Balconia Shanghai Limited.
balconia partners with Baozun to provide a one-stop service from branding to commercial distribution for Japanese companies selling in China
A global brand digital business partner with balconia Shanghai Limited (Headquarters: No. 100, Yujiajia Road, Putuo-ku, Shanghai, Room 306, East Ward, No. 1 Tower, General Manager: Koki Kuboyama, hereinafter balconia), which specializes in overseas brand marketing support. On November 1, 2022, Baozun Inc. formed a business alliance with Japanese companies to support sales expansion in China.
For Japanese companies that want to start selling in China, as well as Japanese companies that want to further expand their commercial distribution in China, we have selected not only EC sites such as Taobao, but also offline sales channels. We provide branding and creative optimized for the current culture of
■ Background of the alliance Part 1: Differences in EC usage between China and Japan
The first reason for the partnership is the difference in the use of e-commerce between China and Japan. In order to succeed in sales in China, it is important to be able to sell on EC as follows.
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
(https://www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/ja/r04/pdf/n3600000.pdf) According to the report, the e-commerce market in China in 2021 will be 178.4 trillion yen (101.7 trillion yen in the United States and 28 trillion yen in Japan), the largest in the world. has become indispensable.
Alibaba Group’s China commerce business, one of China’s major e-commerce sites, will generate annual sales of approximately 11.26 trillion yen from April 2021 to March 2022, up 18% year-on-year. It has served approximately 1.31 billion annual active consumers (AAC) and created a gross merchandise value (GMV) of 8.317 trillion yuan (approximately 158 trillion yen).
(https://www.alibaba.co.jp/news/2022/06/20221-32022.html)
According to Alibaba’s 2022 financial results:
“Taobao and Tmall are an important part of Chinese consumers’ daily lives and continue to achieve high customer retention rates. More than 24 million annual active consumers (AAC) spent more than RMB 10,000 on Taobao and Tmall, about 10,000 AACs spent more than RMB 10,000 on Taobao and Tmall in 2021. 98% were still active in 2022.”
I think that Japanese consumers often search for products on Yahoo! Taobao has become a familiar and everyday presence for Chinese consumers.
However, in China, “Taobao away” is occurring now from Taobao’s strongest. Until now, most companies have made Taobao their main EC battlefield, so the unit price of ads on Taobao’s site has skyrocketed. It is Against the backdrop of such rising marketing costs, an increasing number of companies are choosing to sell their products on their own websites by using SNS such as TikTok and Wechat to increase awareness of their products.
■ Background of the alliance Part 2: Overwhelming amount of data The second reason for the tie-up is that the overwhelming amount of data held by e-commerce sites is essential for successful sales in China.
EC sites hold a wide variety of information and data. As mentioned above, in China, it is common to use “Taobao search” instead of “Google”. Based on search histories, e-commerce sites capture users’ real interests as data.
Furthermore, in China, before starting sales on the EC site, we set up multiple patterns of test sites that are completely comparable to the actual product, and involve actual users to determine which site has the highest rate of payment completion before the start of sales. can be investigated. Before the launch of the product, it is possible to predict the effectiveness of the advertisement and tune it with a high degree of accuracy, based on the data on what kind of site design and what kind of wording should be used to further motivate users to purchase.
A partner company called “Taobao Partner (TP)” manages a huge number of product pages on the Taobao site. In addition to designing, managing, and operating e-commerce sites, many TPs are developing a wide variety of businesses, including product management, fulfillment, and sales agency services for channels other than e-commerce. Baozun provides an end-to-end omnichannel solution for brands to build and operate official shopping malls, brand flagship stores on Tmall and Jingdong platforms, WeChat mini-program malls, and even the emerging TikTok and Kuaiju official online shops. and support the brand comprehensively. Baozun offers a very attractive service for companies that are about to start selling in China or want to expand their sales.
■ Background of the alliance Part 3: The need for brand culturalization The third reason for the tie-up is that balconia, which is a team of Japanese and Chinese people who have continued to develop business in China, has the strength of “brand culturalization” that can be provided.
Cultural barriers are a major challenge faced by many Japanese companies entering the Chinese market. The success or failure of successful sales in China depends on how well you can optimize (cultureize) the appeal of your company’s products and brands for Chinese culture.
For example, the shampoo brand below has a message that strongly emphasizes the SDGs in Japan. However, in China, awareness of environmental considerations is not a factor that affects purchasing, and from the cultural background of seeking more benefits for oneself, this is an example of culturalizing the message and tuning it for China. I’m here.
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Balconia’s strength lies in culturalizing the brand itself by understanding and adapting to local consumer perceptions. Going through brand culturalization before increasing the scale of investment increases the probability of success for Japanese companies overseas.
Details of collaboration between balconia and Baozun
balconia supports the brand culture of many Japanese companies doing business in China. The book “Brand Culture Rise”
(https://www.amazon.co. jp/dp/4295406953/).
Baozun, which provides omni-channel and end-to-end e-commerce services in China, and solutions that make use of technology, and balconia, which has expertise in brand culture from Japan to China, will collaborate to promote the entry of Japanese companies and Japanese brands into China. We were able to build a system to carry out these activities more smoothly and effectively.
balconia company profile
Company name: balconia Shanghai Limited
Established: December 1, 2018
General Manager: Koki Kuboyama
Address: Room 306, East District, Building 1, Fanxing Tower, No. 100, Yujiajia Road, Putuo District, Shanghai, China
Shareholder: AMBL Co., Ltd.
URL: https://www.balconia.co.jp/ (Japanese) https://www.balconia.cn/ (Chinese) Balconia Shanghai e-mail magazine registration URL:
https://www.balconia.co.jp/mailmagazine/
Balconia Shanghai Blog, which updates China trends and marketing cases weekly: https://www.balconia.cn/blog/
■Baozun Company Overview
Founded in 2007, Baozun Inc. is a leader and pioneer in the branded e-commerce service industry in China. Baozun helps a wide variety of brands grow and succeed by leveraging its end-to-end e-commerce service capabilities, omnichannel coverage and technology-driven solutions. The company’s one-stop integrated solutions address all core aspects of e-commerce operations, encompassing IT solutions, online store operations, digital marketing, customer service, warehousing and fulfillment. For more information, please visit http://ir.baozun.com.
■ Inquiries regarding this matter
balcony Shanghai Limited
shanghai@balconia.co.jp
Details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000003.000105224.html