Coronavirus effect on businesses
The Coronavirus has undoubtedly had an impact on the global economy. Many businesses, particularly the brick and mortar offline stores, have found it a challenge operating normally. With many people now staying at home and keeping a safe social distance, many people are turning to online stores for their supplies.
The Stationery Industry
Like many other businesses across the world, the stationery industry has been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Many stationery trade fairs have either been cancelled or delayed as a result of the virus. For instance,the 127th Canton Fair, one of China’s biggest annual trade fairs, was postponed indefinitely due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Most school-going children are now at home with their parents. However, parents still need to keep these children occupied during this long school holiday. There has never been a better time for parents to engage the creativity gear in their children. With both parents and children at home, parents can get stationery for their children and have them try out new drawings and painting. Here, they’ll need a variety of pencils and good quality drawing paper. The parents can let their children explore the world of creativity and play a supervisory role.
E-Commerce Platforms: The Alternative in the Wake of the Coronavirus
The difficult times presented by the Coronavirus pandemic have emphasized the importance of e-commerce. Companies that rely solely on offline stores may find the business environment difficult for them at this time of the global pandemic. On the other hand, those that embrace e-commerce will see their operations go on uninterrupted since they have no physical interaction with their clients.
Little Tree’s Performance on E-Commerce Platforms
Little Tree’s brand performed well on many e-commerce platforms. The company’s high-quality products have helped its online retailers record impressive sales. Over the last three years, Little Tree’s has recorded annual revenue of about USD 10 million, with 20 per cent of this revenue coming from e-commerce sales. For instance, Little Tree’s performance on Pinduoduo, JD.com, and Taobao by Alibaba—China’s three major platforms—has been impressive.
The three e-commerce platforms above are an authority in the industry. Little Tree’s impressive performance on the sites means the company’s products are unmatched, especially in terms of quality. The company is working towards increasing its online presence on even more platforms. Many other online and e-commerce retailers chose to stock the company’s products for several reasons.
- High Quality, High Value
Online stationery retailers need to stock quality products so as to win the trust of their customers and develop a long-term relationship with them. It is important that such retailers sell quality goods from already established brands like Little Tree’s. Hundreds of educational institutions in China have already chosen the company’s products as their preferred brand.
- Appealing Designs to Children
Little Tree hasa collection of creative pencil designs that are appealing to young children, who are its target market. To ensure the young ones don’t get bored with its pencils, the company hasa variety of them to choose from. The company goes the extra mile to cater to the needs of the little ones. It strives to come up with designs that will help young children develop not only their motor skills but also creativity.
Chinese E-Commerce Platforms
Little Tree has done quite well on China’s major e-commerce platforms. This excellent performance can be attributed to good ratings and positive customer feedback. As earlier mentioned, China’s three major e-commerce platforms are Pinduoduo, JD.com, and Taobao by Alibaba.
According to research findings, 94 per cent of customers read online reviews before they make on purchasing decisions. Further, 97 per cent of the customers say customer reviews are a major factor in their purchasing decision-making. This just shows how important customer reviews are for an online merchant to stand out. So who are these platforms, and what stakes do they hold in e-commerce?
- Pinduoduo
Pinduoduo was founded in 2015 by Colin Huang. By 2018, it had over 200 million users and was listed on NASDAQ in the same year. The listing raised USD 1.6 million, making it among 2018’s largest IPOs. Pinduoduo is fairly young, yet a powerful sales channel. Often referred to as a unicorn, the e-commerce platform allows users to take part in group deals. The platform’s business model leverages the popular social commerce trend. Pinduoduo’s users get to share the company’s product information on QQ, WeChat, and other social media platforms. They can then invite their friends to form shopping teams to benefit from lower prices for their purchases. This allows for more fun and dynamic shopping where brands can make more sales.
- JD.com
Commonly referred to as Jingdong and formerly 360buy, JD.com, Inc. is a Chinese e-commerce company with headquarters in China’s capital, Beijing. It’s among the country’s largest B2C online retailers in terms of revenue and transaction volume. It was founded in 1998, and six years later, in 2004, it launched its online retail platform. Having begun as an online magneto-optical products store, the company would soon diversify, selling computers, mobile phones, and other electronics. It would later, in 2007, change its domain name to 360buy.com and then to JD.com in 2013. As one of the top stationery brands in Asia, Little Tree’s products have a good online reputation. As such, online retailers can win many reviews by selling the company’s products. This will eventually translate to increased sales.
- Taobao by Alibaba
With its headquarters in Hangzhou, Taobao is a China-based online shopping site founded in 2013 Alibaba Group, which owns the site. It’s currently the world’s biggest e-commerce site and one of the world’s most-visited sites as per Alexa ranking. Taobao’s core business is to facilitate consumer-to-consumer retail. To achieve this, the company provides individuals and small businesses a platform to open online stores. Taobao’s stores offer express delivery services to their clients. It’s often referred to as China’s biggest online marketplace where sellers post products for sale either through auction or a fixed price. By selling Little Tree’s products on Taobao, online retailers stand to gain good reviews from satisfied customers. Going by Taobao’s impressive customer numbers, such retailers stand to gain from more sales.
Little Tree’s International Trading Services
E-commerce sales have increased by 52 per cent in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. Many countries around the world have enforced self-quarantine as a measure to curb the disease. With this new trend, there has never been a better time for online retailers to thrive.
Little Tree provides international trading services through its subsidiary, Henson International Trading. With the help of Little Tree’s vast network in Asia, Henson offers various services. They include product sourcing, price negotiation, distribution, inspection and quality control, product testing and sampling, and sales and marketing to the Chinese market. Other services are travel arrangements and translation, product branding and packaging, shipping, and logistics and customs clearance.
Little Tree Active on Social Media
Little Tree is now active on social media to provide its clients with the latest updates on the company’s latest offers and releases. Besides, the company offers its clients with free samples upon request.