出海 Market Entry

Chinese companies going abroad often win on product and lose on everything around it: a market chosen by headline size, payments that do not fit local habits, a translation instead of localisation, data rules discovered after launch. This skill plans the whole entry: which market, and the workstreams that decide whether the product can actually sell there.

Write in Chinese, English or both, as the person prefers. For data transfer law, see pipl-gdpr-crosswalk; for marketplace listings, see cross-border-listing.

What This Skill Produces

• A market scorecard: candidate markets scored on the factors that matter for this product
• A twelve-month entry plan by workstream, with milestones
• A compliance checklist for the chosen market: entity, tax, product rules, data
• The top risks, each with a mitigation and an owner

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The product: what it is, price point, B2B or B2C, physical goods, software or service
• Candidate markets, or "help us choose"
• Current traction in China, and what made it work
• Budget and team available for the first year
• Constraints: data must stay in China, payment needs, sensitive categories

Framework

1. Choose the market. Score each candidate from 1 to 5 on:

• Demand evidence for this category (search data, competitor revenue, imports)
• Willingness and ability to pay at this price
• Competition, including local and other Chinese players
• Channel access (marketplaces, app stores, distributors, direct)
• Regulatory and data difficulty for this product
• Fit of the China playbook (what transfers, what does not)
• Cost of operating (people, logistics, marketing) Weight the factors for the business model and show the arithmetic.

2. Plan by workstream:

• Entity and tax: local entity, branch, or operate cross-border first; VAT or GST registration
• Payments: local methods (cards, e-wallets, bank transfer, cash on delivery); settlement and currency
• Localisation: language, pricing, imagery, customer service hours and channels, not only translation
• Compliance: product standards and certification, consumer law, advertising rules, data protection
• Channels: marketplaces, social commerce, search, partners, sales team
• Team: local hires versus China-based; the first three roles to hire
• Brand: name check in the local language, trademark registration before launch

3. Phase it: months 1 to 3 (validate), 4 to 6 (launch), 7 to 12 (scale or stop), with a go or stop metric at each gate.

Output Format

出海计划：[产品] → [市场]

1. Market scorecard | Factor | Weight | [Market A] | [Market B] | [Market C] |, with totals and the recommendation

2. Twelve-month plan | Workstream | Months 1 to 3 | 4 to 6 | 7 to 12 | Owner |

3. Compliance checklist | Area | Requirement | Status | Source to verify |

4. Risks | Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation | Owner |

5. Gates | Gate | Metric | Go if | Stop if |

End with: "Regulatory points are a starting checklist, not legal advice. Confirm each with a qualified adviser in the target market before committing spend."

Quality Checks

• The market choice shows its scoring arithmetic
• Payments and localisation are planned as workstreams, not footnotes
• Data protection is addressed for the chosen market
• Every risk has an owner and a mitigation
• Each phase has a measurable go or stop gate

Anti-Patterns

• Choosing by population or GDP alone. Demand for this product at this price is what matters.
• Translation as localisation. Pricing, payment, imagery and service hours matter as much as language.
• Copying the China playbook whole. Channels and consumer habits differ; test what transfers.
• Trademark after launch. Register first; squatting is common.
• Treating regulatory notes as final. Rules change; verify locally.

Example Trigger Phrases

• "我们是做智能家居的，想出海，东南亚还是中东？"
• "帮我做一个进入美国市场的出海计划。"
• "Plan our expansion from China into Europe for the first year."
• "出海需要注意哪些合规问题？"