Black Friday: Chinese e-commerce tactics to win you over

Chinese e-commerces: companies intensify presence in Brazil to gain more market (Credit: Ivan Samkov/Pexels)

Buying in Chinese apps is becoming more and more popular in the Brazilian market. These apps, however, still need to overcome some consumer mistrust when it comes to product quality or delivery time.

According to the Brazilian Electronic Commerce Association (ABComm), the growth of online sales in 2020 compared to 2019 was 68% and Chinese trading companies are also eyeing this market share. But what are they doing to become a safer option for Brazilians?

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Largest structure in the country

Gone are the days when buying something in China was a long shot. Today, the platforms have a more robust structure in Brazil, which guarantees, thus, the delivery of the product without any major headaches.

“Shopee, for example, has social and service channels in Brazil, a page and a national CNPJ. There is a market entry strategy that undoes the previous impression that an import of this type was at the client’s expense and risk, and this effort does seem to be producing results in the client’s view of the companies”, said Breno Soutto, head of insights from Elifegroup, a company that manages customer relationships.

He also reinforced that Shopee works as a marketplace and, therefore, works with Brazilian retailers and merchants.

Shopee’s effort is not without reason: the company has been suffering many complaints in consumer protection channels.

Shorter time and delivery guarantee

Another mistrust was the delivery time for the products. Often the producer took twice as long as agreed to arrive in the country – when he arrived. The retail specialist Wagner Moraes, founding partner of A&S Partners, pointed out that this is a problem that has been reduced over time due to investments by these companies in Brazil, such as the construction of their own Distribution Centers.

“They invested a lot in the logistical process. The failure rate for these purchases was already very high, around 15% of non-deliveries four years ago, and this has been dropping a lot today. The average delivery time was 30 days and today it is 11. This all shows that the Brazilian market has great potential for them”, he pointed out.

Aggressive disclosure strategies and low prices

The price remains one of the decisive points for these applications to gain space in the national market. Also, according to searches on terms searched on social networks and Google between the end of September and the beginning of October, special conditions like free shipping and discount coupons are usually linked to stores like Shopee, Shein and AliExpress.

“The strategy is focused on breaking the customer’s fear barrier and making them get to know the company. So, very attractive prices are recurring, but also the offer of discount coupons, free shipping and other actions that make the perception of cost-benefit positive for the buyer to make the purchase through the channel”, pointed out Souto.