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3月 29, 2019 / By ASI Solutions / Doing Business in China • Import Regulations/ 0 Comments

Embargo Lifting for French Food

If you are a regular reader of French or Chinese newspapers, you may know that Xi Jinping was in France for a three-day state visit, late March 2019. It took place in the frame of his European tour, to secure and deepen European Union ties with China, as well as celebrating 55 years of France-PCC diplomatic relationship (established with Charles de Gaulle visiting Beijing). 14 trade deals were signed between French and Chinese enterprises, among which the resounding sale of 300 Airbus.

What one may not know however, is the content of the other trade deals signed. Some of them are directly concerning import regulations for French products, thus directly impacting French companies eager to develop their operations to China.

ASI Solutions, as foreign companies' best partner for handling their Chinese expansion, tells you more about it!

Food safety is a great concern in China, and at the same time, demand for imported F&B is increasing. This embargo had been implemented since December 2015, after the avian flu plagued Europe.

The Embargo on beef meet was already lifted in August 2018, now it is turn to French poultry. France will be the second country, after Poland, to sign a new export protocol between the GACC and the French poultry industry.

The market is relatively modest in terms of volume: last time in 2015, France had exported for 3 570 tons of poultry meat for a total of 7 million of euros (Figures from FranceAgriMer). However these exports offered an appreciable complementary income for the industry, as it affected some pieces - such as frozen head, legs and wings of the chicken - that are really appreciated by Chinese consumers whereas less by European ones.

This agreement followed some audits made by Chinese inspectors on March 2018, when they visited hatcheries, slaughterhouses and sanitary control laboratory.

The export will resume as soon as the certified French companies for the export will individually receive the go.

A protocol listing all the export conditions from France to China was signed during the visit. This protocol will open the Chinese market to all kind of French shellfish at once, when it was previously made case by case.

Notice that the Chinese delegation, during last March audit, have also visited a foie gras company, which is seen as a good omen for the producer and expat consumers in China.

Among these numerous agreements, noticed that a cooperative protocol between the French bank BNP Paribas, the French fund Eurazeo and China Investment Corporation sovereign wealth fund was signed. This agreement aims to encourage and support development of French companies in China, with an amount about 1 to 1,5 billion euros.

The French president announced that some cooperation will be made in countries involved in the New Silk Road, but France is not willing to participate in the infrastructure project.

Nonetheless, this visit offers promising business opportunities between French and Chinese companies and will certainly tighten their trade relations.

We will keep you updated on the project’s advancement.

ASI Solutions is always abreast regarding Chinese import and export regulations, and provides you with complete information on compliance and testing when it comes to Chinese import regulations and best practices. We provide you tailor-made solutions for your business to fully meet requirements of the Chinese market, and assist you in any challenges you may face in running your international operations.

Contact us for more information regarding regulations, shipment and commercialization of your goods in Mainland China.

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Before Exporting to China: a Two-Step Guide

Before even exporting to China, deal with the logistics part, design and implement your marketing & communication strategy, a company has to go through few but essential steps. Sometimes overlooked when exporting, they however are detrimental to prepare thoroughly before even exporting.

As companies best partners for their internationalization process to China, ASI Solutions has put together a comprehensive summary on what one needs to know before going abroad. Being aware of these key steps is key to ensure a smooth export process.

China classifies products in 3 categories when it comes to them being imported within its borders: prohibited, restricted and permitted goods.

Apart from products whom prohibition is obvious (explosives, arms, articles coming from disease-stricken areas, etc.) some items considered as more common are also restricted.

Raw materials for plastic, polyester, raw materials for chemical fibers, cotton, and some steel products fall into this category. As restricted products, they require quotas and licenses.

As such, one has to check if the products to be imported are eligible according to Chinese legislation.

It is then necessary to make sure that your product is in compliance with the GB standards (国标, Guóbiāo). These National Standards have been developed for technical requirements and serve as basis for testing products. Depending on their prefix code (GB, GB/T, GB/Z) they are identified as mandatory or voluntary. 85% of the standards are voluntary, however you are encouraged to follow them anyway as it can enhance the brand of your product.
Most of the GB Standards are derived from the ISO norms, however rules are stricter when it comes to products such as edible ones, cosmetics or have an impact on the safety.

What does this compliance with GB standards imply?

Testing

The process for ensuring that they meet the requirements often include testing (the testing applicable depending on the category the product itself falls into). Your product should then be sent to a certified laboratory located in China.

Labelling

Specific labelling requirements apply when it comes to importing a product into China and again, the latter depend on the category your product falls into.

For a food product to be imported, the label must be affixed on the original packaging. This label should be in Chinese and include information such as the production date, the expiry date, the country of origin and the nutritional value.
For a textile product, a Chinese version of the label sewed on the product should be added, with the washing instructions; as well as a Chinese version of the selling label with indicating the size and price.

Making sure that your product can be exported to China can be complex for companies which are not familiar with the process. Before even knowing if it will meet demand, you will need to invest not only money but also time and energy.

As such, having a local partner helping you navigating in the set of regulations and requirements is often the best solution. As companies' best partner for handling the export process, ASI Solutions provides you the support and expertise you need. Apart from logistics, we help ensure compliance and you manage the testing and labelling of your product. We also provide you with key insights and advices on the challenges you might face.

From origin to your final consumer's doorstep, we handle it all (including local warehousing and delivery). In the era of e-commerce, while the latter is booming in China, it is essential to be responsive, and efficient when internationalizing your operations.

Our aim is to facilitate your expansion for you to take full advantage of the opportunities Chinese market represents.

Discover our full range of solutions!

2月 13, 2019 / By ASI Solutions / Chinese E-Commerce • Doing Business in China/ 0 Comments

Looking Back at Chinese Market Trends Which Shaped 2018

As 2018 has reached its end, and the year of the pig has officially begun, it is time now to have a look back on what trends have shaped Chinese market over the past year, and thus what its future is. China’s market is evolving fast, with the government actively taking part in driving it as to meet the objectives of the 13th Five-Year-Plan. At the same time, it is important for foreign brands to understand what makes the Middle Kingdom so particular, compared to Western societies.

ASI Solutions has been helping brands exporting to and importing from China for more than 10 years, thus developing a strong knowledge in the field. We make the internationalization of the firms easier, from origin to destination.

Where can foreign brands can find opportunities of development in China? And why is so? These are the questions ASI Solutions will answer in the following article.

The main driver of China’s economic growth is its domestic consumption. According to EMIS Report, it contributed to 78.5% of the latter.

Why is so?

The government has decided to boost domestic consumption, encouraging retail trade development and, as we will explore in more depth later on, e-commerce in particular. This has been supported by measures such as standardization of the sector, ensuring healthy market operation and protect consumer rights. As China is switching from a manufacturing-based economy to a consumption-driven one, foreign companies are encouraged to take advantage of this new orientation.

Which consumers are the drivers of local consumption?

While big cities such as Shanghai or Beijing have been driving economic development for years, tier-two cities as well as rural areas are the new drivers of growth. The main element fostering this tendency is the development of e-commerce. Thanks to the latter, regions that were isolated now have access to a large panel of goods.

For Chinese consumers, e-commerce is the easiest way access goods (wherever and whenever one wants). As such it fosters higher consumer spendings. It is indeed one of the main elements behind China’s retail sector’s growth.

China is implementing the « New Retail » model or as Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder, puts it:

« E-commerce is rapidly evolving into New Retail. The boundary between offline and online commerce disappears as we focus on fulfilling the personalized needs of each customers. »

To sum it up, e-commerce is becoming more and more consumer-centric where personalization plays a key part.

O2O is gaining weight and is now strongly supported by chain retailers. It combines and offline strategies: online for the marketing and purchasing, offline for the distribution channels such as pick-ups, after-sales services and traditional purchasing. It goes beyond with integrating mobiles into the equation and one can now use the term m-commerce to designate mobile commerce

Since 2011 China represents world’s greatest food and beverage market. The consumption itself changed as Chinese consumers are now demanding high quality products. Food safety has become one of government’s top priorities and population’s greatest concerns. Even though consumption of foreign food products is not outweighing the one of locals, it is believed that it will be world’s greatest consumer of imported products. The reason is that foreign products are believed to be more qualitative.

China is still a great importer (5th) and consumer (2nd) of Wine. Even though the market is more and more competitive, the demand is there, and indeed increasing.

1月 30, 2019 / By ASI Solutions / Uncategorized/ 0 Comments

How Will CNY Impact Your Business?

If you are doing business in or with China, you might already be familiar with Chinese New Year (CNY) whose celebrations’ date, depending on the Lunar calendar, vary from year to year. What does not change however, is the massive migration of individuals crossing the country to celebrate this special moment with their relatives (actually being the world’s biggest yearly migration).

Having more than 1.3 billion people going in vacation at the same time does not only have an effect on the country’s transportation system, yet also on consumption, logistics and supply chain, making this time a very unique one in the year.

What is the impact of CNY on your business? How to cope with its side effects and take advantage of the opportunities it offers? These are questions successful companies dealing with or in China are familiar with. ASI Solutions, as your key import/export partner, thus offers you some insight on this year’s edition must-know and best practices.

Before entering the core of the matter, one should be familiar with what these holidays are about, as well as their scope.

As stated before, their main aim is to offer workers the occasion to go back home to see their family for the New Year’s celebrations. Most of them go back to the countryside where they come from. It is not uncommon to see train stations and airports crowded with people transporting huge amounts of gifts for family members and relatives. They are usually given by elders to younger people, or between friends and relatives. They include food & sweets (fruits, cakes, biscuits, chocolates, candies, etc.).

The evening before CNY’s day is the occasion for Chinese family to gather for the annual reunion dinner. The celebrations are also the occasion for decorating it with red paper-cuts & couplets, as well as offering the traditional Hongbaos (or red paper envelope). The latter are passed out from married couples or the elderly to unmarried juniors or children, and usually contain money.

Key dates :

Little Year (Jan. 28th – Feb. 4th): preparations for the New Year.
Spring Festival (Feb. 5th – Feb. 15th): CNY officially begins on Feb. 5th.
Lantern Festival (Feb. 16th – Feb. 19th): preparations for the Lantern Festival which is held on the 19th.

CNY’s spendings corroborate China’s shift toward a consumption-led economy. This is good news for companies eager to enter Chinese market. It has been noted that high-tech consumer goods are among the favorite products bought during the period (floor-sweeping robots for instance). Sales at restaurants and shopping malls have jumped 10.2% to about RMB 926 billion (USD 146 billion) during 2018 CNY holiday compared to 2017 (Ministry of Commerce). Food being a traditional gift during CNY, brands should put the emphasis on this F&B products.

To take advantage of this increase, it is important for brands to manage their stock in advance because of the logistics disruptions happening during the period. Note that consumers usually start shopping for CNY 2-3 weeks before the celebrations (Criteo).

Services linked to traveling and leisure are also among the preferred expenses. Tourism both domestic and international is obviously booming during this period.

In terms of marketing and communications, one should take advantage of the hongbao (red packet) fever during CNY celebrations. The tradition we covered in the previous section, has evolved with the rise of technology and cyber-Hongbao is now very common.

One can get inspired by the collaboration Tencent QQ has established with certain brands, offering them the opportunity to create branded electronic red packets on their platform. The latter - labelled with luxury brands’ names such as Kenzo, Burberyy or Ferrari – could be shared by users to friends and relatives. Such initiatives increase brand awareness while showing that your brand is familiar with Chinese customs and sensitive to the latter.

Taking the example of Tencent QQ is significant given the fact that most of the purchase are made on mobile devices – rather than on laptops – during the period.

If you have already been running operations in China, you might be familiar with the huge disruptions the holiday creates in the logistics and supply chain sectors.

Whether you are manufacturing goods in China to import them, or exporting your own products to China’s market, your operations will be impacted.

As workers all leave to visit their family, factories stop for 2 weeks up to 1 month, administrations, customs, and transportation are greatly slowed down, while there is an increase in production and flows of goods prior to the country’s « shutdown ».

As such, one should carefully plan production and logistics beforehand, informing manufacturers and logistic partner well in advance as for the operations to be the least impacted possible.

Read a full article about how to handle your logistics and supply chain effectively during CNY.

1月 22, 2019 / By ASI Solutions / Chinese E-Commerce • Get Your Business Started in China/ 0 Comments

Chinese Mobile Economy: The Place to Be

Reference: statista.com

ASI Solutions thus aims in this article at offering you an overview of China’s Mobile E-Commerce. The latter not only being a huge contributor to the economy, but also shaping the way Chinese consumers buy and behave. We are strong of a 10-year experience at accompanying foreign companies in their internationalization process, more specifically in China where our head office is located.

If a company is aiming at entering Chinese market successfully, it is essential to understand the peculiarities of consumption on-site and the trends that will be shaping it in the future.

In general, Chinese e-commerce is huge. Last November, on Chinese Singles’ Day or 11.11 (the country’s biggest online sales event), Taobao and Tmall generated more than USD 30.4 billion of sales, which is more than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

According to QuestMobile’s report, China’s mobile economy grew by over 20% during the first half of 2018, and in 2017 general mobile internet usage exceeded desktop internet usage. Mobile payment is also much more popular in China than in the West. Smartphones has become an essential tool in China, from chatting with your friends, to ordering food, buying goods, renting a bike, or calling a cab. The interconnectedness of all services available makes it even easier for Chinese consumers to navigate and share their latest fancy without having to leave their phone, or even switch App. The degree to which Chinese people have integrated the use of smartphone in their daily life has been fostered by several elements inherent to their "psyche" as well as by exogenous elements.

As such, taking advantage of this evolution of Chinese people consuming behavior represents a great opportunity for foreign brands eager to expand their scope of distribution.

Chinese government is nourishing this trend, especially considering the « Internet Plus » strategy it initiated. This plan aims at boosting Chinese economy by « diminishing its reliance on manufacturing and export in favor of a knowledge-based economy driven by services and the tech sector » (Kalin Hristov « Internet plus policy: A study on how China can achieve economic growth through the internet of things », Emerald Insight, 11 March 2017), in accordance with Made in China 2020.

Apart from the government advocating and actually acting in favor e-commerce, characteristics specific to Chinese population explain the importance mobile economy:

While there is a general preference for e-commerce among Chinese people, general public is more open to integrate mobile usage into one’s daily life as it more practical for one to do so. This is particularly true in China where it actually improves people’s lifestyle by reducing the gap between the buyers and vendors. Actually, mobile payment is more popular in China’s underdeveloped regions, where the lack of commercial infrastructures offers a fertile ground for e-commerce. For people living in these regions, mobile economy is an opportunity to access products that were not that easily available before.
China has the technology to foster mobile consumption, and innovation is booming. It is then interesting to note that competition is then very vivid.
The large population fosters network effect: when an App or a given consuming behavior becomes popular, it spreads rapidly.
Chinese netizens are globally younger than in the West (average being below 30 years old). This population is more prone to use mobile economy.
E-consumption is also driven by Chinese people’s taste for entertainment. As we will explore in more depth later on, live stream is one of the best example of this tendency.

How to Sell: Mobile Entertainment

Producing entertainment content is now key for brands and platforms that want to make it China. This is particularly true for mobile e-commerce, many companies even producing dedicated content to attract and interact with consumers. Online literature, video streaming, TV programs (such as Alibaba’s 24h live stream for 11.11 event) and games are examples of the content they create. Short videos are especially popular. For this reason, successful firms are getting closer and closer to also being media companies.

The Good Offer Should be Based on Innovation

As stated before, China has now become a pool for innovation, this tendency has been fueled by government’s incentives as part of Made In China 2020 program. The competition is now fierce, and your offer should be customer focused, predict people’s needs accurately while providing cheaper goods and/or services (cutting the middleman now being a huge tendency).

Selective App Usage: Making Sure to Launch an App that Will Stay on Your Customers’ Phone

The QuestMobile’s report we mentioned earlier also shows that people tend to reduce the number of Apps installed on their phone (down to 35 on average). If you are planning on launching yours, focusing on concepts should not be central anymore. User experience should be emphasized i.e. making sure the design works well for the user and improving the performance of the App itself.

Entering Chinese e-commerce field can represent a great growth opportunity for a well-prepared company, especially if the latter is focusing on mobile e-commerce.

Taking advantage of the booming of China’s mobile e-commerce as a foreign brands means understanding Chinese consumption’s specificities. As mentioned, entertainment content is now essential for brands eager to build brand-awareness and engage effectively with potential customers and those who already purchased your product/service as to build a loyal customer-base. On the other hand, marketing and communication are only part of the strategy and one should pay attention to not take Chinese market for granted. Innovating and being attentive to customers’ experience is key.

At ASI Solutions, we help you exporting your brand and product in simplicity. From origin to destination, we take care of every step on your behalf as to make your internationalization a success.

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