China’s WeChat and the impact on Australian businesses

By Addie Thomes

China’s largest social media platform, WeChat (or Weixin in China), has gone mainstream in Australia and is creating significant opportunities for Australian businesses.   

Initially embraced by Australia’s large Chinese community as a tool to communicate and stay connected with friends and family back in China, many local Chinese are now using the platform to purchase goods and services.   

This is providing savvy Australian businesses with the capacity to utilise WeChat to engage with Chinese consumers.  

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Dr Mathew McDougall, the founder of DaigouSales.com, a WeChat eMarketplace, explains the impact this has had on his company and other Australian enterprises looking to do business with Chinese consumers…

“WeChat has over 963mn monthly active users, with about 3mn WeChat users living in Australia. For brands looking to engage with Chinese consumers there is no better platform to leverage than WeChat. 

“DaigouSales.com allows Australian brands to sell directly into China via locally based Chinese WeChat users who buy on behalf of their friends and relatives back in China. DaigouSales.com handles the eStore management and cross border shipping so Australian businesses can concentrate on creating great products”.

“Given the status of Australia as being clean, green and safe, many Chinese are opting to source goods from our market. In a study conducted by the Hurun Report and the Shenzhen Catic Wellness Group, it was found that on average Chinese mainlanders are spending a quarter of the family’s monthly budget on health care products alone.

“This is not to mention mainland Chinese looking to buy an increasing wider variety of products. Over the past few years we have seen daigou focus on infant formula, vitamins and supplements but in 2017 we increasingly saw daigou looking to source products such as clothing, essential oils, uniquely Australian skin care and cosmetics to jewellery. 

“According to research we conducted in 2017, the daigou community is mostly made up of females aged between 30 and 39, which is closely followed by the 20 to 29 age bracket. They purchase and ship products from Australia on behalf of their personal contacts back in mainland China. We found in our survey the most crucial points of trade considered are the quality of the products, the price, followed by the brand awareness.

“China represents a huge market for Australian businesses and more and more SMEs are looking at exporting their goods and services to China. Since launching, we have already we have helped over 75 brands put strategies in place to export to China via DaigouSales.com.

“Selling into China is not always a simple task and over the years I have seen many businesses lack the knowledge to properly connect with the local daigou community. This is why DaigouSales.com acts as a buffer between the two sides to help successful business relationships grow.

“When launching DaigouSales.com, I coined the term, D2C, to help companies conceptualise the powerful channel known as daigou that can assist them in the marketing, promotion and ultimately the sales of their brands in China. The Australian daigou community is a billion dollar market and growing for Australian businesses.”

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