Perhaps the two most significant business trends in the world today are the rise of the Chinese consumer and the rise of eCommerce.  The China eCommerce market is now larger than the U.S. eCommerce market, fueled by rising affluence, online product availability, growing demand for Western products, and mobile commerce.

This trend was brought into focus last year with the Alibaba IPO.  It should be no surprise that leading U.S. brands such as Apple, Nike, and Levi’s sell through Alibaba’s platforms in China.  Now smaller and new-to-market companies have the same opportunity.  Topics to be covered will include.

Frank Lavin is the CEO and founder of Export Now, a U.S. firm established in 2010 to operate e – commerce stores in China for foreign companies. Lavin is a long-time China hand and China e-Commerce pioneer and he will draw on his experience with Export Now as well as his background in China banking, trade negotiations, diplomacy. and market entry strategy to share techniques that companies can use to compete in China e-Commerce.  Notably for USC, Lavin served as Chairman of the Advisory Board for the USA Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, for which USC ran the Student Ambassador program. In addition to his extensive private sector experience, Lavin was U.S. Ambassador to Singapore from 2001 to 2005 and Undersecretary of Commerce for Asia and the Pacific from 2005 to 2007.