Go East!
Go China – this is one of last year’s biggest trends for German design agencies. Consequently, in 2011 companies like Atelier Markgraph, Triad and Designaffairs established their branches in the Middle Empire. On the other hand more and more Chinese companies hire German designers these days.
To learn about the economic possibilities and chances in China we visited the Greater China Day 2012, a conference annually organized by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the German Chamber of Commerce AHK Greater China.
This event offers a broad range of useful insider information about current developments in the Chinese market and even though the prospects are bright, we met only very few visitors from the creative industry who made use of this exceptional opportunity. It is not only that after years of quantitative growth China is now making a strong push for qualitative growth. Also former OEM producers like Huawei are building up their own brands now. Therefore, they rely on German expertise and specialists. Moreover, the modalities for the establishment of new subsidiaries in China became a lot more liberal in the meantime, so that it is now possible to set up a company there even without a Chinese partner.
By the way, to accelerate the start-up it is useful to plan a market entrance via Hong Kong. According to Consul General Werner Lauk, in China there are no particular restrictions for the establishment of foreign companies. Within 24 hours the launch of a company could be initiated. In Mainland China it will then be considered as a Chinese corporation, and it will be prioritized when entering the market. Just recently, China has introduced several financial instruments. For foreign major enterprises Dim-Sum-Bonds are highly interesting, but also for foreign SMEs there are several means to make use of the Chinese capital market.
Not to forget the creative industries: Even without a broad distribution network in the Chinese market their chances to sell products in China directly are excellent today. The eCommerce website tmall.com was mentioned as an outstanding sales platform as it offers ample legal protection for sellers. In terms of marketing weibo.com enjoys an excellent reputation. Unfortunately, both platforms do not provide English translations these days.
The ideal way for German companies entering the Chinese Market seems to focus on the luxury segment, which is in great demand at the moment. In general, Chinese market opportunities have been considered as extremely positive during this Greater China Day. Hence, GIN4B highly recommends to visit the next Greater China Day, which will be held in Hamburg in 2013. We keep you posted!