We talked last year about some of the website clones that exist in China, but what actually makes them successful when you compare them with their original western counterparts that often launch Chinese versions themselves?
TechCrunch has an interesting post that aims to answer this question. The post's author, Sarah Lacy, has a theory that the primary reason for success is that Chinese entrepreneurs that copy Western websites for Chinese audiences rethink the business models as well as some of the processes involved with interacting with the sites. The particular example she talks about is Chinese dating website Zhenai and it's quite interesting to think about increased amounts of human involvement for premium members. What other types of online sites could this work for? Travel? Shopping?
