Click, click, BUY! This is what every company wants to hear happening on their website as they buy their products. Tmall is the B2C buying platform under the Alibaba Group. Big brands such as Maserati, Burberry, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Under Armour, Adidas, Nike and Gap have Tmall stores where people can buy products. Unlike most countries the Chinese buy from Tmall not from company websites like Clarks.com. They buy from Clarks online Tmall flagship store. The keyword here is “flagship” this means that it is an official store and does not sell fake or counterfeit products. Chinese consumers are aware of this and look for high quality products.
So how do YOU open a Tmall flagship store for your brand?
Step 1: Evaluate the needs of your brand.
There are a few questions that that need to be answered to see if a Tmall store is the right fit for your brand.
1.What is your current ambition?
2.How big is your company?
3.How many SKU do you have?
Based on this your TP and target we should be able to help you formalize a 3-year business plan, entailing the turnover, return and marketing investment of each month, and your overall e-commerce staffing.
Step 2: Count how many years you have been operating in China.
Companies need to be operating for in Mainland China for at least two years to be able to create a Tmall flagship store. Don’t have two years? No problem. Full Jet is here to help you navigate the system to enter the market earlier.
Step 3: Make sure to apply with the correct documents.
There is a long list of documents to submit for approval such as company head’s identification, company’s business certificate, Alipay corporate account authorization (assuming you already have a corporate bank account in China) and much more.
Step 4: Coordinate your IT solutions between OMS, WMS and Tmall back-end.
WMS controls the ins and outs of your warehouse which connects to the different OMS of different front-ends: Tmall, JD, brand websites, WeChat store etc. It is the point where internal software loses its competitive advantages. Make sure that you choose your WMS and OMS solutions wisely, compatible systems that understand the needs of business will save you a lot of trouble.
Step 5: Make sure the design of your user-flow and page-flow make sense.
Knowing where potential customers will click and if the page order makes sense can help the user experience.
Step 6: Decide who will design your pages, create content and upload each product image.
The daily maintenance of the online Tmall store is very labor-intense and needs to be done regularly. From sorting out product information and product imageries of each of your new arrivals, to converting them into convincing product pages. The amount of planning and skillful operation is often too expensive for any brands to handle in-house. A Taobao partner vendor for e-commerce management services (TP), part of Full Jet’s scope of services, has teams of dedicated experts to take care of every step.
Step 7: Finally – test and run!
Yes – online websites need to be tested over and over again to make sure they run properly. If there is a hiccup in the system while a customer is putting in a 2,000 RMB order than this can be a major problem.
Tmall not for you after all? There are other great options out there such as Tmall cross-border where you can sell directly from your home country or another online platform, JD. Cross-border B2C e-commerce sales are predicted to double to about 19.33 billion USD by 2019, and these platforms are not a bad choice with which to start your business in China.
Whatever platform you choose Full Jet is here for your brand every step of the way. From paperwork, to branding, to cultural adaptation, to profits don’t hesitate to contact us today.
