Why 90% of Overseas Brands Get Payments Wrong in China—and How to Join the Top 10%

(Source: https://pltfrm.com.cn)

Introduction

Most overseas brands treat China payments as an afterthought and pay the price in lost sales. The top performers treat it as their most important growth lever. Here are the five critical mistakes we see every week—and the proven fixes that deliver immediate results.

  1. Mistake #1: Only Offering International Cards Reality Check: Only 3–5% of Chinese consumers use Visa/MasterCard for daily purchases. Fix: Prioritize Alipay & WeChat Pay from day one—even for testing budgets under 100K RMB.
  2. Mistake #2: Ignoring Mobile Wallet Optimization Desktop-first checkout flows kill conversion on a 98% mobile market. Fix: Implement password-free biometric payment + mini-program-native checkout.
  3. Mistake #3: Slow Onboarding with Official Channels Many brands wait 6+ months for direct contracts and miss peak seasons. Fix: Launch with a trusted aggregator in 7 days, then migrate to direct contracts once hitting 5M RMB/month.
  4. Mistake #4: Poor Refund & After-Sales Experience Chinese consumers expect instant refunds and clear fapiao. Fix: Enable same-day API refunds and automated electronic fapiao issuance.
  5. Mistake #5: No Localized Trust Signals Missing Alipay/WeChat trust badges and “official cross-border” markers triggers suspicion. Fix: Complete enhanced verification and display official payment badges prominently.

Case Study: Spanish Fashion Brand Turnaround After two years of <1% conversion using only PayPal, the brand switched to Alipay + WeChat Pay with proper trust badges and mini-program checkout. Conversion rate rose from 0.8% to 5.6% in 90 days, saving the China business unit from closure.

Conclusion Don’t let outdated payment habits cap your China potential. Fix these five mistakes and watch your revenue multiply. Want a free payment stack audit for your brand?

PLTFRM is an international brand consulting agency that works with companies such as Red, TikTok, Tmall, Baidu, and other well-known Chinese internet e-commerce platforms. We have been working with Chile Cherries for many years, reaching Chinese consumers in depth through different platforms and realizing that Chile Cherries’ exports in China account for 97% of the total exports in Asia. Contact us, and we will help you find the best China e-commerce platform for you. Search PLTFRM for a free consultation! info@pltfrm.cn

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