Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of my interview series.
Today, we’ve got Ivy Shen who has been working, operating brands in Cross Border since it started at Azoya who
run many multi-brand retailers and international brands in China.
Azoya is a borderless commerce group that helps international brands & retailers expand to the world’s largest e-commerce market: China.
We cover some really important topics including:
▪️ Where Cross border is heading – it is not going anywhere and has government support
▪️ There is still high demand for international brands but the need to differentiate is
essential – showing functional value through technology as well as emotional value
▪️ Tips on how to compete with the strong local C-Beauty competitors
▪️ The importance of listening to the consumer – how to do this better through private
traffic on WeChat
▪️ Key trends and super important advice
This really is a great episode – Ivy knows her stuff. A must listen for brands in China or
thinking about entering
The development of Cross Border e-commerce in China has been meteoric
It all kicked off in 2014 with milk powder…. and today….
Despite the changes in animal testing Cross border is still extremely relevant for Beauty
brands.
How to compete with Chinese Beauty brands
This is a question that should be on everyone’s minds as you enter China
Ivy Shen and I discuss some key tips for brands to incorporate into their strategy:
📌 Know and emphasize your point of difference – make it relevant for your Chinese
consumer
📌 Look at your functional value – is it your technology or efficacy of a particular ingredient
📌 What is your emotional value to your target Chinese consumer – this is often forgotten
and a huge differentiator for foreign brands
📌 Flexibility on product development – find ways to really listen to your Chinese consumers
this is hard for brands on Cross border because there are so many layers but you need to
find a way.
Don’t underestimate how important it is to connect to your Chinese consumer.
So many of you have built amazing brands connecting directly with consumers in the west
Chinese consumers want brands to interact and listen to them in this way too let it not only
be Chinese brands that do this!!
Tmall has been the dominant ecommerce channel for foreign beauty brands in China
But that is changing there are new players shaking things up….
Ivy Shen and I talk about how Cross border ecommerce has evolved and where it is headed.
Some key takeaways that are essential for every brand to know:
👉 The line between Cross Border and general trade shopping is blurring – consumers hardly
see any difference in service or experience now
👉 Government policy continues to support cross border ecommerce
👉 We Chat is an increasingly important sales channel through private traffic groups
conversion rates can be 10x higher than normal channels
👉 On We Chat brands get much more access to data, intelligence and can personalize their
message and hence influence customers more
👉Douyin livestreaming and ecommerce is content driven and increasingly personalized a
refreshing difference from Taobao/Tmall promotional model
These are just a few of the highlights of this great episode. See full video to hear the full
interview. I really recommend it!
If you want to get in touch with Ivy Shen connect on
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivy-shen-azoya/
Azoya Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/azoya/
