When the ride-hailing wars between Uber and Didi has confirmed one feeling among Chinese consumers, it is that loyalty to brands does not pay off, says Shanghai-based VC William Bao Bean to Bloomberg. Brand loyalty was already low, but the latest Uber-Didi wars have made things worse.Read More →
When it comes to making money, Chinese e-commerce is more creative and successful, than any of their US counterparts, says VC William Bao Bean to the Washington Post. However, Chinese start-ups need to show they can generate enough revenue to make the model work in the middle term.Read More →
Most of the American internet companies like Facebook still make money through advertising, while their Chinese competitors like WeChat and Weibo make money through selling all you can think of, tells Shanghai-based VC William Bao Bean to AP. They are way ahead of Facebook.Read More →
A range of food scandals with milk powder for babies has caused a wild-west market for mainly foreign instant formula, doing good business in China. Lawyer Mark Schaub warns that regulators are catching up, and new tough registration rules have a deadline for October 1, hard to manage for import products, he writes in Lexology.Read More →
Whether China is copying or innovating is a useless discussion, says VC William Bao Bean to the South China Morning Post. Everybody is building on previous experiences, he says, but certainly in social commerce, how to sell online, China is way ahead compared to other parts of the world.Read More →
The new rules on taxation of cross-border e-commerce have caused fear the government is trying to kill an increasingly lucrative industry. It was inevitable the government would start to regulate – not kill – this booming business, says Shanghai-based lawyer Mark Schaub in Lexology. The timing was a surprise, and unfortunately, regulations are not very clear, he adds.Read More →
The e-commerce industry is still relatively young, and on the corporate battlefield to two, three big players, many smaller companies will succumb, predicts retail analyst Ben Cavender in the China Daily. What does it need for companies to survive in China?Read More →
China has slapped tax on cross-border e-commerce, a trade that went previously under the tax radar. Especially the smaller operations could be hurt, tells retail analyst Ben Cavender the China Daily, while the larger ones can avoid damage.Read More →
There has been too much negativity about Alibaba, says business analyst Shaun Rein to Bloomberg. While commodities like steel and coal have a hard time, consumer spending it going up in the 3-4th tier cities, and Alibaba will profit from it, even more than competitor JD.com.Read More →
Shanghai introduced in January a compensation scheme for investors who lost money on their investments, hoping to trigger more innovations. By doing that China´s second-largest city funds faulty investment deals, tells VC veteran William Bao Bean the BBC.Read More →
Kaiser Kuo is leaving China after twenty years, and internet giant Baidu after six year. On May 4 he will get an award of the Asia Society Northern California, where he will settle down to work professionally on his Sinica Podcast. For Asia Society Kaiser looks back, on the internet and foreign correspondents.Read More →
Facebook is trying to copy many elements from Tencent´s WeChat, but has a hard time in overtaking the dynamic Chinese service, says innnovation expert William Bao Bean at MumBrella.”“WeChat – whether they’re good or bad – the bottom line is they are about 18 months ahead of Facebook.”Read More →