One of the major reasons cross border eCommerce is luring Chinese customers is: consumers in China perceive overseas goods to be higher quality and more trustworthy.
The reality may be different, though. Based on the recent results of random quality inspections from Wuxi Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, 75% of the selected cross border eCommerce products are marked “unqualified”.
Raising Concerns for Baby Products Sold to China
This random quality inspection was mainly focusing on baby products, including infant clothing, diapers, wet wipes. The tag issues were the main causes of these unqualified products: most of the unqualified products are lack of Chinese tags, production date, expiration date, etc. Missing these informational tags can cause misuse by Chinese customers, and lead to accidents.
It is not the first time that safety concerns are raised this year. In March 15th, General Administration of Quality Supervision,Inspection and Quarantine of China issued the result of “2015 cross border eCommerce consumer goods random quality inspections”. Within the random inspections of baby products including toys, apparels, diapers, wet wipes and else, 217 products were marked “unqualified” out of total 654 samples, leaving an unquailed rate of 33%. Aside from the tag or Chinese instruction missing, the other big reason for unqualified products is safety issue. For example, small parts of toys can possibly cause choking for kids.
Advice for Cross Border eCommerce Retailers
To be honest, unqualified products do not necessarily equal to poor quality products. One big reason for them to “fail the test” is: business did not pay much attention to legal and regulation of cross border eCommerce to China issued by Chinese government. Therefore, here are our advices to every foreign business, which are willing to sell products to China eCommerce safe and sound:
1. To study latest laws and policies about China cross border eCommerce
Clearly it’s very important to study the latest laws and policies issued by China, then to adjust on your shipping goods. Especially earlier this year, China government has updated the latest cross border eCommerce regulations, which included the new taxation policies. This will affect your cross border eCommerce business in a lot of ways, so we strongly recommend you to study it beforehand.
2. To get ready for all the documents and paperwork
Cross border eCommerce in China is not just simple as shipping your products to another country. A lot of documents need to be provided during inspection declaration as request. So do your homework first, find out what kind of documents is needed, get ready and keep following up during the progress.
3. To set up your own China eCommerce platform
Surely China eCommerce platform like Tmall and JD are popular, but counterfeit goods and safety issues have been long running there. Even imported goods meant quality in Chinese eCommerce customers’ minds, frequent safety issues have certainly raised their concerns.
Creating your own branded cross border eCommerce store will not only help you avoid the set-up and commission fees associated with JD.com and Tmall, but also build up your quality-assured, safe brand image.
Besides more variety of functionalities and flexibilities, you can try different approaches to make it a great platform by telling your company story to your Chinese customers, and providing them with more information about your products.
TMO Group Will Help You Drive eCommerce Growth
As a developing pioneer in China, TMO Group know eCommerce ecosystem well, and we are open to give you the service and quality workmanship that is well expected. Please feel free to contact us with any questions regarding eCommerce solutions that you may have.
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