Export to China through cross-border Ecommerce : opportunities, challenges and operational guidelines

Cross-border ecommerce represents a relatively new opportunity in China for international companies, allowing them to export directly from overseas, without necessity to set a legal entity on Chinese soil. The historical shift to a new economy growth model driven by consumption, the middle-class rise, the increasing demand for international products, the astonishing development of ecommerce in China and its strong share in e-tail industry make this channel interesting and therefore evaluable for all the Italian SME that for example couldn’t afford to invest in China with previous mandatory policy. B2C ecommerce in China is led by two players that count for nearly 80% of total sales, Tmall and JD.com, and their cross-border platforms, respectively Tmall Global and JD Worldwide, have been taken into account for the research. The aim of the study was to provide a thorough set of managerial guidelines considered fundamental in order to exploit this cross-border ecommerce in China. A qualitative research through interviews has been carried out, and several managerial aspects related to export in China and project operations have been investigated. The implications of the results are that international companies should be aware of: the necessity of a deep market research, a project team, an accurate business plan based on a clear long-term strategy, the visibility opportunity that ecommerce platforms represent, the high risk of the project, the high investments required, the necessity to rely on TP and how to select it, how to manage TP relation, a communication based on contents and interactions (KOL, social, and so on), the extreme relevance of mobile commerce in China. Despite the research clearly presents some intrinsic limitations, it may be very useful for those Italian companies that aim to export in China but don’t know the existence of this relatively new opportunity, or don’t know how to deal with it and manage the project.