How can you tap into the largest market in the world?

In mid-2016, WIRED’s first documentary in its future cities series put Shenzhen (a major city in China) as the centrepiece in the hardware world and named it the ‘Silicon Valley of Hardware‘.

A mega city with a population of 20 million, Shenzhen has become the melting pot of consumer electronics, where prototyping hardware is 10 times faster than anywhere else in the world. Think of all the parts that make up our modern smartphones and you’ll get the idea of where China stands in the hardware world.

And it’s not just hardware; China is steaming hot with all the emerging trends in tech: AI, VR, IoT, driverless cars/trucks, sensors everywhere, etc. This will continue to grow as more than half of China’s population is now online.

Also Read: What Silicon Valley can learn from China: Interview with Jason Costa

Going to FinTech, online stocks trading and online payments grew 54 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, in terms of user utilisation rates in 2015. Crowdfunding is also following suit, as some of the most cool products doing campaigns on Kickstarter or Indiegogo are coming from China.

With all these recent trends as backdrop in China’s technology scene, how can you tap the largest market in the world?

Here are a few essentials that you need to keep in mind:

1. Do your research and due diligence

As with any new venture with a new market territory, you need to do market research. Learn about the evolution of your industry in the Chinese market. Study what competitors are doing — how they position themselves, how they get their message out, and especially how they price their products.

It may be very helpful to go and visit China personally and attend conferences, networking events, etc. I find this Chinese business etiquette guide very helpful.

2. Use an appropriate registration structure

Depending on your business needs, there are options available for the different entry points to the Chinese market: Joint Venture, Sales Office, Labor Dispatch, Representative Office, or WOFE (Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise).

You can find more info on the appropriate structure for registering your business here.

3. Protect your trademark internationally

Intellectual property would become a top concern when doing business in China, so this one should be carefully and clearly established. After registering your trademark in your home country, you can then register your trademark in other countries where you do business or where you find strategic for your business.

The most common mistake is failing to clearly establish ownership of a mark. Generally, trademark rights are based on actual use and/or registration in each country. Remember that in China, the first to register the trademark owns the rights to it, even if they are not the first to use it.

4. Use a Chinese domain name (“.cn”)

Considering that China’s population of netizens has reached more than 700 million users, using a company’s brand name or relevant keywords with a Chinese domain name can become key to enhance your brand and to boost commercial success in the Chinese market.

The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) is responsible for the ‘.cn’ extension as the domain register authority. To register your domain, you can use the service of a domain registration company for a small fee.

Marcaria.com, an international brand protection company specialising in global trademark and offering domain name registrations especially in China, gives these tips in registering .cn domains:

• .cn domain names are top level
• .com.cn extensions are commonly used by corporations in the industrial, financial, and commercial industries
• .net.cn extensions are commonly used by information centres, which connect and allow access within networks
• .org.cn extensions are reserved for all non-profit organisations

You can check out this resource for a more detailed information on domain name registration.

Create a winning strategy and execution

What lies beyond registration is successfully running your business in China. The general rule is having more patience – it takes quite some time to build business relationships there. There is business wisdom in this famous saying by Confucius:

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.

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Ken Mendiola is the resident growth hacker of SparkRaise – an online network and crowdfunding platform for creators and social innovation. Ken loves to write about startups, tech, IoT, analytics, marketing strategy, and branding.

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