Moonbasa, the Chinese e-commerce platform launched a US brand mall

Moonbasa officially launched a “US Brand Mall” at the WWDMAGIC  trade show in Las Vegas this year mid august. It’s actually a “portal for US fashion brands to access Chinese consumers”.

What is Moonbasa?

Launched in 2007 Moonbasa is an e-commerce platform focus on fashion. Moonbasa belongs to Mola Internet Technology Co., which is based in the United States in LA and in Shanghai. The group is now one of the biggest e-commerce company in China.

The group target young consumers between 20 and 30 years old and features brands with mid to high level prices.

Today, Moonbasa have 13 million active members, 360 million visitors per year, 1 million unique daily viewers and a repurchase rate estimated at 45%.

Why Moonbasa is opening a portal for US brands?

Most of the foreign products bought by Chinese consumers are USA brands. Chinese consumers love american brands and Moonbasa saw in it a huge opportunity.

Then, in 2019 the expected online sales in China will reach USD 1 trillion. Consumers of all ages buy online in China and brands looking to tap into the Chinese market should highly consider this option if they want to sell on this huge territory.

The middle class is growing fast and they are more and more educated regarding fashion. They’re looking to differentiate themself and are more and more interested in foreign brands with a strong identity.

Moonbasa’s platform will allow US brands integration by helping brands with logistics issues to facilitate their implantation from the USA to China.

But being present on e-commerce platform is not enough to sell in China…

Right now the competition is very strong and brands looking to sell online must be able to have a strong communication strategy to stand out.

Brands must be savvy and send their messages to the good target at the right time. It’s crucial if they want to succeed.

There are a lot of channel a brand must use and here is an infographic of the best online tools that fashion brands must use to communicate.

Social media such as Weibo and WeChat are unavoidable if you want to reach your target.

Michael Kors is a good example of American brand which succeed really well on Chinese social media.

On Weibo they have more than 488 K followers. Their strategy is very clear: diffuse to Chinese consumers their american way of life and brand values. They also use celebrities photos to show to Chinese customers that famous people are wearing their items.

Jennifer Lawrence wearing Michael Kors.

On WeChat they achieved to have more than 20K views per post with high qualitative content that really well highlight their products.

Fashion brands must understand that if they want to sell their reputation and visibility is crucial as competition is very hight. Brands needs to stand out and bring an added values to the Chinese customers. Most of the American brands play on the american way of life and communicate about it as Chinese customers really like it. If they buy a brand it’s because they like its story and the message it diffuse.

Strategy is very important and fashion brands must think about it before going into the market.  You can contact us and we’ll help you to set up a strategy suitable for this market full of opportunities.

Here are more information on how to promote a fashion brand in China.