource these jobs to businesses that will take care of these issues.

Can you show us a brand that is selling products through WeChat mini-programs?

Jason Shen: Sephora is selling products through WeChat mini-programs. During covid, between Feb and May, offline retail was dead so what Sephora did was focused on livestreaming with KOLs live demo-ing products and it worked so well that it’s now become a feature of their WeChat mini-program and there will be a new one every few days and users can interact with the KOI..

This article Daxue Talks Transcript #117: Start selling products through WeChat mini-programs for your brand is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research and Consulting China.

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Hi, I’m Jason Shen. I’m the creative director of Mobile Now Group. We help brands with their digital strategies and lately, we have worked a lot with creating WeChat mini-programs for brands.

Can you show us some WeChat mini-program case studies or studies which highlight some of the work you have done in the past for brands?

Jason Shen: Sure, the first of the WeChat mini-program case studies is with Hennessy’s Blends WeChat mini-program. This WeChat mini-program is a portal to interacting with their new flagship bar at the bund. It features a booking system, shows events.

The second of the WeChat mini-program case studies is Lane Crawford’s WeChat mini-program. The main purpose of this WeChat mini-program was to convert their membership to digital and to show users their membership status and how far they had to go t achieve the next level of membership. Also, they rewarded members who had spent above a certain amount with coupons that could be spent in store, and this attempts to attract users to their stores at certain times of the year, particularly if they have new products on display.

They also have a private cart so sales associates at Lane Crawford can send personalized shopping baskets to VIP customers, based on previous conversations and purchases.

The third of our WeChat mini-program case studies is with Leica, they are a camera store. Its WeChat mini-program offers a boutique appointment booking platform for users which is analogous to booking an appointment with an Apple store “genius” who can show you all the different products they offer. Users can fill in a short form based on what they are interested in and then book an appointment time and date to come in to the store and be shown what they are interested in, and then Leica will show the models of the cameras to the users and bring them out for a test shoot with different camera models and Leica will montage all the photos they took and give it to the user.

The fourth of the WeChat mini-program case studies is Brunello Cucinelli. They made some clothing products which were very limited edition and so the items went on tour around China. So, users could book an appointment to come and try on the cashmere and decide whether or not they wanted to purchase. Also, you could go as groups of friends and it was more of an event than a walk-in appointment.

The fifth and final one of the WeChat mini-program case studies is Cheers by Ask Jerry, it’s kind of like Instagram meets Yelp for cocktails. Also, for bartenders it’s kind a LinkedIn profile.

This article Daxue Talks Transcript #116: A look at some successful and interesting WeChat mini-program case studies is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research and Consulting China.

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Hi, I’m Jason Shen. I’m the creative director of Mobile Now Group. We help brands with their digital strategies and lately, we have worked a lot with creating WeChat mini-programs for brands.

WeChat mini-programs have many entry points such as sharing on moments or direct messages, ads, official accounts and their articles, coupons and wallets, and QR codes. Which entry points should brands focus on to attract users to WeChat mini-programs?

Jason Shen: QR codes and sharing are generating the most traffic. In 2019 sharing was generating the most traffic for brands in terms of how they managed to attract users to WeChat mini-programs.

What roles does WeChat mini-programs play in consumer retention and CRM? What data can you collect? Is it possible to integrate data from sources like Tmall? Are phone numbers still used as unique identifiers for consumers?

Jason Shen: For consumer retention in terms of CRM integration, WeChat mini-programs are the best. It’s very flexible in terms of allowing you to integrate your pre-existing CRM solutions whether they are domestic or international solutions. It’s much more open than platforms like Tmall.

Phone numbers are still the most effective unique identifiers for mini-programs to identify consumers.

What are some mini-program tips to generate traffic and attract users to WeChat mini-programs and what should be avoided?

Jason Shen:

This article Daxue Talks Transcript #115: How can brands attract users to WeChat mini-programs? is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research and Consulting China.

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Hi, I’m Jason Shen. I’m the creative director of Mobile Now Group. We help brands with their digital strategies and lately, we have worked a lot with creating WeChat mini-programs for brands.

What are some key differences between WeChat mini-programs and apps?

Jason Shen: There are many advantages of WeChat mini-programs for brands when compared with apps. Firstly, you don’t need to download mini-programs, they are really smooth and run really fast. They can’t exceed 10 mb and your information is already cached on WeChat so you won’t have to re-enter details. mini-programs are cross-regional so it doesn’t matter where in the world you are. Another of the advantages of WeChat mini-programs for brands is that you don’t need to develop an IOS and an Android app, similar to a web page you don’t’ need to manage maintenance differently for different servers. They’re much easier to use, more streamlined, and more beneficial for users.

What are the limitations of WeChat mini-program, compared to native apps and websites?

Jason Shen: The framework of the mini-programs is really decided by Tencent (WeChat) but they there are certainly advantages of WeChat mini-programs for brands over platforms like Tmall where the layout of your store is quite fixed. So, you have a certain degree of freedom as to how your WeChat mini-program will look but obviously not as much a webpage or a native app. In terms of designing a mini-program compared to a native app, its 95% the same.

What are the necessary skills needed and how long does it take to deliver a mini-program?

Jason Shen: It varies from what the businesses want and what kind of solutions they select for. The three main categories of solutions we provide are:

1. Off-the-shelf solutions
2. Made-to-measure solutions
3. Fully customized solutions

Generally, these will be for small, medium, and large businesses/ brands.

For off-the-shelf solutions, probably having a digital marketing expert who has worked on mini-p or something similar in the past would suffice,

For Made-to-measure solutions, digital marketing expertise plus some light tech background is required because you will want to sync the mini-program with your businesses’ already existing digital infrastructure.

For fully customized solutions you will need expertise in both an IT and digital marketing background. Generally, it takes 2-8 months to deliver, the more complicated the solution, the longer it takes to deliver.

This article Daxue Talks Transcript #114: What are some of the advantages of WeChat mini-programs for brands? is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research and Consulting China.

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Hi, I’m Jason Shen. I’m the creative director of Mobile Now Group. We help brands with their digital strategies and lately, we have worked a lot with creating WeChat mini-programs for brands.

Why should a brand create a WeChat mini-program? What are the benefits of WeChat mini-programs for brands?

Jason Shen: One of the benefits of WeChat mini-programs for brands is that they’re very effective in terms of affecting and engaging consumers. They’re much lighter than a native app and have a lot of functionality. They’re very accessible to people and they are easy to share because they’re all held on China’s biggest social platform, also this means they can put out targeted notifications to potential customers.

Another of the benefits of WeChat mini-programs for brands is that they can scale much faster. Often brands will sell 30 or 40 times as much through their WeChat mini-program store than they will sell in an offline store. The lower maintenance cost of one WeChat mini-program online store compared to multiple offline stores means it makes sense for brands to have a WeChat mini-program.

What companies should and shouldn’t create WeChat mini-programs?

Jason Shen: It depends on the brands’ strategic aims. It can be quite costly and takes 4-5 months to deliver so the costs may outweigh the benefits of WeChat mini-programs for brands that are quite small but, of course, you want to invest ahead of the curve too.

Who are the main users of WeChat mini-program and can you tell us a bit about their habits?

42% female, 58% male. 72% android, 28% IOS. Most are between 20’s and 50’s. 30-38 makes up 27.4% of users. Distribution is fairly even across Tier 1, 2, 3, and 4 cities. For the Tier 1 cities, Beijing, then Shanghai, then Guangzhou in terms of users.

Most people use them for purchasing, interacting with brands, booking appointments in stores, availing of coupons, etc. but it depends on what services the brands offer through their WeChat mini-program.

There are also now mini-programs available on Baidu, Alipay, ByteDance (TikTok and Kuaishou). Is it worth it for brands to start looking into launching mini-programs on these platforms, too?

We’ve been watching these areas for a while. Using certain software frameworks, it is possible to have the same infrastructure for WeChat mini-programs as for mini-programs on other platforms, so you won’t need to build separate mini-programs for each platform. In terms of effectiveness, Douyin (TikTok) is starting to show really strong potential. For brands that rely heavily on visuals, Douyin mini-programs would definitely be something worth looking at. Currently, the other platforms are just not opened as much or engaged with for as long as WeChat or Douyin would be, probably because they lack the social aspect and ability to share, so for now mini-programs on other platforms are probably not worth it, but this may change in the future.

This article Daxue Talks Transcript #113: The benefits of WeChat mini-programs for brands is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research and Consulting China.

In episode 91 of our China business vlog, we share insights from Olivier Vérot of Gentleman Marketing Agency (GMA) on the ROIs from marketing campaigns, which Chinese platforms to sell on and he discusses key business partners for establishing fashion brands in China.

Full transcript below:

Welcome to Daxue Talks, a show powered by Daxue Consulting, a China based strategic market research company founded in 2010. With Daxue Talks you will stay up to date with all the latest business updates in China, every day you will learn from China based experts who share their knowledge about the Chinese market in 2-5 minutes.

I’m Olivier Verot, I’m the founder of Gentleman Marketing Agency – GMA, we’re a digital marketing agency focused on performance, we are based in Shanghai.

Based on different platforms, what kind of ROI’s are there for fashion brands?

The ROI is extremely difficult to calculate in fashion because there is many data that as marketer we don’t have. The first data that we don’t have its what we call the conversion rate. So, if we drive 100 traffic, how many people can buy? And this is difficult to know because it will change in the time. So, if you’re a new brand your ROI is extremely low, because you’re new and people don’t trust you. If you’re a brand that is quite famous, it can be 1-3% for example on Tmall and if you are a brand that is already very famous and doing very well, it can reach 5-10%. So, the first data, it’s complicated, it’s the conversion rate.

The second data that basically we don’t have also as well is the recommendations or it’s like – if the people buy a product, will they re-buy? Will they recommend it? So, it’s basically something that is really matters to the brand and the quality. So, we have some brand we work with, their buying rate is very low, but when people buy it, it’s so niche and it’s so good, that they will recommend this basically to their friends and to their circle.

So, we have a watch brand that basically only focuses on watch and their buying rate, their conversion rate is very low. So, it’s almost like 0.5%, but their recommendation rate its high. So, the cost of the acquisition of one user is low, but they can recommend to more users.

So, usually for us we know that during the first six months all the brands if they’re doing ecommerce, they’re losing money on one of the platforms they will use. Oaky. Between six months to one year they need to adapt and usually between 1 year to 1.5 year they arrive to the breaking point. Okay.

So, I would like to say at the beginning the ROI will be like 1 -0.5, so $1 invested – 0.5 is basically the income that they can get. After six months to one year they can reach 1-1 usually in fashion. And after one year, one year and a half is where they really start to make money and we see this everywhere basically in the world. If you work on other platforms, it’s always like this, the conversion rate is increasing if the trust, work and basically, it’s because we also know the last thing – it is what we call a star product.

I’ll give you an example – like all the brands they have a range of different products but actually only 1, 2 or 3 products will catch 80% of all of their sales. So, if you know what it is, you just communicate on this one. If you work with Dior, you’ll only focus on the perfume Dior – if you work with – I don’t know with like Lancôme – you will only focus on one specific cream. So if you work with like a Luis Vuitton you only focus on the brands, because that’s what brings all the sales and usually it takes a little bit of time to know that, because when you speak to a brand, most of the client what they want – they want to sell everything. But actually, if you want to sell everything, you sell nothing. You need to focus on what really the clients want and what they want will drive the sales to the other.

So, that’s also why the increase of the ROI increases with the time because the brand loyals, we know about their consumer, about what they think and basically, it’s also the time to adapt.

What are the key partners you need to consider when you want to introduce a fashion brand online in China?

It’s a good question – I think you need to have a – to be successful with the fashion brands you need to set up your brand image and you need to have a partner really focused on that. So, the brand image can be visual, can be the creation of the visual intensity, a specific positioning, a specific niche – so I would like to say – this is the first part.

The second part is like to have the brands really focused on – the first partner focus on your reputation, so to focus more on your word of mouth, your reputation online. That is basically your core, what people – when they search what they will find.

The third partner is to focus on your visibility or what we call the brand awareness. So, it’s basically like influencers, ads, it’s basically social media, it’s like how can I make my brand as visible as possible, and the last factor is an ecommerce partner. So, it can be a distributor, you can do by yourself, it can be an ecommerce agency, and this partner will be in charge of selling your products, so managing basically your store.

So, to manage your store they need visibility, they need a specific branding, positioning and they also need visibility and I would like to say – the last one its more focused on the distribution. So if the brand wants to develop their distribution they can develop distribution offline by stores, or finding distributors that would resell for them, or also to find online distributors, a lot of distributors or resellers or affiliate or whatever you call it, to resell your brand.

So, the last part takes more time, usually the brand they do it internally but they can also find some partner to do that and I’ll anticipate your next question – where we can help the brand for that – its working on the reputations. Its working on the visibility and also doing basically the ecommerce part. Usually for the first part its more company like yours, Daxue – and for finding distributors and develop this part is more doing by themselves via trade fair and have their own sales team that basically are contacting all the different partners everywhere.

Any questions? We will find an expert to answer them. Drop your questions in the comments or send us an email at dx@daxueconsulting.com

This article Daxue Talks transcripts #91: Be a successful fashion brand in China: brand image, partners and ROI is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research and Consulting China.

In this China business vlog, we interviewed Olivier Vérot from Gentleman Marketing Agency (GMA) to understand better the ROI of Chinese platforms and to discuss brand image and the key business partners for fashion brands in China.

Jump to questions:

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:34 Based on different platforms, what kind of ROIs are there for fashion brands?
• 4:21 What are the key partners you need to consider when you want to introduce a fashion brand online in China?

Daxue Talks is a show powered by daxue consulting, a china-based strategic market research company founded in 2010! With Daxue Talks, you will stay up to date with all the latest business updates in China.

This article DaxueTalks 91: Be a successful fashion brand in China: brand image, partners and the ROI is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research and Consulting China.

Click here to listen to episode 90 of Daxue Talks where we interviewed Olivier Vérot to learn more about brand loyalty among China’s fashion consumers. We asked him about loyalty program management and what brands need to know about ecommerce return management in China.

Full transcript below

Welcome to Daxue Talks, a show powered by Daxue Consulting, a China based strategic market research company founded in 2010.

I’m Olivier Verot, I’m the founder of Gentleman Marketing Agency – GMA, we’re a digital marketing agency focused on performance, we are based in Shanghai.

We understand fashion brands are relying a lot on community when it comes to loyalty programs. How do you manage your community and loyalty program to make sure you that you maintain a relationship with and retain your clients?

The loyalty in China it’s actually an interesting topic and I’m pretty sure that nobody has the real solution because Chinese consumers are basically not loyal. They are not really loyal to a brand; they are loyal to what they like or by discount or by gift or by something that’s of benefit for them. So, its very difficult to find a consumer that will buy the same fashion brand all his life. I have never met them and they like to change, they like to try new things. So, if you want to really speak about loyalty programs, its complicated.

If you want to speak about the tools – today there is like a WeChat mini program that is basically pretty good – you can set up a mini-program and basically people can receive information or special discount or something, so it can be a good way to develop the loyalty of the consumer. Actually, for me its not really loyalty – you just repeat and resend message and new information about your brand, you new product to the consumer. So, if you don’t develop something new, if you don’t give them new reason to buy, people will basically – don’t do it.

I’ll give you an example, its very easy to understand. If a girl buys a beautiful AMS bag, I don’t think she will buy a second AMS bag or third AMS bag, so its not like this – however after she tries the first AMS bag you can communicate to her about clothes or a scarf or something else. So, you need to have a mini program to follow her step of buying, her step of understanding about the brand and this mini program is very good. So you can divide them in the new customer, in the old customer, in the people who never buy, in the people that never buy but always open the account, so basically it gives you better segmentation of your followers and then basically you can send more targeted message directly to these people.

On WeChat I think the best tool to develop the loyalty – I would like to say its more complicated and its more one to one relationship. On WeChat you have also the groups that create community and in the community you can communicate about your offers and something like this, but its not really for the consumer, the consumer are more in one to one with the brand and they don’t like to be with everybody in the same group, with like 500 top customers. It doesn’t work like this or I don’t believe it works like this. Its more the community to intimate about the new offer, the new things about the brand, as a community management for the new buyers but not really to the old buyers. Old buyers is one to one. So, mini program or the sales, who are directly chatting and talking directly to the seller.

If you are selling fast fashion, I understand mini program can make sense, especially if you have a store. So, if you have a store – 100 stores everywhere and every time people buy, they can scan, they follow your mini program, with this you can create a huge database very fast. If it made out to luxury then 20 shop in China, you get 20 clients maximum per shop so its complicated and when it’s made out to luxury, people expect to not have a robot speak to them but to have a high-quality sale who give special relationship.

Special relationship with luxury, high end consumer its very hard to be automated or by post, you have to be by people who are really good. That’s my personal point of view, but I’m not very specific in loyalty programs.

About after sales we know that there may be a lot of product returns for fashion brands. How is it managed and do you have any metrics to share?

There is a lot of return online, especially on Taobao and Tmall and I think its normal. I’ll explain you why – its very easy to understand. People buy fashion, fast fashion online and they see a picture and when they receive it, they will try and they don’t like it. So, its normal. You imagine a girl going to a shop, how many clothes she tries before deciding to buy one. So, its basically the same concept. So, when it made out to fast fashion, something that doesn’t cost much, the return rate is very high. It can be 20 – 30% even for the brand 50%. The brand has to accept that and integrate this into their cost. Its normal.

Getting this information – the return rate is usually quite low and usually the quality is also higher so there is less surprise. How to manage that I would like to say, the more you develop yourself the more you need to understand what it is and the more you can integrate this information into your Tmall store or into your self-service, so I don’t know – if for example the picture of this one looks kind of like purple, but when you receive it its pink, usually you need to remodify your page so it looks like as much real that it is to the normal. If there is some problems or if there is – if people think that this clothes should look sort of like this, you need to adapt your Tmall page and your message to something that looks like more real or to change the point of view to decrease this rate as much as you can and I would like to say – if you’re really successful you have to integrate this to your – its normal. People buy, they try and they return and if they know that the next item they buy, and if they don’t like it, they can return it easily, so it’s the trust you can build with your audience.

Any questions? We will find an expert to answer them. Drop your questions in the comments or send us an email at dx@daxueconsulting.com.

This article Daxue Talks transcript #90: Brand loyalty and tips for decreasing the cost of ecommerce returns in China is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research and Consulting China.