Rolls-Royce is honoring the Chinese New Year with a new  ”Year of the Dragon” model. Barbara Demick of the Los Angeles Times describes the growing taste for luxury goods in China in her article Chinese are up to speed with life in the fast lane. Demick reports that the $1.6 million vehicles will have  ”hand-embroidered versions of mythical animals on leather headrests.”

Retailers also say that high-fashion apparel is popular. This China Daily report on The Villa, a Shanghai boutique, makes it clear that shoppers in China are willing to open their wallets for the right products:

Yigal Azrouel is one of the designers that The Villa has carried since its opening and has seen the market and interest for a broader range of style grow.

“What I love about China is the excitement about fashion, not just clothing,” says Azrouel, who adds that he has a more international presence.

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Kyle Berner is a New Orleans entrepreneur who started selling biodegradable natural rubber flip flops in the United States. His company, Feelgoodz, expanded with sales to retail outlets in New Zealand and Australia.  Quick to seize new opportunities, Kyle was among the first wave of businesses executives to see the opportunity to reach customers through social media and early on he began building a Feelgoodz community on Facebook. Now Kyle is ready to take another new step as he prepares to enter the Chinese market.

Export Now is proud to have Kyle and Feelgoodz as an initial launch partner. We are also proud that Kyle is winning early recognition for his decision to embrace Export Now’s unique approach that allows any American company to easily sell through China’s giant e-commerce portal, TMall.

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The Shanghai Bureau Chief for Forbes, Russell Flannery, sat down for a dinner of fried yak recently with Export Now founder Frank Lavin. This is Flannery’s report: Export To China On The Cheap.  A key conclusion:

China is emerging as the world’s largest ecommerce market, and Lavin is teaming up with “Tmall” under the country’s most popular ecommerce site, Taobao. Taobao, run by Chinese e-commerce billionaire Jack Ma and partly owned by Yahoo, boasts more than 300 million registered users. “It’s the world’s largest store, and Jack Ma has made it accessible to everyone across China,” Lavin says. “We are making it accessible to people outside of China.”

One question Flannery asked was about the categories of consumer products likely to do well with e-commerce shoppers in China. Lavin listed automotive items and anything for babies:

Lavin thinks one of the most promising industries in China for U.S. exporters is baby items. “People are willing to pay a premium for safety,” he says. Another: auto accessories.  China has become the world’s largest auto market, and has a growing number of car aficionados.

The Export Now launch partners recognize that items with broad appeal, from Lion Brand Yarn to Feelgoodz Flip-Flops, will also draw shoppers seeking quality goods.

China's first e-commerce service report, released at the first China E-business Service Conference on Dec. 15 in Shanghai, said the market size of China's e-business is taking a leap. According to the report, by the end of 2011, the number of China's e-business service companies will break 150,000, and the whole e-business service industry will take in a combined annual income of 120 billion yuan.

Alipay, China's leading third-party online payment platform and a subsidiary of the Alibaba Group, has spinned off its reward points service as a wholly-owned subsidiary to tap the country's booming e-commerce market. Jifen Bao, the relaunched reward points platform, will be based in the eastern city of Nanjing, Jiangsu province, with an initial capital of 10 million yuan (1.57 million U.S. dollars). The service enables clients to redeem points to make small purchases on Alibaba's e-commerce subsidiaries, such as Taobao, and to pay utility bills, company officials said Tuesday.

Top Chinese sports brand Li-Ning is making a second pass at the U.S. market and for now their strategy is branded e-commerce. "The biggest brand you've never heard of ... now available here," proclaims the greeting on a bold red background on www.Li-Ning.com, which officially launches Monday. The company's first English-language consumer website has already picked up some popular U.S. e-commerce tactics, like free holiday shipping and a Facebook page. The company's founder, former Chinese Olympic gymnast Li Ning, has ambitious plans to challenge rivals like Nike on their home turf with his namesake brand.

The explosive growth of China's online shopping market is attracting more and more international brands. Benefit, LVMH Moet Hennessy (LVMH)'s well-known cosmetics brand, has officially opened a flagship store on Taobao Mall to attract China's young cosmetics consumer group by using online sales. Analysts believe that Benefit, the fourth largest global sales make-up product, should target young Chinese people as its main consumer group. In addition, online shopping has no geographical limit, which can help international brands to quickly cover second and third line cities in China. L'Oreal, Olay, Neutrogena, Davidoff and other international cosmetics brands have already opened stores on Taobao Mall to test the market.

By Jim EricksonNov 21, 2011 | 01:10 pm   

"Shoppers are more cautious this year with their spending. Even if they said they were spending more, they were doing so mainly to keep up with the rising cost of products," Paul Jung, Visa's head of eCommerce for Asia-Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, said in a statement. "The exception was China where respondents said it was because they wanted to buy more expensive items," he added.

John Bryson, the new US Secretary of Commerce, traveled to China earlier this month, accompanied by US Trade Representative Ron Kirk. Both attended a meeting for the US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). The meeting was also attended by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan who represented China in the 22^nd session of the annual meeting.  Discussions at the meeting were centered around US exports into China and possible measures the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) could implement to further facilitate trade between the two countries.  Previous efforts of the MOC led to the usage of United States made airport vehicles at the Beijing airport, which Secretary Bryson got to see first hand during his visit. Last year’s JCCT meeting strengthened intellectual property rights enforcement and made revisions to China’s indigenous innovation policies and pushed them through to the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement.  Other initiatives, led by the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC), are also being pushed to help small and medium American businesses export their products to China.

This is not the only example of the US government taking special interest in exporting to China. Many state governments have started programs of their own that help businesses within their state expand through exporting. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1995, assists Virginia businesses through aggressive business recruitment, expansion assistance, and trade development. The VEDP works business development partners to help Virginia businesses establish themselves and be successful in their home market, but the main goal of the partnership is to help Virginia businesses expand their export base abroad.  The VEDP not only helps companies identify new markets, but also creates market entry strategies and connects Virginia companies to foreign distributors. Participating Virginia businesses are given a summary of the most current economic and demographic information of their selected site, as well as individually tailored research for suitable land and other manufacturing necessities. The partnership can also assist with navigating foreign regulations and tariffs, further lessening the difficulties for businesses looking to expand internationally.

Export Now is also doing its part to help manufacturers of all sizes export their products to China at lower costs and with greater convenience. Not only does Export Now take all the headaches out of exporting your products to China; it also makes your products available to hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers by listing them on an exclusive storefront on Tmall.com, China’s premier B2C platform. The US Government sees exporting as an integral part of the future success of American business. Export Now wants to help American businesses realize that success.

Further Reading:

New US commerce secretary traveling to China

Virginia Economic Development Partnership