Chinese exporters need to build brands

“Do you need an American warehouse?”

“Do you need a Mexico warehouse?” “Shipping in Europe?”

The sellers, speaking in Mandarin Chinese, were not timid to push their logistics services when I attended the 10th International Exhibition of Electronic Commerce in Shenzhen this week. A logistics company even hired models of foreign appearance in sparkling silver dresses to parade around the place.

It is one of the biggest events of the year for companies that sell from China to the United States and other countries via the Internet. In the middle of a lukewarm truce in the American-Chinese tariff war, many companies seemed to enter the American market.

But the game to survive has changed.

“The last 30 years have helped Chinese companies become very ripe in the integration of the supply chain,” said Tina Hsu, partner of the startup Aigc Empower, in Mandarin at the exhibition. “Today, if there is a tool that can help [businesses] Tell a story better, resonate with users … They could go abroad with the identity of a brand to operate in a healthier manner which is more in the longer term and with higher benefits. “”

Aigc Empower says he has these tools. During a joint launch with Amazon and Wayfair in Zhuhai, China last month, HSU declared that AIGC introduced two generative products fueled by AI: a system to quickly search for local markets to understand the needs of consumers and a tool to produce images for product advertising. The service begins at 10,000 yuan ($ 1,390) per product and per year – and has already received around 100 orders, said HSU.

“To be honest, it is not all customers here who can appreciate the value” of our product and the need for a brand, she said, noting that it was Chinese entrepreneurs who have studied abroad who understand it best. But she warned that without inherently differentiation, Chinese companies will find it difficult to survive abroad over the next 30 years.

Some Chinese companies believe that they already have what it takes to build a brand, but lack legal resources to protect themselves – especially when market holders launch targeted proceedings that can force a Chinese seller to go bankrupt.

It has become such an urgent challenge that a group of Chinese merchants supported A new platform which uses a low-cost insurance structure for dispute services which can otherwise cost fairly expensive, according to Jack Zhang, secretary general of the Legal Insurance Division of Shenzhen Cross-Border Association. He heads the project with a team of around 30 people.

Its plan is to bring together prosecution in thousands or tens of thousands, thus merchanting a rate lower than law firms in the United States or another market. It is far from being an operating service, and Zhang hopes that he will be able to reach the threshold of 1,000 cases at the time next year.

Several exhibition companies have also announced the company’s recording compliance services – obtaining an American brand will cost the equivalent of $ 485, now available with a discount of $ 150, said a leaflet. But as many suppliers seemed to imitate the style of the other, only trying to undermine others on the price, it is clear that the concept of a brand has not yet taken off.

Xiaopng He, founder of Xpeng, talks about pressures and competition on the Chinese electric vehicle market: over-capacity, price wars and technological innovations. He says that the Turing chip is a necessary invention to help Xpeng to move on to a large technological company.

Hong Hao, director partner, at Lotus Asset Management, talks about the place where he sees opportunities in the Chinese markets: biotechnology, bubble tea and pop mart.