Setting up distribution in China will require a Chinese partner and some knowledge of the reality of selling to the Chinese. The domestic market may be growing rapidly but it's not easy to penetrate and their buying and shopping habits differ from the west.
The China Business Review said "companies should not assume that Chinese distribution partners have advanced knowledge of downstream supply chain management, including the ability to forecast accurately or to assess service levels. Operationally, this means that foreign-invested manufacturers and foreign companies that sell to China must invest more capital and time to transfer knowledge of material movement requirements, especially improvement strategies to reach key performance-indicator goals. As a whole, Chinese distribution companies lack the capabilities of world-class logistics and supply chain companies in more developed economies. In particular, they tend to be weak in inventory management, lead-time planning, distribution network optimization, and demand forecasting." " From [http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/developing-china-sales-and-distribution-capabilities/]
Pursuing a more family-focused lifestyle. One report on China consumers claim 75% of Chinese consumers define success as having a happy family, and "going shopping with my family is one of the best ways to spend time with them." They are spending more time in shopping malls that combine shopping, dining and entertainment experiences for the entire family.
Most Chinese buy from B2C platforms like Taobao or one of the hundreds of Ecommerce platforms with the latest rage being WeChat Mini Programs, probably something you have never heard of. Although the shopping malls are full many see the price tags then get on their phone to check the price on Tmall or Taobao getting hundreds of mini distributors promoting the same, similar or knock-off products. The whole country now is using WeChat for everything, email is disappearing, all communication is done on the mobile platform WeChat which handles everything from audio, video, file transfer/viewing to getting taxi's or ordering food from thousands of options and the latest option is Mini Programs which is basically a mini mobile website that promotes your products and services.
For Canadian businesses to successfully position themselves in China and reap the benefits of this trillion dollar opportunity they will need to focus on acquiring local market knowledge and expertise, create joint partnerships with local companies, and invest in local talent get aboard the new online mobile experience.
Daniel has been supporting Canadian companies with a wide variety of services for over 15 years now. Located in Qingdao, a seaside city with 100 kilometer of coastline filled with golden sand beaches provides a relatively high quality of life and the gateway to China and beyond.
Consider Qingdao as your starting point for your exciting new venture to China.
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