Staff of Made-in-China.com help overseas merchants to find appropriate suppliers in China. (Photo/China Daily)
Acting on the advice of InQbrands, Wolf Paint targeted cost-conscious American families interested in decorating their homes themselves.
"Many SMEs think it takes decades to build a brand. But we think the time can be significantly shortened with continuous trial sales," said Qin.
Such trials decrease costs as well as risks for SMEs, while improving profit from cross-border e-commerce, he said.
Turnover of China's cross-border e-commerce was about 7 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) last year, and is expected to reach 8.8 trillion yuan this year, and 12 trillion yuan by 2020, with an annual growth rate of about 20 percent, according to data from market research companies iResearch and CIConsulting.
As more and more SMEs gain confidence and tap overseas markets, the resulting intense competition is shifting focus from price to quality and brands, said Zhang Li, president of the E-commerce Research Institute, a part of the Ministry of Commerce.
"E-commerce companies need to stress more on market, human resources and try to establish a global brand quickly."
Agree Qin of InQbrands. "Chinese SMEs need to learn to become brand-owners, instead of being just manufacturers."
Focus Technology, parent of InQbrands, has helped more than 1,000 Chinese SMEs to go global since 1996. Its services include customs declaration and inspection, overseas logistics, storage, financing, brand-building and direct sales channel expansion, the company said.
