Most western orgs that have heard of Tmall wonder how to set up a store. (link the last four words to our page with the "Tmall" deck) But for those thinking of leveraging the world's largest e-commerce platform to reach Chinese consumers, it's never too early to consider how such consumers buy.

1.
Things
Chinese
Shoppers
Check Before
Buying on
Tmall
5

2. Suppose someone
in China wants to buy
this yellow jacket online.
!
!They’re highly likely to go to
Tmall’s home page and search
for a North Face Jacket using brand
name key terms such as
“The North Face” in the search bar.

3. Shoppers can also go to the
side bar on the home page
and click on “Men/Sports/
Outdoors” and then select
“Jackets” to find The North
Face brand products
available on Tmall.

4. Now shoppers can click The North Face logo, amongst other
brands, after searching for “Outdoor” and “Jackets”

5. After clicking on
The North
Face logo,
they’ll see this
page of
products.
They will also
see two
identical
North Face
jackets…
…which one
will they
choose?
From
the
Flagship
Store
Not
from
the
Flagship
Store

6. 1. Official Flagship Store
Many Chinese consumers will feel
more secure buying the jacket
from The North Face’s OFFICIAL
FLAGSHIP STORE
- even though it is a bit more
expensive.
When the Store name includes
“官⽅方旗舰店” or “旗舰店” ,
it means it’s a flagship store.
Product
page
from
the
official
flagship
store

7. 2. Reduced prices
Can you see the discounted
price?
!
This is something Chinese
shoppers focus a lot on
when buying on Tmall.
!
If they see a good deal,
they’ll often buy it right
away.

8. 3. Shipping Fees
Same product, but
different stores shipping
to Beijing:
!
From The North Face
flagship store, shipping
is free.
From the non-flagship
store, regular shipping
is ¥ 6.00, and express
service is ¥25.00.

9. 4. Ranking
There are 3 different rating
scores:
• Product: If the description
of the product on Tmall
matches the product
received.
• Service: The level of
customer service.
• Shipping time: Time the
seller takes to send the
product to the shipping
company.
RED means above average and,
GREEN, below average.
As you can see, the store on
the right is the one with better
scores.

10. 5. Evaluation
The evaluation is composed
of the comments made by
the buyers about the product
& service.
!
Chinese shoppers pay a lot of
attention to this and it’s also
part of the ranking - it serves
as a guide for other buyers.
!
Note: This feedback cannot
be deleted by the seller. It will
be the point where the final
decision will be made to buy
that yellow jacket or not.

11. This picture shows the Evaluation area from the non-flagship Tmall Store - there’s only one
comment and one response from the agent.
!
In comparison with the picture above, the The North Face’s flagship store had 33
comments, making the evaluation much more valuable for Chinese shoppers when buying
this yellow jacket, or any other product on Tmall.

12. Extra…
From the flagship store Same picture on non-flagship store
Notice how the non-flagship store has
copy and pasted The North Face’s
original content onto their own store…
…but at least they had the decency to
place a watermark overtop notifying
shoppers that it isn’t their content.

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