E-COMMERCE PRICE WAR CAPTIVATES CHINA

Olympic Style Leader Board from Chinese Online Price Comparison Site Etao.com Just as I was publishing this post on the Potential of E-Commerce in China two weeks ago, a vicious and very public price war begun among China’s main appliance e-tailers:  360Buy, Suning, Gome and Dangdang. The saga began when the CEO of 360Buy announced on his Weibo (China’s most popular microblog) account that their products will be cheaper than competitor Suning’s.  In retaliation, other... Read More

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FASHION IN CHINA

A Chinese Subway Cleaner asks himself "Do I need Beckam's Boxers?" Living in China often feels like a futuristic experience as the turbo charged economy generously delivers a bounty of new airports, new train stations, new hotels, malls, shops, even entire new cities. Name any kind of infrastructure, and there is likely to be a new one of its kind opening or being built in China, and its probably the biggest/tallest/fastest in the world. With all of this state-of-the-art... Read More

THE POTENTIAL OF E-COMMERCE IN CHINA

Screen Shot from Chinese Luxury E-Commerce Site 5Lux.com With half a billion Chinese now online, the growth of e-commerce in China appears to be a forgone conclusion and an encouraging business scenario for retailers. However, beneath the surface lie multiple issues that encumber companies and brands (both domestic and foreign) on their paths to conducting successful online retailing in China. In the same way I have noted a steady increase in Gross Domestic Cool in China, I know... Read More