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Some Chinese foreign trade firms are beginning to pivot toward the domestic market, participating in the annual Double 11 shopping festival—the world’s largest e-commerce event—for the first time due to shifts in the global trade environment.
Lantian Plastic Products, which previously focused mainly on exports, took part in Double 11 for the first time this year, according to the company’s legal representative based in Guangdong. Last November, the company was still mainly targeting Black Friday sales following Thanksgiving in the U.S.
Fortunately, Lantian Plastic achieved strong sales during this year’s event, with their factory shipping 30 truckloads of products on the first day—a new record for a single day’s shipments. Encouraged by the smooth push into the local market, the company has set ambitious sales goals for Double 11 that surpass past Black Friday targets, anticipating at least a 20% increase in annual sales compared to last year.
However, the company faced several hurdles in its domestic expansion. The sales channels and distribution system in China are significantly more complex than in foreign markets, requiring the factory to develop new sales networks from scratch. Additionally, foreign trade sales staff were unfamiliar with the Chinese market and needed to learn quickly to adapt.
In contrast, cookware seller Zhang Yunfei decided to fully abandon foreign trade this year and focus solely on the domestic market. He mainly sells cast iron pots and set a Double 11 sales goal of 500,000 yuan (approximately $70,200), confident of surpassing it after already achieving more than half of this target.
Zhang also increased his advertising efforts for Double 11 by about 30%, expecting that this investment will lead to a 50% boost in sales.
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