MARKETING IN CHINA Firstly with man

MARKETING IN CHINA
Firstly with many types of products, the largest producers are Chinese firms who have already won large parts of the market. Indeed, many old Chinese companies such as TongRenTang, a pharmaceutical company which dates back to 1669, are now enjoying a renewed popularity.
Secondly, any company which tries to move into a foreign market needs to study the situation and culture of that country. This is certainly the case with China. Many international companies go into the market with their usual range of products but they find that, as they are, the products do not sell. Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant, opened in Beijing in 1999 but not many people bought the furniture. It seemed too expensive for Chinese customers and possibly did not appeal to Chinese taste.
Pricing is not the only issue. Companies also need to consider what ideas customers from a different culture might have about their product what marketing experts call’product positioning’. Be Beers. The diamond company, provide aan interesting example of this. In the West, diamonds are a symbol of romantic love and appear on wedding rings. However, the idea of romantic is different in Asia and so De Beers decided to present diamond as a symbol of harmony and a lasting relationship rather than love. Their Chinese TV ads showed a husband giving his wife a diamond at their wedding and then moved forward in time to show the following years of a long, happy marriage “Harmony” or a lack of conflict ( he in Chinese) is a very important value in Chinese culture and De Beers were very succesfull in using this idea to market their product.
Branding is very important in China. Chinese society traditionally has many levels and the prossession of a particular brand can show your place within society. However, as in any country, companies need to take advice on what their brand name sounds like in Chinese, or if people can pronounce it. Sometimes a successful brand name can be created by slighfly changing the original name to Chinese Gillette razors, for xample, use the Chinese name “ Jilie”,”Ji” in Chinese means “lucky”. Chinese companies trying to export their products, of course, have to think about this too. The Chinese refrigerator, Haier, has not been very successful globally, partly, it seems, because Westerners find the name difficult to pronounce.
In a country where the writing system is based on symbols, it is especially important to have a memorable logo. A logo with a picture like Shell or Apple is likely to be more effective than one which consists of Western letters like BR Companies also need to be aware of the popular ideas about some colours. Red, for example, is traditionally seen as unlucky. Blue and yellow used together can also suggest death, so this combination is best avoided on logos. This is because at a traditional funeral, a gift of money was often put in a yellow envelope with a blue stripe.
There are also popular ideas relating to numbers, just as, for example, the number 13 is thought unlucky in some Western countries. Four is considered unlucky in China as it sound like the word for “death”. Eight, on the other hand, is a lucky number. When the Japanese department store Yaohan opened in Beijing, the person selling the pens put a price of 88,888 yuan on one expensive gold pen. This was a joke of course, but it made a wonderful talking point for the customers.