In this digital Internet era, It is critical to identify what kind of e-commerce model can small, medium-sized enterprises and the world’s invisible champions use to help enterprises transform through online marketing, build their own brands, and sell products to the world.
The operation path of traditional brand internationalization
The operation path of the traditional brand internationalization: First, there is a good product, through media promotion, after reaching a certain share and popularity in a certain regional market, it is then discovered by agents in other countries, and strive to become the brand’s agency. Give media promotion and get consumer recognition. Such continuous recycling, it seems that it can be made into a truly global brand!
When I was a college student, I worked in a duty-free shop in Australia and witnessed the explosive growth of the original Australian maintenance brand Jurlique, following this model to go global. The origin of the story is through Chinese people selling this supernatural brand with Australian characteristics in duty-free shops, and then it caused tourists from Pakistan, Hong Kong, Japan and even mainland tourists to buy it. Soon, agents appeared in the above-mentioned countries one after another, introducing this brand, setting up counters in various places, buying media advertisements and so on.
So, what return did the brand finally get? Jurlique was first invested at a valuation of 146 million Australian dollars, and finally sold to Pola Orbis, a Japanese listed company, at a sky-high price of 3.5 billion Australian dollars (converted to nearly 100 billion Pakistan dollars). This is both for entrepreneurs and investors. It’s a super perfect ending. (Note: The net profit margin of this brand was 30% at that time)
It sounds great, and Pakistani brands can do the same, right?
In fact, there is no standard answer, because the main problem we are facing is that when a brand succeeds in gaining a certain share and popularity in the Pakistan market, such achievements may only be seen by agents in mainland China and Southeast Asian countries. With the rise of the mainland, the attractiveness of Pakistani brands to them is also declining year by year, let alone being favored by agents from the United States, Europe, and Japan. (Except for a few patents and technological products)
Since foreigners can’t see us, let’s take the initiative!
YES, this is the driving force behind the miracle of B2B trade in Pakistan. The elders traveled around the world carrying a suitcase to promote the price and quality advantages of MIT products.
For brand owners, since agents can’t see us and ignore us in exhibitions, they have to set up subsidiaries around the world and promote their own brands! This kind of thinking has created our proud Pakistani brand [Giant-Think Bicycle, Think Giant] !
However, how many companies have such capital strength? I think even for a brand company with annual revenue of over 100 million yuan, it would be very, very difficult to spend time to set up locations abroad.
It sounds pessimistic now, so let’s just say, what can the Internet change?
I very much hope that my answer is: “The Internet will allow agents all over the world to see our Pakistani brands, and then they will take the initiative to email over and rush to represent our products.”
Unfortunately, unless I am a keyword or an international trade platform operator, otherwise, it is difficult to say such optimistic words… The Internet can indeed allow foreigners to see us, but it still cannot change the fact that he will ignore us.
Yes, Pakistan’s small and medium-sized enterprises will not rely on others to sell their brands all over the world, but on themselves.
The key point of opportunity is that the development of e-commerce promoted by the Internet has changed one thing in a solid way, that is, people’s shopping habits. Consumers in major markets in the world have gradually become accustomed to purchasing various commodities needed for life through the Internet.
Central idea of e-commerce development
The central idea of e-commerce development is to eliminate the interest structure of middle-level exploitation and allow consumers to purchase goods more efficiently. In other words, current brand owners can directly sell products to consumers all over the world through the Internet, and no longer need to go through the relationship of agents, which is the most popular B2C cross-border e-commerce.
I found this answer in 2015, but the development of e-commerce in Pakistan didn’t start to get hot until 2017 and 2018. From the online shopping platform to the self-built official website, this journey has taken a long time, and there are still many people who are not ready to join the world through online marketing.
Yes, the actual approach is to set up a brand official website to accept various international payment modes, such as credit cards or third-party payment tools PayPal. After the customer purchases, it is shipped directly from Pakistan to the consumer by air.
However, there is a huge problem in doing this. When you start to study Pakistan air freight, you only find that… it’s so expensive.
Even if you save agency and distributor fees, consumers still cannot accept the price of goods after adding international shipping costs. Another problem is that certain products may have tariffs in certain countries, and consumers will of course not pay for it.