From Single’s Day to the largest global online shopping feast: Stories of China’s Black Friday (2)

Artem Zhdanov, 29

Shanghai

Online store owner in China,  experienced online seller

I started my online business in China several years ago. The reason is quite random – I designed some T-shirts with funny Chinese characters and wanted to find a factory to manufacture them. The factory told me that to begin with, I must order at least 300 T-shirts, and I was like, I guess I should find a way to sell them. That's how I started my online shop in China.

My brand is called LaowaiMe (Laowai means foreigner in Mandarin). We design creative products using Chinese culture, such as mugs, T-shirts and other products with Chinese slang and characters. In China, online shopping is quite advanced. If you want your brand to be popular here, you must set up an online shop. Online shopping platforms have provided me a chance to get people interested in the Chinese language and culture in a fun and easy way. All of our products go with an explanation card, telling foreigners the meaning of the fun Chinese characters on their mugs or shirts.

As we all know, Double Eleven, or Bachelor's Day, is an online feast for all in China. On Nov. 11, our shop offers coupons, with discounts of up to 70 percent! On Nov. 11 last year, our sales were 20 times more than our average daily takings. It seems to me that the internet culture of Double Eleven has also entered my country, Russia, where people can buy Chinese products from AliExpress (a Chinese online shopping platform made for foreigners). Double Eleven is now even gaining momentum on Russian shopping sites.

The online shopping industry in China is growing fast. My partners and employees have constantly been learning to keep up with our competitors, exploring new opportunities. Even though we have been engaged in active sales for years, we understand that there is still a lot to learn. To me, Taobao is a brand new world, not to mention E-commerce in general.