Many people in China are curious why foreigners will buy things on independent stores? Unlike the products on Amazon or Aliexpress which are cheaper, why would foreigners choose independent stores?
Mature credit system
Before I start, I want to make it clear that the world is so big and things are different from country to country. In china, everyone is going to tao-jing-pdd, because certain platforms play a very important role in the consumer’s mind as a trust endorsement. But the foreign payment system is excellent, for the risk control and management are very strong. As far as buyers are concerned, they do not worry about payment security. Let’s say, on Paypal buyers and sellers have protection policies, credit cards have a 180-day money back guarantee. Buyers also don’t arbitrarily refuse payments because the risk control system records every transaction and credit is very important to them. While there is the occasional bad faith refund, generally sellers factor in this cost so the refund rate remains within acceptable limits.
There is no denying that Amazon is indeed a very powerful shopping platform, but that doesn’t mean that foreigners do all their online shopping at Amazon. So let’s get back to the question, why do many foreigners shop at independent stores instead of going to Amazon? Personally, I feel there are two other reasons.
impulse spending
Independent stores are more likely to get consumers to impulse shop. What is impulse shopping? Let’s take a negative example, summer has recently arrived, it’s really hot and the UV rays are very strong, you want to go for afternoon tea with your girlfriends, you find a sunscreen jacket in your closet but realize it’s scratched. So you open a shopping app and search for sunwear, then you pick a favorite and order it. This is not called impulse shopping, this is called purposeful shopping. Impulse shopping refers to when you didn’t plan to buy something, but then you suddenly buy it. For example, if you are bored on the subway and want to kill time, you take out cell phone to check Facebook, and suddenly you see an ad with sunscreen clothing that is exactly the style you like, so you are attracted to click on the advertisement and come to the independent station that sells sunscreen clothing, and you think it’s good, and then you place an order. This is impulse shopping. At present, foreign social media such as Facebook’s main income from advertising, some people joke that Facebook has become an advertising company. Most of the shopping ads on Facebook are placed by independent stations, and e-commerce platforms like Amazon rarely place shopping ads on social media. So what do foreigners impulsively shop for on Facebook? As long as the product solves a pain point or is subjectively enjoyable, that’s good enough.
Someone may have a different opinion when they hear this. For example, even if I like this sunscreen clothing very much, it doesn’t affect me to quit Facebook, so I go to Amazon to see if there is a similar model, and then compare the price, which one is cheaper, and buy it wherever it is. Of course, there must be people who will do this, every consumer has the right to decide where to buy something, but there are also many elderly people who see the advertisement and go to the independent station after going to the head, at that time he had a thought in his heart, this sunscreen clothing is really good, I also quickly buy one. He is too lazy to go to Amazon to find the same model to compare prices, especially those products that are not too expensive. On the one hand, he needs it, and on the other hand, it is not expensive, so choose to buy it on an independent station, because after buying, he will continue to swipe Facebook. Maybe the price of the product is a relative concept, the GCC countries in the Middle East, per capita 5 to 60,000 US dollars a year, for their income, those tens of dollars of things, really want to buy it, no need to go around to compare. We also have this kind of impulse shopping in China, and the typical scene is the Douyin live broadcast room. Let’s just say that the father of a friend of mine, the uncle is 65 years old, he has been shopping in the Douyin live broadcast room, some time ago he bought a set of tea sets, as long as 99 yuan, he thinks the style is good-looking and cheap, and he buys it directly, and he doesn’t use Taobao at all, with PDD, naturally he won’t compare, why many people will compare things for dozens of dollars, because the act of comparing prices itself also takes time and energy, and it may not be possible to find exactly the same.
Another example, when you wash dishes in the kitchen, you find that the grease stains and rust on the pots and pans can’t be wiped off, and suddenly you see someone in the group recommending a new brush pot artifact, which is particularly powerful, can remove oil stains and rust spots, and you may choose to place an order without hesitation, which is impulse consumption.
A great shopping experience
Now for the second reason, some independent stores provide consumers with a better shopping experience, mainly in two aspects. On the one hand, independent stores can create a more professional and reliable atmosphere than Amazon, and create this atmosphere from the website’s pictures, text, icons, buttons, GIFs, videos, etc. For example, BarkBox, an independent website with a valuation of $1 billion, you see that his entire design is very beautiful and professional, consumers are easy to trust, and his blind box sales model is very unique, the shopping experience is very good, and on Amazon, the pages are the same design and templates, as well as a large number of dog product recommendations, which is dazzling, and the experience is not as good as that of an independent station. On the other hand, independent stores can do more activities to attract consumers to place orders frequently.
For example, there is a well-known tea brand in the United States called Harney & Sons, which has a store on Amazon, as well as an independent store on the website. Their independent website design is more appealing, and a customer summed up several reasons why he placed an order on the independent website. First, the tea sold on the independent store is fresher than on Amazon, and the production date is newer. Secondly, you can earn points for buying tea that can be used to redeem free tea or other products, while Amazon does not have this offer. In addition, every time he buys tea from the independent store, he will receive a small tea gift from the water machine, which makes him like this little surprise. In addition, there are exclusive tea promotions on the micro station, and new products will also be launched on the independent store. In short, the independent store of this brand makes his shopping experience better.
Someone may be curious, why does the same brand give consumers more benefits on independent websites? Because on the e-commerce platform, the customer belongs to the platform, but the customer on the independent store belongs to the brand itself. Brands can directly reach out to customers and continuously guide them to shop on independent sites, thereby increasing their profits. For example, consumers usually place an order directly after seeing a product they like, rather than comparing prices.
For example, a dog lover may be willing to pay $40 for a product. However, on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, the price of products is usually affected by market competition, and it is likely that they can only be purchased at an average price of $20. On independent stores, brands can price based on the uniqueness of the product and additional services, and customers are willing to pay a higher price for it. As a result, brands have more control over their product mix and pricing strategy to meet consumer demand.
In general, the behavior of foreigners buying things on independent stores depends on a good payment credit system, a better impulsive consumption environment creation ability of independent stores, and the most important shopping experience. When foreigners shop at the independent store multiple times without any issues, they tend to like shopping there more and more, creating a positive cycle.
