Category: Other Marketplaces

Selling via Cross-Border eCommerce in Southeast Asia

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Do you sell online and want to expand to Southeast Asian markets?

Southeast Asia is currently one of the fastest-growing regions, we will see more and more foreign merchants entering the market in the coming years.

That said, it’s still comparatively easy to start selling cross-border here. The competition is still low for foreign products, you can let an eCommerce partner manage your shop for a few hundreds of dollars each month.

That’s not the case in China where sellers have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get started.

Thus, the Southeast Asian is suitable for SMEs that want to try the Asian eCommerce markets first.

In this article, we review the following topics:

  • Southeast Asia’s eCommerce Market
  • Southeast Asia vs China eCommerce
  • Top eCommerce Marketplaces in Southeast Asia
  • How much does it cost to sell online in Southeast Asia?
  • Shipping & Fulfillment
  • FAQ

Southeast Asia’s eCommerce Market

Southeast Asia’s eCommerce market is one of the most promising and set to grow immensely in the coming years. In 2015, the value of the marketo was USD 5.5 billion but it’s predicted to exceed USD 150 billion by 2025. Continue reading Selling via Cross-Border eCommerce in Southeast Asia

JD Worldwide Seller Fees Guide: An Overview

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Jingdong (JD) Worldwide is the cross-border eCommerce platform launched by Tencent in 2015. With more than 300 million monthly users, JD Worldwide is undoubtedly one of the biggest cross-border eCommerce websites in China.

With that said, selling online in China is more expensive compared to southeast Asia, and building up brand awareness is crucial at a start.

If you plan to sell on JD Worldwide, you must understand how much it will set you back in terms of setup and running costs.

In this article, I explain what setup fees and running costs you have to pay when selling on JD Worldwide. Let’s get started.

1. Refundable Deposit

First, you have to pay a deposit before you can start operating the store. This deposit is refundable, but JD has the right to deduct money if any dispute arises between you and a buyer. Simple as that.

The deposit is generally USD 15,000 but can reach up to USD 30,000, depending on the products you sell. It can also go down to as low as USD 10,000 for products like games and IP commodities. Continue reading JD Worldwide Seller Fees Guide: An Overview

Top 4 eCommerce Websites in China

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China has the biggest eCommerce market in the world and recently surpassed the US. Previously, we have mainly seen large brands entering the market but that will change in the coming years.

Through the new eCommerce law, we will see more IP protection, a stronger focus on SMEs, and to simplify market entries.

The eCommerce landscape changes quickly in China and some companies have managed to become top players in as little as two years. In this article, I explain some of the top eCommerce websites in China and what sets these apart.

1. Tmall

Launched in 2014, Tmall is China’s biggest eCommerce platform with a market share of around 40%. Continue reading Top 4 eCommerce Websites in China

Top 3 Lazada Agencies in Southeast Asia: An Overview

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Southeast Asia is currently one of the fastest-growing markets in the world and its eCommerce industry one of the most promising. Compared to countries like the US and China, it’s easier to get started here and the market is still comparatively untapped.

There are plenty of other benefits of selling here and it’s a great way to try out and learn more about the Asian markets. For example, it’s cheaper and you can pay a significantly smaller sum to hire a Lazada agency compared to a Tmall Partner.

In this article, we have listed some of the top Lazada agencies that help foreigners to sell cross-border on multiple marketplaces at once, including Lazada, Shopee, Zalora, and more.

1. Red Dino Ventures

Red Dino Ventures is a Malaysia-based eCommerce agency that helps both local and foreign buyers with marketplace setups. Besides, they also help with marketplace retainers which simply means that they can run the store on your behalf, managing everything from customer claims to shipping. Continue reading Top 3 Lazada Agencies in Southeast Asia: An Overview

6 Top Selling Products on JD.com

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JD.com is one of the biggest eCommerce platforms in China that has grown at a rate of more than 30% a year. Not surprisingly, increasingly more foreign companies see JD as one of the best options to reach the growing Chinese online consumer market.

Before you start selling in China, it’s important that you know what products are in demand on the different eCommerce websites. Previously, I wrote an article where I list some of the top-selling products on Tmall.

Today, we’ll have a look at some of the top-selling products on JD, Tmall’s main competitor. Let’s get right into it.

1. Electronics & Home Appliances

JD attracts plenty of Chinese buyers who look for electronic merchandise, gadgets, and home appliances. The company does its utmost to grab market shares in these markets and acquired 46% of the big home appliance retail chain Five Star in 2019, valued at USD 190 million.

It’s not strange why JD is so strong in this market as it’s the preferred option among many men who are young and middle-aged, with a high purchasing power. Continue reading 6 Top Selling Products on JD.com

How to Fulfill & Ship Products with Shopee: A Complete Guide

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Shopee has become one of the biggest E-Commerce marketplaces in Southeast Asia. Nowadays, it can also be found in countries like Korea and Taiwan.

Thus, Shopee operates in Asian countries where Lazada currently doesn’t have a presence.

Increasingly more cross-border sellers wonder how they can start selling on Shopee. Often, they ask how they can fulfill and ship orders to clients in so many countries.

In this article, you’ll learn the following:

  • What shipping options are available for Shopee sellers?
  • 3rd party fulfillment centers
  • Fulfilled By Shopee (FBS)
  • How can sellers offer free shipping on Shopee?
  • How can customers track orders?
  • How do sellers manage returns and failed deliveries?

Continue reading How to Fulfill & Ship Products with Shopee: A Complete Guide

How to Sell on Tokopedia: The Ultimate Guide

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Indonesia’s E-Commerce market will be one of the best performers in Asia in the coming decade.

With a low internet and mobile penetration, a quickly growing middle class, and a huge population, there’s still plenty of room for expansion.

Strangely, many foreign companies haven’t even heard of its biggest E-Commerce giant – Tokopedia.

Today, I’ll tell you what Tokopedia is all about if it’s open to foreign companies and how the future of Indonesia’s E-Commerce market looks like.

Topics covered:

Continue reading How to Sell on Tokopedia: The Ultimate Guide

How to Sell on Shopee: A Complete Guide for Cross-Border Sellers

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The Southeast Asian E-Commerce market has transformed completely in the past years and will continue to grow in the coming decade. Previously, Lazada used to dominate most of the E-Commerce markets, but we’ve seen more contenders popping up over the years.

One of the biggest and fastest growing marketplaces is undoubtedly Shopee. Selling here is comparably easy and there are a number of benefits that follow.

Therefore, I’ve written this article where you’ll learn the following:

  • What is Shopee?
  • Shopee market share
  • In which countries is Shopee available?
  • Why should I sell on Shopee?
  • Cash on delivery (COD) and other payment options
  • Shopee seller fees
  • Order fulfillment options

Continue reading How to Sell on Shopee: A Complete Guide for Cross-Border Sellers

Selling on Yangmatou (YMatou) in China: The Definitive Guide

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Suggestion: Watch the 10 minutes video tutorial before reading this article

China’s E-commerce market has become highly competitive as companies like Alibaba, NetEase, and Tencent, try to grasp as many market shares as possible.

Still, you have a number of smaller Chinese websites that primarily focus on cross border E-Commerce and see great success in pre-purchasing products directly from overseas. Two of these companies are Yangmatou and Vipshop.

Yangmatou is similar to Vipshop as it primarily focuses on a handful of product types, catering to a small customer segment. Selling on these kinds of websites can be lucrative as setup fees and running costs are generally lower compared to other platforms.

In this article, I explain what Yangmatou is, what kind of products they sell, how you can become a merchant and more.

What is Yangmatou?

Yangmatou (洋码头) started out in 2009 and is a comparably small cross border E-Commerce website. It’s not strange, as you’ll find a limited amount of product types listed.

Continue reading Selling on Yangmatou (YMatou) in China: The Definitive Guide

Top China Cross-Border eCommerce Platforms: Foreigner’s Guide

Posted on by Fredrik Gronkvist — 1 Comment

Suggestion: Watch the 10 minutes video tutorial before reading this article

Looking to sell cross border into Mainland China from Hong Kong or overseas? In this article, we list some of China’s leading eCommerce platforms – and explain which ones you should focus on if your business is located in Europe, Australia or the United States.

Taobao.com

Taobao.com was launched by Alibaba Group in the early 00s and is the original Chinese eCommerce platform. Taobao.com is still the number 1 eCommerce marketplace in Mainland China, and the given choice for low to medium priced goods.

Taobao.com is mainly about products made in China, for the domestic market. You will need to set up a Mainland Chinese company before you can start selling on Taobao.com.

In other words, it’s not for cross border sellers.

Tmall.com

Tmall, which started out as ‘Taobao Mall’ was launched by Alibaba.com as the more ‘premium’ focused cousin of Taobao.com.

That’s also what Tmall.com eventually became. Today, Tmall.com is almost as big as Taobao.com – which makes up more than 50% of the Chinese B2C eCommerce market.

Many international brands set up stores on Tmall.com. However, the goods sold on Tmall.com must be delivered from within China, which excludes cross border sellers.

Tmall Global (Tmall.hk)

Tmall Global may not be an entirely independent eCommerce platform. However, it’s the first one in this list that’s truly interesting to eCommerce companies in other countries.

Tmall.hk is specifically for products delivered from ‘overseas’, which also includes Hong Kong S.A.R. In other words, you can start selling online via Tmall Global, using a company and bank account setup in Australia, Europe, the US or elsewhere.

This is still ‘work in progress’, but truly revolutionary, as Tmall.hk brings down the costs significantly for small businesses looking to test the Chinese market.

Before, you had to register a company, set up an office, and hire local employees before you even sold your first product.

That said, Tmall.hk is aware of its unique ‘gatekeeper’ position to the Chinese market, and require that sellers meet the following requirements:

  • Trademark in Hong Kong required
  • US$25,000 deposit paid up front
  • US$10,000 in a yearly product category fee

Still, Tmall.hk makes it relatively affordable to test your products on the Chinese market. Until Tmall Global, you could easily have added another zero to these figures.

It’s, therefore, no surprise that most companies that come to us at Export2Asia.com want to get their products listed on Tmall Global, before any other platform.

In addition, Tmall Global is also where Chinese buyers go to look specifically for ‘cross border products’ – be it watches, leather belts or baby powder. Continue reading Top China Cross-Border eCommerce Platforms: Foreigner’s Guide