Seeking Elusive Profits in China, US Retailers Expand Beyond Tmall, Embracing JD.com, WeChat and Direct-to-Consumer E-Commerce

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Stronger relationships with Tmall (Alibaba) and JD.com helped deliver U.S. retail brands a successful 2017 Singles Day in China. Continued growth for these brands will come from diversifying channels and strengthening platform partnerships in China, according to research from the Global Ecommerce Leaders Forum (GELF).

According to the survey, 64% of U.S. marketers plan to implement Tencent's WeChat in the next two years. Though Tmall is dominant with 56.6% of Chinese e-commerce sales in 2016 (eMarketer), newer channels are gaining traction, presenting U.S. brands opportunities to work with other platforms like JD.com and WeChat and invest more in their direct-to-consumer e-commerce operations.

One-third of China's 768 million daily WeChat users spend more than two hours per day chatting, sharing and shopping on the application, according to eMarketer. "WeChat feels like the early days of Facebook Marketing," according to one of the executives interviewed.

The GELF research is based on a survey of 56 leading U.S. brands active in global e-commerce as well as one-on-one interviews with senior U.S. e-commerce leaders.

Click here to download the complete research report, Catching the China Ecommerce Wave: A Global Ecommerce Leaders Forum Study.

Some of the key findings include:

• Fifty percent of the brands in the GELF survey said that investing in brand marketing and working with key opinion leaders (KOLs) is a top priority.
• More than 70% of the executives surveyed said localizing pricing and payments is their biggest priority when it comes to improving the shopping experience for Chinese e-commerce shoppers.
• U.S. brands listed their inability to drive revenue through their own websites as the greatest challenge when it comes to selling online in China. Lack of control of and/or reliance on third-party partners was the second most frequently listed challenge.
• Roughly 15% of the GELF executives polled said that 25% to 40% of their international e-commerce revenues are from online consumers in China.

"As players like Tencent and JD.com challenge Alibaba for market dominance, those global retail brands sitting on the fence will almost certainly be left behind," said Kent Allen, co-founder of GELF and the lead author of the study. "China e-commerce is different — local payments, different platforms, marketing channels and business models. This won't change and brands operating there need to adapt and evolve or miss out on the world's biggest e-commerce opportunity."

The study found that leading retail brands operating in China for five or more years are indeed adapting their e-commerce strategies and becoming more sophisticated. These leaders are pushing partners in China to help them build stronger platform relationships and help them more profitably scale their e-commerce operations.

A common refrain repeated in GELF's interviews is "China is different," highlighting the retail, business, marketing, cultural and government-related challenges that still exist in the market, even among those companies that entered China early and generate up to 40% of their international e-commerce revenue from the country. GELF's events and research were created to enable leading global marketers to better understand how to navigate Chinese e-commerce.

Download the free report, Catching the China Ecommerce Wave: A Global Ecommerce Leaders Forum Study, here.

About the Global Ecommerce Leaders Forum
Founded in 2014, GELF is a community and series of events 100% dedicated to cross-border and international ecommerce. GELF participants include heads of global ecommerce from major brands in fashion, beauty, consumer electronics, home furnishings, sporting goods B2B and other categories as well as solution providers that enable global e-commerce with technologies that support payments, fulfillment, marketing and ecommerce platforms.

About Total Retail
Total Retail is the go-to source for retail executives looking for the latest news and analysis on the retail industry. Featuring a quarterly print magazine, daily e-newsletter (Total Retail Report), daily-updated website, podcast channel, virtual and in-person events, and research reports, Total Retail offer retail executives the information they need to do their jobs more effectively and grow their professional careers.

Contact info:
Uriah Av-Ron
PR for the Global Ecommerce Leaders Forum
Email: [email protected]
Tel: (646) 755-6120

SOURCE Total Retail; Global Ecommerce Leaders Forum

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