With the intensification of market competition and the maturity of cross-border e-commerce, more and more overseas enterprises are aware of the importance of localization, build a localized team, and use localized channels and marketing to take root in the target market and get closer to overseas consumers.
However, localization has always been a difficult problem, involving overseas team building and operation methods, such as whether to choose local talents or expatriate talents to form a localization team, and whether the management methods of Chinese teams can be directly replicated in overseas team ......
Based on the topic of localization, at the 2023 Ebang Brand Globalization Annual Conference, He Yang, editor-in-chief of Ebang Power cross-border e-commerce, as the host, and Zhou Yong, co-founder of REST, Li Wei, founder and CEO of Big Fish Zhixing, and Zhan Huachun, founder of Taimo Coffee, jointly "market insight and team building for localization of overseas enterprises".
Tips: This article is a preliminary review draft of shorthand, and it is edited and organized by Ebang Power on the basis of not affecting the original meaning.
The following is a transcript of the speech:
He Yang:Hello everyone, the theme of our session is called "Localization Landing". From the first session this morning to the present, many guests have mentioned the topic of localization. In recent years, I have also found out when I have participated in various conferences and exchange activitiesThe topic of localization is frequently mentioned. This is partly due to the importance of localization, and partly because there is currently no perfect solution。That's why we are constantly discussing and exchanging ideas.
Today we have three guests, all of whom have rich experience in localization. Mr. Zhou, the co-founder of REST, his team has focused on localized thinking since day oneMr. Li, the general manager of Big Fish Zhixing, has laid out overseas online and offline channels and the landing of overseas ** chains;Mr. Zhan of Taimo Coffee has investigated many overseas countries this year, and is also in the best Chinese brands, especially how to localize new domestic brands. Next, I would like to ask the three guests to introduce our brand and ourselves.
Zhou Yong:Thank you. Our brand is very young,It has just been established for 18 months, but some results have already been achieved. We are an independent station brand, starting from scratch to do nowAnnual sales reached 30 million US dollars。At the beginning of our establishment, we only had a team of 30-40 people, including only five people in the domestic team, and most of the teams were overseas. As can be seen from the team composition, our team is mainly an overseas localized team, rooted in China and rooted in the world.
He Yang:In just 18 months, it is really good to be able to achieve an independent station brand with annual sales of 30 million US dollars. Let's listen to Mr. Zhou share the key details.
Li Wei:I am Li Wei, the founder of Big Fish Zhixing, and I have about 10 years of experience in going to sea, and the brand also has 7 years of experience in going to sea and operating. In terms of globalization, our company relies very much on the core management and operation capabilities of the ** chain, and also has the ability to coordinate the global ** chain in Poland and Taiwan. We mainly face Europe and North America, and have our own teams in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland and other places. Localization is also our popular "de-neutralization rate", which is basically reduced to 0. Although the independent station is not doing very well, with annual sales of only a few million dollars, we are constantly developing cross-border e-commerce channels.
He Yang:The eblike category of Big Fish Zhixing is a large item, and it is still dominated by offline sales channels.
Zhan Huachun:Hello everyone, our Taimo coffee brand has been developing for 10 years, but in the field of going overseas, we are new recruits. Previously, 80 to 90 percent of the market share came from the domestic market. In the past three years, we have done a lot of overseas projects, and now the overseas market has accounted for nearly 70% of the total market.
For us, it is becoming more and more important for the brand to go overseas, and it has even become a necessity and placed in an important strategic position of the company. I ran to 13 countries this yearI learned about the coffee culture, coffee market and related categories of each country. These data analysis and guidance provide direction for our future product development.
He Yang:Go overseas to really pay attention to the local coffee culture and the specific situation of consumers, and then deduce the direction of product adjustment.
01Insight into the real local needs of overseas consumersHe Yang:The first question we want to ask is, what do you think about first when you think about localization?Our research found that we should first start from consumers and users to find the pain points of the target user group, and even some hidden pain points. These pain points are not easy to understand. If you want to truly understand the needs of overseas consumers, do you need to do localization?Or how to grasp the pain points of overseas target users and guide product research and development in reverseAsk the three panelists to share their experiences.
Zhou Yong:I was very impressed by that. In 2021, we started to do independent stations, relatively speaking, the time to enter cross-border e-commerce is relatively late, if you just kill anywhere to do ordinary goods, there is no possibility of survival. Therefore, Wei Zhe just said that all categories can be redone, and we must find products with vertical categories and market demand. This timeLocalization insights are important. Some things and behaviors have already happened and can be understood through data, while others that may not have happened yet are actually difficult to understand through pure data.
At the same time, it is very important for users to have a deep understanding and an understanding of their lifestyle. If it's not absolutely localized, you won't be able to see it. I've been in contact with a lot of Europeans and Americans, so to give you an example, we're working on a new user group, similar to China's "Tiger Mom". They would take their children to the stadium to watch and practice, and the children would exercise, and the mothers would sit there and watch. Actually, my localization colleagues understand this scenario very well, because their mother is like that. Later, we found out that this is actually a very large representation of middle-class women, and many of their lifestyle pain points have not been met.
If we didn't have in-depth insight and the help of our local team, we wouldn't know that there is such a group of people with unmet needs and how they live. After listening to my colleagues, I understood the situation. If I hadn't had those colleagues at the time, and the results of these studies were in front of me, I wouldn't have felt that this decision was a good direction to go.
He Yang:Mr. Li, you have now opened up the American market and also entered the European market. In the process of going overseas, how do you gain insight into the pain points of users?
Li Wei: When we talk about localization, we have to grasp the needs of localization. It's not just about language localization. The original demand side varies greatly from region to region. Taking our ebike industry as an example, American consumers are more cost-effective, so they are more sensitive and the products are more rude. American products are generally more powerful, the tires are wider, and the frame design is not very prominent. Europe, on the other hand, pursues more detail, quality and design, and is more middle-class. As a result, these differences in demand result in completely different models as a whole.
Therefore, in our industry, there are relatively few brands that do all the European and American markets. Because the needs of the two markets are really very different, including in terms of compliance requirements, the compliance of the United States is not as strict as that of Europe and the European Union, and their power requirements are relatively low. Europe, on the other hand, has stricter compliance requirements, especially in the German market. So, in these two markets, we have a big difference in models and products. The cars we sell to the U.S. market and the cars we sell to the European market are very different.
He Yang:Actions from the product to the market are carried out independently.
Li Wei:Yes.
Zhan Huachun:I've been to a lot of countries this year, and when we did the market analysis at the beginning of the year, we found that there are big differences between North America, Europe, and Asia. When many Chinese brands expand overseas markets, they often use local products as English manuals, and then put the products first. This is not the right thing to do.
Because Chinese products may not be suitable for the needs of overseas markets. Their usage Xi is also different. For example, Asians use 20 grams of hand-poured coffee for a cup of coffee, while Americans use 30 grams. Therefore, when Chinese grinders enter foreign markets, they will feel that the capacity is not large enough, and the size and grip are not the same as those in Asia. Therefore, for products in overseas markets, we need to modify and remodel according to the needs of the local market.
When I went to Northern Europe, I found that 90% of the people there only drink espresso, and our company's main product is pour-over coffee equipment, and if we don't adjust our products, then it will be difficult for us to get customers here;When digging further into the demand, I found that the commonly used home espresso grinder they use on the market will leave 2-3g of coffee powder at the outlet every time they grind, that is, the coffee ground today is likely to be mixed with the 2-3g residue powder extruded yesterday, which will definitely affect the quality of the coffee.
Therefore, our newly developed electric grinder will be satisfied: 1Not only is the medium and coarse hand-punch grinding better, but the quality of the Italian fine powder grinding is also very good2.It must solve the problem of residual powder better than the products on the market, and almost achieve zero residual powder. When our newly designed electric grinder was introduced to the European market, the market opened up immediately.
When the brand goes overseas, we must be deep enough and professional enough to the local marketStarting from the user's pain points and solving the real needs of users, we can make valuable products.
He Yang:Many nuanced differences in Xi lead us to adjust our product thinking from a brand perspective.
02 Three stages of going overseas: from business going overseas, to team going overseas, and finally to brand culture going overseasHe Yang:The second question is that we are talking about a lot of actions to do a local layout, and there are a lot of things that need to be done, so which are the two most important of them?
Zhou Yong:First, there is a localized team for market research, otherwise you won't be able to understand the market at all. Second, all marketing and content localizationOtherwise, the content and scenarios of marketing will not resonate with consumers. If you have to talk about itThe third point is the localization of public relations.
Li Wei:We are an industry that is biased towards offline business, and we must choose two items, the first is demand, demand is localization, no matter how good the product is, it will definitely be a failed product if we are not sure of the local demand.
In addition, the team is localized, whether it is Amazon or an independent stationIt is not necessary to have a foreign team for online business, but for offline business, the team must be localized, how to communicate with supermarkets on a daily basis, how to do **, how to do daily maintenance, which must have a very localized team and talents to achieve such a docking, offline business may pay more attention to these two aspects.
He Yang:The first is insight into market demand, and the second is the team.
Zhan Huachun:I think that the brand going overseas is from the business going overseas, then to the team going overseas, and finally to the brand culture going overseas. Nowadays, many overseas enterprises are in the stage of going overseas. In many cases, there are a lot of pitfalls in the matter of going overseas, when you don't know the overseas market, or if you are looking for the wrong target user group, going overseas will cause a lot of burden to the enterprise, maybe spend a lot of money, and finally fail to achieve the expected results.
Even if you make trial and error in the early stage, find some international students and use localized talents to make a sea, which is better than the way our own team didn't understand and then learn Xi in the past. When we made the sea, we didn't have a team in the United States at the beginning, we first set up a local team from Singapore, which has been operating for half a year, and is now breaking even.
At present, the Singapore team is all local people in Singapore, understand the Singapore market, understand the Southeast Asian market, and use local people to manage local affairs, the ultimate goal is to export the culture of Chinese brands, but at this stage, we may only be able to do the team to go to sea, but we will still work hard in the direction of brand culture going overseas.
He Yang:The three panelists mentioned that the team must be more localized, or the problem of talent management being localized. I believe that this problem is also the most concerned or the most difficult thing to do.
03Localized team building: digital construction, personnel dispatch and talent localizationHe Yang:The third question is whether the company needs to establish an overseas team as soon as it comes up, or at what stage of development is it suitable to establish an overseas team?Or send Chinese talents out or recruit locals?In your exploration, how to establish an effective coordination mechanism or management mechanism?
Zhou Yong:An overseas team must be a must. When we talk about globalization, whether it is a Chinese brand or an enterprise, we all need a global organization. How can an organization without globalization have a global brand, this is a basic business common sense.
In the past, many Chinese companies mainly relied on platforms to go global. This kind of platform is relatively simple to operate and may not require the establishment of a localized organization. But as the scale and brand grows, a global organization will become a must. As for how to build, some people may think that global organizations are scary, and that only large companies like Alibaba and Huawei can open studios overseas in China.
But we chose a very ingenious way. In the overseas team, there are 30-40 people, but only about 5 people have actually met. For the past two years, all of our team's operations have been done via zoom. It's a digital shift in the way we work. In fact, this may bring a good opportunity for our overseas enterprises. Digital transformation is not only the transformation of payment methods, logistics, and sales methods, but also very important for Chinese enterprises going overseas, greatly lowering the talent threshold.
Because it is not common for small businesses in China to want to open a studio in Singapore or the United States. Recruiting a large number of foreigners is also not suitable in the current market environment. However,More and more people are called "digital nomads", and more and more people in Europe and the United States are changing careers, leaving their original fields and starting their own small studios. The level and professionalism of these people is very high. The digital way of working opens up communication possibilities for us.
When it comes to market research and research, we can leverage their expertise without having to hire them as full-time employees and with relatively little risk. They can be on call and form a very flexible digital way of working. It's how we've built our brand over the last two years. My team is almost entirely global, but it's not particularly costly, and the quality of the work is high.
He Yang:Realize cross-border lightweight overseas team building through digital means.
Li Wei:Our experience is more offline. It's a very important path, but I would recommend developing e-commerce first, and then gradually pulling the whole team up. For overseas teams, the entire structure can be divided into three layers: managing money, managing people, and managing daily life.
Enterprises can dispatch personnel from China, and when it comes to legal person issues, the main responsibility must be borne by the expatriate team. At the same time, Chinese technology companies such as Huawei, DJI, and Xiaomi have cultivated a large number of outstanding talents overseas, and these people are very useful, and most companies will focus on this group of people. Finally, the three-tier structure of combining professional talents from large factories with local talents to build a team is relatively stable for localized team building.
He Yang:Sending people abroad from your own company can convey the values of the entire company. We tap professionals from global manufacturers and build overseas teams in partnership with local talents. Mr. Zhan, you have established a team in Singapore, do you have some experience or have you stepped on pitfalls?
Zhan Huachun:We are engaged in online brands, and have laid out the business of Amazon and independent stations. There's a big problem, especially in Europe and the United States, that I don't think online brands are fully integrated into the local market. In the U.S. and Northern Europe, I've seen a much higher premium and consumer recognition for offline brands than for online brands. This is just my superficial understanding.
In considering the landing process of the brand going overseas, the market and the establishment of an offline team are difficult problems. If you send a domestic team overseas, they don't actually know the local culture, or they don't know enough about it. When cooperating with large local chain institutions or supermarkets, it is much more convenient to communicate with locals than to send people over, and even to establish a cooperative relationship faster.
So my approach is,I will send our own in-house team over, but they act as a bridge, connecting the ** chain and shipping. When it comes to landing and cooperating with major companies, I hope to be able to use the localization team to drink coffee, talk to customers, and discuss business cooperation face-to-face.
He Yang:A purely localized team needs domestic people to act as a bridge connecting overseas and domestic ** chains.
Three guests shared their experiences. Localization is a complex topic that is difficult to fully discuss in such a short period of time. Each category represents a different path and approach. However, the practice of the three guests is very valuable for reference, and I hope you can get inspiration from it.
Due to time constraints, this is the end of our session. Thank you!
About this meeting::
The 2023 Ebang Brand Globalization Annual Conference is one of the series of theme conferences of the 2023 Ebang Annual Meeting, which was held on November 30 at Pudong Shangri-La Hotel, Shanghai.
The 2023 Ebang Annual Meeting is hosted by Ebang Power, co-organized by Horseshoe Club and Ebang Think Tank, with the theme of "Perfect Strategy for the Shift Period". For the first time, the agenda of the annual meeting covers the whole cycle of enterprise digitalization: domestic e-commerce, brand globalization, and industrial digitalization. Through the traction of the theme of "Perfect Strategy", 64 heavyweight guests conducted in-depth research on 54 hot topics, actively sought responses to a series of key issues in 2023, and jointly explored the way of growth based on short-term reality and adhering to long-termism.