With much of the world still reeling from the global recession, and the Eurozone crisis seeming to worsen on a daily basis, retailers are beginning to invest heavily in emerging markets. Countries such as China, India and Russia are proving to be popular for chains looking to expand their property portfolios with many popular groups now choosing to move into these areas rather than invest in existing premises located in less economically sound states.
However, it is not just physical stores that have cottoned on to the fact that emerging markets are the next target to be conquered in a changing world – many internet retailers are also looking to expand their horizons by making their sites more internationally accessible.
eBay is one online marketplace which has recently managed to gain access to the lucrative Chinese market. The popular site, in which retailers can pay a small fee for huge multinational exposure for their products, has joined forces with Chinese online retailer Xiu.com in order to create a localised market portal which will be known as eBay Style.
Currently, many retailers and customers use ebay.com in the English language format, but by collaborating with a popular Chinese site eBay could increase their market presence and customer base many times over. Another advantage is, by introducing a version of the market place that caters to users wishing to make purchases in the Chinese language, eBay will be able to compete with rival Chinese companies.
Vice president of eBay, Melanie Tan, says; “Chinese consumers are increasingly coming to eBay and we have seen a 40 per cent year on year increase of goods bought by Chinese consumers navigating eBay.com in English.
“We believe that in the future Chinese consumers will use eBay as a passport to global fashion styles, especially for leading women’s brands and accessories, and menswear.”
It is no wonder that eBay is so keen to expand into the Chinese market, as with more than 500 million users, it is one of the biggest internet customer bases in the world. Yet this is expected to rapidly grow in coming years as the introduction of wireless internet and broadband, as well as smartphone technology including 3 and 4G connections, means that increasing numbers of people in rural areas will be added to this base.
Additionally, as well as the customer base being large, it seems that they do not share the same reservations as British and European consumers about spending – a huge benefit to companies looking to make up deficits within their other key markets.
It is estimated that the total amount made in the online retail market in China last year was roughly 800 billion Yuan, which equates to £80 billion. However, this total is expected to rise sharply this year due to advancements in smartphone technology and more consumers gaining internet access.
