Making China e-commerce more accessible for Beauty SMEs

Here I am talking to Jack Porteous from Samarkand Global. Jack is Samarkand’s Client service director. He previously worked at the Department of International Trade for the UK government and for the China British Business council. So has a wealth of experience.

Samarkand have offices in the UK & China and their mission is “To make Chinese eCommerce as easy as selling on your own .com”

We covered a range of topics starting from:

What are the 3 biggest hurdles for foreign Beauty brands entering China:
Partners
Competition
Animal testing

Firstly, partners - it can be very difficult to find the right fit:
- Transfer of information is rarely smooth.

- Culturally it is less transparent so difficult to understand what is needed or what is being done.

- Distributors - you have less brand control but they may be willing to invest on their own to build you up.

- Trade Partners - it is common for them to wow you with big sales forecasts but the reality can be very different

Competition is fierce in China

- It is an expensive market to operate in. Even for Cross border e-commerce there are many areas that eat up your margins from fixed fees and commission for partners, to shipping and tax as well as platform fees and marketing.

- Do not see China as merely a big sales opportunity. It is a big market but very complex and needs to be entered only when you are ready to invest your time and money.

Animal testing - Jack outlines the very latest info in regards to CSAR and how this will change animal testing.

- The new regulations going into effect on 1st Jan will not immediately change anything

- In order to file your products you need to have a GMP signed off by a government body but in UK and Europe no government body does that sort of thing so the UK government are still working with the Chinese authorities on how to manage this.

- New Ingredients is also an issue. There has only been 30 new ingredients in 12 years. Lots of common ingredients today like Hyaluronic acid is not approved for use in China.

- These new regulations will not apply to special use cosmetics (SPF, Hair colour, growth etc)

Samarkand Global are an e-commerce solutions provider for brands. They offer 3 main types of services:

Distribution - Beauty and Health products. They have a network of shops they distirbute to from KOLs, Taobao stores, wechat stores etc.

Trade Partner - Setting up and running market places and other online shops for your brand in China

Nomad Checkout - a simple solution to allow your own global website to be accessed in China, with checkout in Chinese and using Chinese payment methods. They also take care of the shipping & customs. Ensuring a good experience for your customers.

Contact Jack on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackporteous/ or go to Samarkand’s website