It was an inspiring, energetic and fruitful morning on 19th January to have a roundtable discussion with Her Majesty Ambassador to People’s Republic of China Miss Barbara Woodward as well as 16 other business leaders from the Northwest at Deloitte’s Manchester offices.
Miss Woodward gave us an update about the UK’s continued commitment to China as a key trading partners and Clive Drinkwater of UKTI updated us on the amazing trade figures between China and the UK. In the last five years inward investment from China has increased by an average of 85 percent and exports to China have doubled.
After the updates from Barbara and Clive came the updates of trade activities in China from ourselves and the rest of the roundtable including Arup, Backbone IT, BDP, Brock Carmichael, BTTG, Colloids, DC Brands, EA Technology, EDM, Helical, HSBC, Hughes, Peel Holdings, PTG Holroyd and Regatta. It was fascinating for us to hear about such wide range of UK businesses, their success and the challenges they face in China.
Many are in consensus that there are not that many ‘big barriers’ as such that should stop British companies trading with China, but there are a lot of very small issues which could eat up time trading with China. Moreover, business leaders all agreed that UK companies looking to sell to just simply cannot view China as a single market. China is a continent consist of collections of regions, provinces and cities. It is too vast to be considered as “a country”, especially in marketing terms.
We also discussed how digital technology can really help UK brands to target Chinese consumers. In my view, there has not been a better time for UK companies to expand their horizon and sell their products to China and the rest of Asia Pacific. Marketing to China via your typical social media like Weibo, WeChat and investing in Baidu SEO can reap rewards, though the application process can be lengthy.
Companies who wants to test their water can always work on some digital PR, ads and divert traffic to their UK website, as long as your website can take payment from a Chinese credit card etc. Many high street jewellers in the UK have already started using Union Pay, one of the primary networks of payment methods in China. This is to make spending big amount much easier for Chinese customers. E-commerce platform such as Taobao, T-mall can also be very lucrative if you can afford the entrance fee but it’s worth looking at smaller competitors such as Amazon shopfront in China. It is slightly easier and cheaper to set up but it has a much smaller market share than their rivals.
The roundtable was organised by Nathalie Cachet-Gaujard of China-Britain Business Council and hosted by Jon Lovell of Deloitte. Many thanks to CBBC for the invitation and a big thank you to Nathalie and Jon for making such a meaningful event happened.
It was an inspiring, energetic and fruitful morning on 19th January to have a roundtable discussion with Her Majesty Ambassador to People’s Republic of China Miss Barbara Woodward as well as 16 other business leaders from the Northwest at Deloitte’s Manchester offices.
Miss Woodward gave us an update about the UK’s continued commitment to China as a key trading partners and Clive Drinkwater of UKTI updated us on the amazing trade figures between China and the UK. In the last five years inward investment from China has increased by an average of 85 percent and exports to China have doubled.
After the updates from Barbara and Clive came the updates of trade activities in China from ourselves and the rest of the roundtable including Arup, Backbone IT, BDP, Brock Carmichael, BTTG, Colloids, DC Brands, EA Technology, EDM, Helical, HSBC, Hughes, Peel Holdings, PTG Holroyd and Regatta. It was fascinating for us to hear about such wide range of UK businesses, their success and the challenges they face in China.
Many are in consensus that there are not that many ‘big barriers’ as such that should stop British companies trading with China, but there are a lot of very small issues which could eat up time trading with China. Moreover, business leaders all agreed that UK companies looking to sell to just simply cannot view China as a single market. China is a continent consist of collections of regions, provinces and cities. It is too vast to be considered as “a country”, especially in marketing terms.
We also discussed how digital technology can really help UK brands to target Chinese consumers. In my view, there has not been a better time for UK companies to expand their horizon and sell their products to China and the rest of Asia Pacific. Marketing to China via your typical social media like Weibo, WeChat and investing in Baidu SEO can reap rewards, though the application process can be lengthy.
Companies who wants to test their water can always work on some digital PR, ads and divert traffic to their UK website, as long as your website can take payment from a Chinese credit card etc. Many high street jewellers in the UK have already started using Union Pay, one of the primary networks of payment methods in China. This is to make spending big amount much easier for Chinese customers. E-commerce platform such as Taobao, T-mall can also be very lucrative if you can afford the entrance fee but it’s worth looking at smaller competitors such as Amazon shopfront in China. It is slightly easier and cheaper to set up but it has a much smaller market share than their rivals.
The roundtable was organised by Nathalie Cachet-Gaujard of China-Britain Business Council and hosted by Jon Lovell of Deloitte. Many thanks to CBBC for the invitation and a big thank you to Nathalie and Jon for making such a meaningful event happened.