WPIC Marketing + Technologies Logo

Avnet

We helped a leading distributor of electronic components expand to China via Alibaba 1688.com.

Avnet case study

Industry

Key Deliverables

The client

Avnet Inc., a multi-billion dollar Arizona-based distributor of electronics, and a leader in the global technology solutions space, approached WPIC about launching a flagship store in China’s e-commerce space. 

The challenge

The organization was particularly interested in enhancing their global B2B e-commerce strategy and expanding their web presence in China to serve small and medium sized businesses inside the market. Aside from not having a flagship storefront, the company had several other challenges in the market:

-Many in-demand products (Raspberry Pi computers, for example) that were on sale in China had insufficient stock to meet customers’ demands -Their products in China were often being offered at a higher price than similar products of their competitors -Some products were only deliverable to Hong Kong SAR – outside Mainland China – which was a significant inconvenience to customers.

Our solutions

With 37% of the B2B commerce market share across China, WPIC identified that the most attractive destination for Avnet’s products would be Alibaba’s 1688.com.

With more than 10 million store fronts across the platform, 1688.com is China’s leading portal for business sales, connecting suppliers throughout the world with business buyers in China.

To activate the Avnet SuperStore on 1688, WPIC would take the following steps:

1. Optimize SKU selection for China’s market, using Discripto, WPIC’s custom-built distributed script engine

2. Run paid advertising on Yingxiaobao, 1688’s in-house digital marketing platform

3. Continually optimize the products being offered

4. In-platform marketing on 1688.com

5. Allow customers to sample select products inside the Avnet flagship super store

6. Re-design and deploy the Avnet flagship storefront

Results

As China’s largest wholesale e-commerce platform for industrial products and components, 1688 turned out to be the perfect platform for Avnet to expand their presence in the market.

The Avnet flagship super store gives businesses in China easy access to products that integrate hardware and cloud. Additionally, the partnership with Alibaba provides customers with access to dedicated experts experts in the Avnet ecosystem.

Additionally, thanks the combined efforts of WPIC and Avnet, product data was optimized to present accurate information in a way that was most helpful and appealing to Chinese customers, so that they can make the right decisions for their devices.

As a result of the combined work of WPIC, Alibaba and Avnet, the flagship store was live within two months, and debuted at Alibaba Cloud’s annual Aspara conference in Hangzhou, PRC, in September 2019.

Do you have a similar project in mind?

We don’t just work with the biggest brands. Our clients include many small to medium-sized organizations, non-profits, and start-ups.

Just tell us what you want to achieve, and we’ll let you know how we can help you. You can also check out more of our work in Asia-Pacific.

NEXT PROJECT

Want to see more?

Back to our work
Our solutions

Need help?
We have solutions.

Lean on our 15 years of expertise to grow your brand effectively in Asia-Pacific. Contact us and we will set up a call to discuss your requirements in detail.

Get in touch