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Hi 🙂
As part of my MBA thesis, I’m conducting a research about Taobao and their reach of foreigners living in China.
I would really appreciate it if:
* You took 5 minutes of your time to answer the survey
* And then share it will all of your foreign friends who are living/lived in China in the last couple of years (if they can keep on sharing as well, that would be awesome!)
As my smart 1st year statistics professor said again and again – SIZE DOES MATTER!! 😉 a research is only as good as its sample size, so please – answer & share! 🙂
The link to the survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Taobaoforeigners
Thank you so so much! 🙂
@ Federico – thank you! 🙂 shared with your friends…? 😉
@ Slavsky – thank you too! 🙂 and thanks for the comment, it will be mentioned and discussed!
Done. This ‘survey’ does however read more like ‘I wanna set an English Taobao trade business’, which in case you weren’t aware has already been done. Oh and then there’s also Google Chrome Translation Plugin which makes shopping on Taobao & using Alipay a breeze.
@ Brendan – thank you for answering the survey 🙂 it is not for opening a business, it is actually purely academic. Apparently, most of the problems of foreigners with Taobao relate to the language barrier. And you are correct, there are services like that, but most people are not aware of them… thanks for your input, though 🙂
@ Thomas – thank you too! 🙂
Guys, if you can share the link with your friends I’d really appreciate it 🙂 could still use some more participants…
I did this kind of research 3-4 years ago. I ended up starting a small business around providing Taobao shopping and shipping services to people overseas – basically acting as a middleman between domestic sellers and overseas buyers. The website was called Taobao Genie but I stopped doing it a few years ago because of a lack of time with full time job and other side projects.
I filled out your survey!
I did this kind of research 3-4 years ago. I ended up starting a small business around providing Taobao shopping and shipping services to people overseas – basically acting as a middleman between domestic sellers and overseas buyers. The website was called Taobao Genie but I stopped doing it a few years ago because of a lack of time with full time job and other side projects.
I filled out your survey!
@ Charlie – I guess you were one of the first to offer such services… I think people recently discover China and more specifically, shopping in China, in a different way, and really use the price differences to save up a lot of money. I know that where I come from people buy WHOLE interior design things (basically, they furnish their whole house, including tiles, parquet floors, beds etc) in China, in 3-5 days, and then send them back. Still is cheaper than buying it in my country.
Maybe you can start looking into that business…? 😉
And thanks for your help with the survey! 🙂
@ Charlie – I guess you were one of the first to offer such services… I think people recently discover China and more specifically, shopping in China, in a different way, and really use the price differences to save up a lot of money. I know that where I come from people buy WHOLE interior design things (basically, they furnish their whole house, including tiles, parquet floors, beds etc) in China, in 3-5 days, and then send them back. Still is cheaper than buying it in my country.
Maybe you can start looking into that business…? 😉
And thanks for your help with the survey! 🙂
Quote:I think people recently discover China and more specifically, shopping in China, in a different way, and really use the price differences to save up a lot of money. I know that where I come from people buy WHOLE interior design things (basically, they furnish their whole house, including tiles, parquet floors, beds etc) in China, in 3-5 days, and then send them back. Still is cheaper than buying it in my country.Maybe you can start looking into that business…? 😉
In retrospect, I think my mistake was transacting with individuals instead of corporations. A lot of companies overseas want to source China products but they are severely disadvantaged when negotiating with Chinese suppliers due to a lack of language and cultural understanding. They rightly see it as carrying a high amount of risk. The pitch behind Taobao Genie was basically, this is run by a foreigner who knows what your concerns are, I bridge the gap between your desire to source inexpensive items overseas and Chinese suppliers’ desire to ship overseas.
Also when I started Taobao Genie there were tons of Taobao agents already, but they were basically all very sketchy looking Chinese websites that did not inspire confidence.
Good luck with your thesis, this is an interesting topic to research and write about. I think I speak for most forum members when I say that Taobao is one of the best online services available in China, and one that we use a lot.
Quote:I think people recently discover China and more specifically, shopping in China, in a different way, and really use the price differences to save up a lot of money. I know that where I come from people buy WHOLE interior design things (basically, they furnish their whole house, including tiles, parquet floors, beds etc) in China, in 3-5 days, and then send them back. Still is cheaper than buying it in my country.Maybe you can start looking into that business…? 😉
In retrospect, I think my mistake was transacting with individuals instead of corporations. A lot of companies overseas want to source China products but they are severely disadvantaged when negotiating with Chinese suppliers due to a lack of language and cultural understanding. They rightly see it as carrying a high amount of risk. The pitch behind Taobao Genie was basically, this is run by a foreigner who knows what your concerns are, I bridge the gap between your desire to source inexpensive items overseas and Chinese suppliers’ desire to ship overseas.
Also when I started Taobao Genie there were tons of Taobao agents already, but they were basically all very sketchy looking Chinese websites that did not inspire confidence.
Good luck with your thesis, this is an interesting topic to research and write about. I think I speak for most forum members when I say that Taobao is one of the best online services available in China, and one that we use a lot.
Quote:@ Brendan – thank you for answering the survey 🙂 it is not for opening a business, it is actually purely academic. Apparently, most of the problems of foreigners with Taobao relate to the language barrier. And you are correct, there are services like that, but most people are not aware of them… thanks for your input, though 🙂No problem. Language barrier is definitely the biggest issue beyond sourcing legitimate product. If you get a good sample of responses it would be interesting to see the outcome.
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