In short, we have been trying really hard to make our brand promise equal our user experience.

Of all our activities, no where has taught us more about our customers, and allowed us to understand the way they work, their personalities, their issues and their preferences more than our social media presence.

We host competitions, offer special discounts, arrange giveaways, deal with questions, provide reviews, etc in a multimedia format that get’s our buyers talking. They talk because we listen and – crucially – we act.

Our promise equals our customers experience.

We have a way to go in making improvements to our business, but we are letting our customers know that we are working for them. And they appreciate it.  Transparency is key and 2.0 is the perfect channel to keep all informed and ask for feedback.

Have you been using social media to connect with your customers? If so, what approach do you find works?

visit www.facebook.com/dhgate to see what we’ve been up to lately.

As part of this process, I hear many success stories of overseas customers, more than often from the US, who have successfully started a new business through importing product from China or have significantly reduced their costs or increased their product range via this method. I am also often asked about the best ways of starting to import from China and what pitfalls to look out for.

Some of the emails I receive from DHgate customers in the US give me examples of their initial experience in importing from China, and often it was not initially that successful. Usually this is as a result of choosing the wrong supplier, not doing your homework and rushing into product order and underestimating the nature of international trade. I want to share it with you over the next couple of posts some of my thoughts and tips to make sure your experience is successful.

Choose Your Supplier Well

One of the most fundamental errors is to pick a supplier without a thorough review process. Check whether they are the actual manufacturer or merely a wholesaler as you always want to deal directly with the source. Check the supplier’s website to see whether it’s in English which is always a sign that they do business with foreign companies. Ask the supplier for testimonials and references, and then check them up. Use a China-based verification company if the size of the order warrants it, or read customer reviews. For example on my site, www.dhgate.com, we have a number of verification methods like a 3 tier rating system and a Feedback scores from other buyers.

Don’t Rush; There’s Plenty of Time

Next, don’t rush into anything. Although there is pressure from both sides to get it done as soon as possible, it’s best to give yourself a long lead time to do proper research, complete perfect product specifications and shop around. The product will always be there, and it maybe cheaper next month or with a different supplier.

Don’t Underestimate Time and Costs

Although international delivery these days is very efficient even for smaller product orders, it’s probably wise to always work on the basis that the delivery will be late, so factor it into your plans. Also, it is probable that the landed costs will be higher than quoted or you have estimated. Eager buyers have a tendency to underestimate the time and costs of importing from China.

Don’t Pay Purchase Price Upfront

Never pay the purchase price or a substantial part of it upfront. If you do this, then it will be highly unlikely you will get your money back if there’s a problem with the quality of the products or there’s a severe delay in the shipping. If a supplier demands you do this, it’s probably best to find a new supplier. At www.dhgate.com, we use an escrow payment system where you don’t pay the supplier until you’ve received your shipment and are fully satisfied with it.

In my next post, I will give some more tips on how to deal with Chinese suppliers and basics on how to import from China especially in relation to understanding cultural differences, maintain product quality and dispute resolution.

Your thoughts are welcome, as always!

John Lin, chief technology officer of eBay’s Asia Pacific operations, thinks eBay’s marketplace may yet make a comeback in China.

The company, which used to have a domestic Chinese consumer-to-consumer, or C2C, auction website, largely pulled out of the market in 2006 after Alibaba Group’s Taobao.com gobbled up its market share by undercutting its fees. Taobao executives say they plan to continue allowing merchants to sell without paying commissions, and Taobao still has the lion’s share of the online C2C market, but the rivalry between two companies has since taken a more friendly turn, with Alibaba Group’s wholesale platform AliExpress acceptingonline payments via eBay’s PayPal, and with executives on both sides saying cooperation and competition can go hand in hand.

EBay’s current operations in China remain small compared to Alibaba Group and other Chinese e-commerce companies like DHGate, but like PayPal, the company has refocused its energies on export-oriented merchants in China who want to reach overseas buyers on its international websites. In the years since giving Tom Online control of its Chinese marketplace, eBay has created a Chinese Web portal, ebay.cn, a customer support team and a suite of value-added services to acquire more of these types of customers.

Since refocusing eBay’s China business, “business has been growing pretty nicely,” Lin said in an interview at the company’s Shanghai office on Wednesday. He declined to say what percentage of eBay’s marketplace transaction volume came from Chinese merchants, but said that China makes up an increasing percentage of the company’s $60 billion overall transaction volume, with more than double-digit growth every year.

Like most other e-commerce companies in China, eBay’s approach to Chinese clients requires much more hand-holding than would be needed in other markets. Lin says the local customer support team, which consists of dozens of people, must constantly call and otherwise stay in contact with Chinese merchants to advise them on how to improve their global listings. The support team makes recommendations to customers about discontinuing the sales of products that infringe on intellectual property, and about creating free shipping policies, which are more attractive to U.S. buyers. EBay also negotiates with logistics operators and translation companies to provide better rates for merchants who want to use their services.

“In the domestic market today there is still no monetization” because the standard practice, set by Taobao.com, is not to charge merchants commission for listing, Lin said.

“EBay was very frustrated with the low margins in the domestic market in China. I hate to say this, but it’s not a public service,” he said. “We specialize in high margin business,” and cross border trade is “highly profitable.”

He added that eBay’s Chinese merchants, which are predominantly small to medium-sized businesses (in contrast with the high percentage of consumer sellers in the U.S. who aren’t full-time merchants), pay slightly higher rates than U.S. domestic sellers do.

While eBay clearly doesn’t buy into Taobao’s “free” strategy, however, the Chinese website has continued to grow at warp speed in terms of transaction volume, and is, in fact making revenue by other means including sales of keyword-advertising. Analysts estimate Taobao earned between $200 million and $250 million in revenue last year.

Lin and eBay Marketplace Development Director Dandan Cheng argue that price-cutting can lead to a never-ending vicious cycle, in which Chinese companies may never find a way to charge customers, especially if competitors are waiting to undercut their prices when they finally do. Lin says that by building its brand among export-oriented merchants, eBay is “well-positioned for future development in China,” in both the cross border and domestic markets.

Read highlights below or the full article here

...But the indicators of ecommerce’s problems are not so obvious as long queues or a tired looking store front are to a physical high street retailer.

For online retailers, store layout means optimising the position of their most popular and most profitable products; check-out queues equate to the ease and speed of completing an order and the time from order to delivery. For the friendliness of the affable village butcher, online retailers must think about their after sales care and the tone and tailoring of their outreach.

Online, a company with a compelling and competitive service has an almost infinite catchment area, and it is often the big names who are investing most in understanding the science of effective retail and will prevail in the land grab.

So to avoid going the way of local stores, squeezed out by the major players – the supermarkets of the physical world – online retailers of all sizes must monitor and understand the importance of several key metrics.

First comes the number of visits and orders, and the source of traffic. This allows more sophisticated analysis than physical in-store footfall as it not only reveals total consumer number but also how they are finding the site – whether driven by direct marketing, banner ads, affiliates, search or other means…

And finally, the most obvious KPI for businesses to monitor – customer satisfaction. Many say they do so but their methodology is often based on the wrong metrics.

Businesses need a holistic view of end-to-end customer service and the efficiency of the website and back-end in delivering what those consumers want, when they want it…

As you’ve likely read recently, lots of big corporations are trying to harnass the power of social networks to help grow their sales. But even if you’re not a huge retailer, you can still leverage social media to share information about your products as well as to communicate with your customers. I like to think of social media marketing efforts as one part of a larger strategy. Lots of people (your potential customer base) like to communicate in different ways. Some will browse to your website for info, others are on email all day and respond to electronic promotions over anything they get in the mail, and others still prefer to rely on recommencations from friends and family that they might find on social networks.

Twitter.com/DHgate

One important thing to remember about the various social networks is that each has distinct functionality and users log on for different reasons. Here’s a quick overvoew of three extremely popular platforms.

Twitter

Twitter users (aka Tweeters aka Tweeple) use this service to share 140 character long updates with everyone who follows them. You can log into Twitter on any web browser, or you can send and receive updates through text messages on a mobile device. Because of the character limit, messages tend to be in shorthand and often reference short links created on tinyurl.com or bit.ly. For companies that want to use Twitter to gather followers, here’s some advice.

First, don’t use the service only to blast out messages about promotions and products. Followers will view your messages as spam and will stop following. While it’s okay to use Twitter to share links to products and special deals, be sure to spend some time seeing what other users are saying about or to you, and engage them in conversations about relevant topics. It’s also a good idea to follow the competition and companies that sell complementary items. There fans will make for great potential customers.

Checkout www.twitter.com/dhgate to see what my marketing team are doing here.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is generally considered the more business/career focused version of Facebook (see below). You’re highly unlikely to find photos from last weekends bar crawl or pot luck dinner and users log in and update statuses less frequently. You’ll find more information about educational and professional backgrounds and users can write recommendations about their colleagues or other business contacts.

The best way for you to take advantage of LinkedIn is to use it to connect to potential suppliers and customers through your existing connections. It’s also a great place to post about job openings ors make requests for contractors and other vendors.

Facebook

Facebook is quickly becoming a one-stop-shop for a wide array of online tasks. It’s 300+ million users previously relied on tools like gmail, snapfish, message boards and blogs to get the same information that’s now available all in one place. Facebook users are more likely to regularly post status updates, links, video clips and other media and the platform makes it easy for anyone to comment on or share information that they find on Facebook or the wider web.

All this makes Facebook an ideal spot to engage with customers and potential customers in a variety of different ways. Companies can do this by creating a Public Profile that represents the brand. One key thing to remember, however, is that if your brand doesn’t have a lot of awareness, there is very little reason to for people to become a fan of your public profile. What you’ll be best served by doing is creating a page that’s purpose is to share useful information about a topic that relates to your business. So if your company, Irene’s Custom-Made Handbags, only has a small group of loyal customers, make your public profile have mass appeal by sharing information about all sorts of trends and information about custom made purses and other accessories. If you become the go-to place to find out which independent bag makers, chances are, you’ll develop a list of followers that will be great to market to.

Check out www.facebook.com/dhgate to see what my company is up to in this exciting space.

Read more tips on promoting your business at IntroducingSuccess.com and let me know what you think!

Beijing has become the focus of China as over 3000 government and people’s delegates descend on the capital for a ten day Congress which decides the economic, social, legal and other policies of the country. It is a particularly important and timely meeting as there are a number of pressing economic and financial issues, like inflationary pressures and the valuation of the Chinese currency the yuan, that are uppermost in many people’s minds – Chinese and foreigners alike.

February was a great month for Chinese exports which were up about 45% on the previous year. There is guarded optimism that this trend will continue and I believe that cross-border ecommerce will be a driving force.

Looking at our transactional data and talking to our DHgate.com Chinese suppliers, I believe that foreign companies, particularly US firms, are replenishing their inventories and introducing new product lines. This is a strong sign of increasing confidence in the future.

Also in my discussions with Chinese and international clients and colleagues, I am constantly asked about my opinion on the direction of the value of the RMB. Clearly this has a direct impact on the costs of sourcing and has tremendous importance. You will no doubt have seen and read numerous analyses, commentaries and articles on this issue.

I don’t want to get into a debate of the rights and wrongs of this issue, but I think it’s suffice to say that there’s a lot of misconception and misunderstanding on both sides. I believe though that there will be no significant movement in the value of the RMB in the short term. Whether there will be a slight rise in its value later in the year as some are predicting will depend on the economic performance of the country. In the meantime, China-sourced products continue to remain extremely cost competitive for SME buyers. Stay tuned as there is a lot more to come on this issue.

The other major Chinese financial issues that have the potential to affect Chinese suppliers and overseas buyers are the specters of inflation, wage rises and looming labor shortages.

Despite a recent spike in inflation (particularly in the food, housing and wages sectors) over the past few months, the Government appears to have it under control. With respect to the labor market and costs, I’ll post on this issue in the future.

On a final note, during the Congress, the Government announced a major commitment to the development of China’s ecommerce platform, particularly in the SME sector. This is the first time it has been made a ‘front and center’ policy. A number of initiatives will be promoted to introduce SME online suppliers and manufacturers to better business practices and ecommerce trade. This is a welcome development.

My own company, DHgate.com, is actively developing its training and education programs for our online Chinese clients and welcome this Government policy which complements our vision for the future of high-quality product and service offerings from China’s manufacturing sector. I’ll talk more of these initiatives in a later post.

Recent surveys by the World Bank and the leading international brand development and valuation companies show that Chinese brands are on the move internationally. The big State-owned banks, technology and oil companies are now consistently in the top 100 and a number of them threaten the top 20 in the near future.

Remember that these brands (for example, banks like ICBC and Bank of China, the oil giant Sinopec and China Mobile) essentially did not exist 10 years ago. Much in the same way that the top Japanese brands like Sanyo, Panasonic and Toyota were 30 years ago, and Korean companies like LG, Samsung and Hyundai had no international presence 10-15 years ago.

We are all aware of the times when the phrase ‘Made in Hong Kong/Japan/Korea’ was used in a derisory manner to indicate low quality and unreliability. How things have changed (even despite Toyota’s current woes).

There are now a large number of Chinese companies that are poised to move into the world’s best brands lists in the next decade. Companies like Huawei, Midea, BYD and Haier to name a few.

Take Haier for example. One of China’s largest companies, they are now the 4th largest home appliance manufacturer in the world. You may have seen their low-cost and energy efficient refrigerators and air conditioners in your local stores. In many ways Haier have outmarketed and outplayed GE and the Japanese producers. Expect to see this company rocket up the leading brand lists in the future.

BYD (Build Your Dreams), the Chinese car manufacturer which has a special interest in electric vehicles and is the recipient of Warren Buffet investment, is also a brand that could be on everyone’s lips in the future. I will talk more of them in later posts.

And what does this increased brand awareness and success mean for online retailers sourcing products from China? One of the flow-on effects is that small to mid range Chinese manufacturers, including online suppliers, are rapidly improving their game in order to remain competitive – both in terms of cost and quality. We are currently seeing this on DHgate.com

Read more blogs like this on my “The View from China” blog at Practical eCommerce. Don’t forget to let me know what you think!

Insights from Around the World: China

Despite the winter chill, China was red-hot at the close of 2009.The country’s manufacturing activity accelerated in December at its fastest pace in several years and foreign exports were up USD$130.7bn, up 17.7% year-on-year. J.P. Morgan said it expects China’s growth momentum to continue throughout 2010. All this at the same time as internet shopping in the UK grew at its fastest rate for 22 months in December, as millions of shoppers migrated online to buy their Christmas goods.

Controversy over Beijing’s policy of pegging its currency to the U.S. dollar may continue to concern economists, but for the time being the fixed exchange rate gives China’s factories a nearly unbeatable price advantage against manufacturers in other countries.

The price advantage has grown even larger after the U.S. dollar, and therefore the Chinese yuan, fell sharply against other major currencies last year. Combine this financial situation with the growth of an already mammoth manufacturing industry and you get a retail buyers market.

Retailers purchasing inventory in China via DHgate.com demonstrated some interesting trends in 2009. Although Apparel and Accessories remained strong, technology purchases ranked as the most popular, accounting for around a third of transactions and a rise of over 10% on the previous year. Strong growth was also seen in the Health and Beauty and Home and Gardens categories, both showing year-on-year increases of around 40%. And with total Christmas stock purchasing representing DHgate’s busiest in its five year history, Chinese manufacturers are expecting to see huge growth in 2010.

With an increasing number of Chinese businesses setting up wholesale and manufacturing operations online, those who source from China will have a distinct advantage.  Traditionally it has been the Big Box retailers who benefit from China sourcing. The new evolution of this industry online allows smaller business to also benefit and pass on savings to their customers – increasing profits.

As consumers resume normal spending habits, retailers capitalizing on the surge of quality goods provided by Chinese manufacturers have the potential to expand their market share.

Spring Festival also involves one of the largest annual human migrations with well over 200 million people making their way around the country; usually back to their home town for a family reunion.

Not surprisingly, China closes down for a week or so. Officially the country is on holiday from the 13^th to the 20^th February; however, the Festival can unofficially run from a week before to a week after these dates. In the case of businesses, most will only close for a few days of the official holiday. For example, at my company, DHGate.com, our customer service team be on holiday between the 13^th and the 16^th but will operate with a skeleton staff from the 17^th to the 20^th .

Most Chinese suppliers and shipping companies will be closed for a few days; therefore slight delays in processing overseas orders may be encountered. The shipping of products that are warehoused in the US and UK should not be affected.

During my recent business travels around Asia and the US, something that has caught my attention is an ad that promotes the ‘Made in China’ brand which is frequently appearing on international television. You may have seen it on CNN. The slick advertisement is a deliberate attempt, (the first to my knowledge), by the Chinese Government to rebuild and promote the China brand in the international market. Have a look at the ad here.

The theme of the ad is ‘Made in China, Made with the World’. Clearly the intention of the Government is to rebuild trust with overseas consumers after a string of product safety and quality issues and also to allay fears that cheap Chinese products take jobs away from overseas countries.

The message is that it’s a collaborative effort. People don’t often realize that over 60% of Chinese exports to the US are produced by firms owned by foreign companies. A computer ‘made in China’ is likely to contain a large portion of imported components. Also, although the final assembly and testing is done in China, the design and specifications were created overseas.

One of the other themes in the ad is that China is now very serious about the integrity of its brands both national and product specific. The commitment to product safety, quality and integrity by the Chinese government and manufacturers is greatly improving. In the future, I’ll detail the efforts being made in these areas.

To keep regular readers of this blog in the loop, I will repost my monthly entries here – So you will have a single hub for all my thoughts on entrepreneurship, running a business and the developing supplier and eCommerce situation here in China. And, if you have any areas you would particularly like me to cover, why not drop me an email or comment below? I’d love to hear form you.

“The View from China”

by DHgate.com Founder and CEO, Diane Wang

On the eve of the Year of the Tiger, I’m proud to present a new blog to readers which will give regular updates on the events and opportunities within the Chinese ecommerce scene. Here, I aim to give an insight into doing business in China and an insider’s eye into the world’s most exciting emerging market.

International ecommerce and ecommerce technology have been my passion for the last two decades. After leaving the security of senior management at Microsoft and Cisco I decided to go it alone. My first company, online consumer marketplace Joyo.com, was acquired by Amazon in 2004, and that same year I founded DHgate.com. My purpose was to create a platform which connects SMEs to the manufacturing hub which is China, and therefore level the playing field.

Despite the global financial crisis, 2009 was a great year for China. GDP growth for 2009 was 8.7% and the country’s manufacturing activity accelerated in December at its fastest pace in several years. Foreign exports rose to US$130.7billion, up 17.7% year-on-year, and analysts expect that the Chinese growth momentum will continue in 2010. Although the Chinese Government is playing it down, it has been confirmed that China has overtaken Germany as the world’s biggest exporter.

As an increasing number of Chinese businesses, large and small, are setting up wholesale and manufacturing operations online, I believe that there are now great opportunities for US retailers, particularly SME’s, to source products directly from China.

Recently, as part of its extensive stimulus packages, the Chinese government has implemented a policy to spur the growth of SME manufacturers and suppliers throughout China. In particular, it has directed local and provincial governments to encourage emerging industries through reform, assistance with market access and fostering local banks to provide finance to expanding businesses.

At DHgate.com, we have seen a surge in the number of Chinese SME manufacturers and suppliers who have migrated online. As these numbers grow, so do the opportunities for US retailers to be cost effective. I believe that there has never been a better time for US retailers to take advantage of the Chinese online sourcing market.

Because of this, I believe it is timely to introduce a blog on the Chinese ecommerce scene which will post regular updates on the ecommerce market in China with a particular emphasis on B2B sourcing.

The regular reports will focus on issues such as trends, new platform innovations, technological and other improvements and government initiatives and policy developments. I will also address pressing consumer issues such as product quality and safety.