2017年CRI Cross border E-commerce: bridging American brands and Chinese consumers

 

Reporters: Zhang Wan¹ and Wang Xiaoyu

For Chinese consumers who are interested in "made-in-USA", online retailers³ in China are connecting more American brands to Chinese consumers by importing directly from America.

Thanks to these cross border E-commerce platforms, Chinese consumers are finding it increasingly easy to gain access to a wider choice of imported American products. Listen to the show and find out more.

[Photo: Bing.com]

The American Cranberry⁴ firm Ocean Spray holds a 54 percent customer awareness⁵ of cranberries⁶ in China, but three years ago, that number was only 4 percent.

Today, more than 70 percent of its sales are done through the internet, thanks to its cooperation with China's cross border E-commerce platforms. These platforms offer various channels to allow the company to get in touch with the huge numbers of Chinese online customers.

Aravind Cherukuri, vice⁷ present of Ocean Spray International, says China's cross border E-commerce platform has benefited a lot of foreign brands such as their company.

"We are pure North American company, so we don't have any subsidiary in China, so effectively, we sell our products to E-commerce customers in China, they then sell these products down stream to Chinese consumers."

[Photo: Baidu.com]

Chinese market is huge. A survey from China Internet Network Information Center shows that by 2016, China has 470 billion online customers. At the same time, imported products are attractive to many Chinese people. A statistic⁸ shows 9 of 10 families in China purchased imported products in 2016. Cross border E-commerce platforms attract consumers through retailing⁹ imported products online. Ms. Hao is a loyal cranberry customer, and buys imports quite often through online platforms.

"Imported products represent the best quality in some sectors¹⁰, for example, the best cranberries are definitely from American. And shopping for these products online is easy and quick."

The pursuit of quality drives Chinese consumers to cross border E-commerce platforms, where they can find authentic¹¹ products from overseas. Daisy Hong is the general manager of the Greater China Division of Ocean Spray International. She says the channels offered by cross border E-commerce platforms make it possible to sell the authentic products to Chinese customers.

"One of our E-commerce platform strategies is direct marketing¹². All products are shipped from the US directly. And because it's E-commerce, we can expose our latest products to most customers in a short time."

Daisy Hong adds that their company doubled its sales in 2016 compared to the year before.

[Photo: Bing.com]

But Ocean Spray's story is just one example of many American products selling on Chinese E-commerce platforms. JD.COM is one of the biggest domestic online shopping platforms in China, and its subsidiary, JD Worldwide, offers imported products to its 225 million customers.

Josh Gartner, vice president of the company, says their American outlet¹³ is the largest of its worldwide malls, providing all kinds of American imports including electronics, maternity¹⁴ products and food. He believes the model of cross border retail² not only benefits Chinese consumers, at the same time, it benefits smaller American brands.

"For a lot of import items, such as American products they may be well-known brands in the US and other markets, but they may or may not be well known among Chinese consumers. So we can play an important role in making sure that consumers become aware of those products, especially the smaller brands. We can put in a lot of resources, including the channels that we have, such as Wechat, to make sure that consumers are aware of them and we can build brand loyalty¹⁵".

China is regarded as an attractive market for many products, and cross border E-commerce is now helping¹⁶ American brands convert the market potential into brand awareness and revenue.

As Aravind Cherukuri of Ocean Spray says, foreign brands preparing to enter China, need to consider which platform they use to communicate with consumers, and cross border E-commerce has been effectively connecting American brands to the huge Chinese market.

1 wan   

(wide area network)广域网

参考例句：

• The shared connection can be an Ethernet,wireless LAN,or wireless WAN connection.提供共享的网络连接可以是以太网、无线局域网或无线广域网。

2 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

3 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

4 cranberry   

n.梅果

参考例句：

• Turkey reminds me of cranberry sauce.火鸡让我想起梅果酱。
• Actually I prefer canned cranberry sauce.事实上我更喜欢罐装的梅果酱。

5 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

6 cranberries   

n.越橘( cranberry的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The tart flavour of the cranberries adds piquancy. 越橘的酸味很可口。
• Look at the fresh cranberries. 你看这些新鲜的蔓越橘。 来自无师自通 校园英语会话

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

9 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

12 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

13 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

14 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

15 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。