Online Sales: everybody wants to pay Chinese prices

The miracle of the Internet is about to make (almost) everything possible to be reached. International sales online are on fire! We know most of the countries have many red-tapes rules for imports. However, as some of the sales services arise, it becomes almost viral. People don’t want to pay the prices that they are told to pay. They are now used to search through internet for the best price, how to manage the purchases and find the best deal.

Recently, these searched best prices are attached to our Chinese friends. The Alibaba Group, an e-commerce company created by Jack Ma (or Ma Yun in Chinese) in 1999, got surprisingly successful in the last 5 years. Alibaba Group has three main businesses: Aliexpress, an online retail service; Alipay, an online paying platform; and Taobao, a consumer-to-consumer online shopping (only for Chinese people). Jack Ma was even listed as a runner-up for Time’s 2014 Person of the Year. The whole company earned over $4 billion in 2012. Nowadays, the entire world makes business through these 3 websites. So don’t be scared if your country’s importation rules get harder.

You can find anything you want at Aliexpress: decoration, clothing, electronics, sports equipment, beauty products and so on. There are millions of stores for each category, and the prices are usually cheaper than the ones we are used to. Yes, some of the products aren't provided with high quality standards, but some of them are and it’s hard to resist the temptation of buying. It all gets down to research. Today’s consumers are getting smart, especially when buying online. And it has been getting easier to find the best quality products associated with the best price.

But there are some things you may consider before purchasing Chinese products. We all know they have cheap labor, but how cheap do you think it can get? The truth is: it’s not that difficult to find companies with slavery practices. Or child labor, bad work environment, excessive workload, between other work issues. Maybe that’s what pays the difference between a nice purse at the mall and the same purse on the website. 

Of course (and fortunately), not all Chinese factories are involved in those issues. Not all the famous and expensive brands at the mall are free of these charges too. It all gets to the consumer to do a little bit of research. Lots of people are selfish enough to hear about it and don’t care. But we may act conscientiously to avoid these practices. Internet is all around: at your desk, at your pocket, at your hand. It costs nothing to spend 5 minutes looking into a brand, checking its reputation and deciding if you get to purchase from them or not. Doing so, you can still get the best deal! And it will totally worth it.