Back bigger, better and readier to help you join us in the Digital Dream Life.

     I am sure a few of you have noticed we have been offline for quite a while. The big reason for this was that with Asia and especially china arising as a bigger and more open market everyday we here at DDL decided we needed to head over there and see what was happening on the ground in person.
This first thing to say about my year on the ground in China is that the opportunities opening up there are truly awesome, so much so that I had a hard time even knowing where to start at first. After taking a deep breath and diving into the whole new planet that is Renren, Taobao, Alipay, Alibaba, Weibo and so many others I discovered two huge things.

     Huge discovery number one China is, despite what most westerners think, a very money oriented and capitalist society. Everyone strives to get to the top and having more money than the next guy is a mark of pride and is very respected.

     Huge discovery number two Chinese people love, and I mean LOVE, shopping online. Go to any office in any city in China and I guarantee that many if not most of the computers will have at least one, and probably a couple, of the above mentioned programs running in the background.

     What all of this means is that China has become not just a huge seller but also a huge market. So what kind of products does the worlds largest market want? Perhaps unsurprisingly one of the biggest markets is for western cosmetics and food supplements. The reason for this is the same reason there is not a huge demand for Chinese versions of these products in the West. Another major market, as China becomes more affluent, is for genuine (rather than locally made fake) high end clothing and accessories.

     The biggest roadblock however to selling to the Chinese market is simply put one of language. Many Chinese people learn English at school, in fact to the best of my knowledge all of them do to some degree. However learning English at a public school in China is not too different from learning a second language for most people in the West at school. You do it because it is on the curriculum and perhaps so you can pretend to be smart when you travel to France for spring break and can order a coffee in French. What this means is an audience in China where nearly everyone knows how to say hello but where only few can really read the language.

Head to www.digitaldreamlife.com for more info on what's new.