SINGAPORE -
Media OutReach - 22 June 2022 -
Global ecommerce accelerator
Pattern has
polled 1,000 Chinese shoppers who shopped on the largest cross-border
marketplace Tmall Global in the past 12 months. The polling is set to
understand these cross-border shoppers' online buyer behaviour, and how
their buying decisions for Western brands and products were influenced
in different stages throughout the buyer's journey. The findings are
included in Pattern's
China Cross-border Shopper Report 2022.
Overall, 67% of respondents said they would spend more online shopping
in the next 12 months. This polling was conducted at a time when parts
of China faced lockdowns to curb the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
The result shows that China's cross-border shoppers have proved
remarkably resilient and are generally optimistic about their life in
future. 73% of our respondents are considered higher income groups
(annual household income around US$45,000 or above), and 92% of them
live in China's Tier 1 and new Tier 1 cities; such as Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou.
The research shows that Tmall Global was approved by 85% of respondents
as their favourite cross-border buying channel, and led other online
marketplaces, shopping agents and foreign brands' direct-to-customer
websites in all the 12 product categories we surveyed. Supplemented by
its diverse on-platform marketing tools, Tmall Global is recommended as a
good starting point for Western brands to test the water of their
products in the Chinese market.
Other key findings reported in the report include:
Brands' official presence is trusted - A majority of
respondents said Western brands gained their trust from information on
the brands' storefronts on marketplaces (70% of the respondents) and the
storefronts' score, like the DSC score on Tmall (69%). We also observed
that most shoppers searched reviews of Western products on brands'
official accounts on social media (74%) and storefronts (70%), and 59%
of them did this on brands' websites.
Shoppers want more than price – When buying from Tmall Global,
69% of the respondents gave priority to guaranteed authenticity,
followed by better product quality (63%), better customer services
(57%), and better prices than elsewhere (50%). Regarding their reasons
to buy Western goods or from Western brands, the top choice is product
quality (60%), closely followed by a sense of uniqueness and a match of
their style or values (both 59%), and then value for money (57%). These
results show that China's cross-border shoppers have more considerations
in mind than product price when deciding to buy.
Social channels are influential - Off-platform marketing has been
an indispensable part of brands' ecommerce strategy in China,
particularly for cross-border ecommerce players. Douyin (a.k.a TikTok),
Xiaohongshu (a.k.a. Little Red Book) and WeChat top in this polling,
with 55% to 61% of respondents agreeing that their buying decisions were
influenced by these channels. Their large user bases make these
channels optimal for social selling and building brand awareness, but
they also differ in functionality for marketing that brands should be
aware of. And even with the right tools, brands should provide
localised, relevant, and more targeted content to resonate with their
audiences.
Pattern's Asia General Manager Arthur Cheung adds: "China has a huge
market that most consumer brands across the globe don't want to
overlook. However, the country has developed an ecommerce ecosystem
significantly different from the west, for example, the high integration
of off-platform marketing into ecommerce. To win in the Chinese market,
Western brands need to work out their unique proposition, find the
right selling platforms and marketing channels, and deliver localised
and resonating content to engage with Chinese cross-border shoppers."
A full copy of the research can be downloaded from
https://info.pattern.com/china-shopper-report-2022