Importance of Incorporating Guochao in your Marketing Strategy in China

July 30, 2021

Recent years have seen young Chinese consumers being increasingly interested in combining traditional Chinese culture and style with domestic brands and products.

This trend is known as ‘Guochao’ (国潮), which means ‘National Trend’. In a world greatly influenced by Western trends, youngsters are now looking for new ways to identify with their Chinese roots. Many domestic brands are focussing more on the nostalgia factor and this strategy is very appealing to younger consumers.

Emerging Fashion Trends

Most of the fashion trends in 1980s China came from foreign countries. But over the years, young people have begun to identify more with their Chinese roots and discovered the beauty of their tradition. This trend reflects the unexpected rise of domestic brands.

They creatively merged traditional culture with modern trends to make more fashionable styles, without increasing development costs. This allowed the Chinese youth to enjoy the rich heritage of their motherland without breaking the bank. Without the worry of price inflation, these domestic brands focused on design and aesthetic, thus increasing the appeal of their product.

How Brands can Hop on the Bandwagon

Guochao is not some brief trend that will go away. Arising from the longstanding Chinese culture, the rise of Guochao is inevitable as it only seems to be getting bigger, better and stronger. Even though many consumers still favour foreign products and brands, brands cannot ignore the fact that Chinese youths have started showing stronger national pride and forming their unique sense of culturally aesthetic style.

The youth are looking for something more meaningful rather than fast fashion.
It is important for new international brands entering China to embrace these values of Chinese pride in order to provide value to the consumers and connect with them.
Brands that emphasise their own heritage and culture need to find ways to integrate their ideals with Chinese cultural elements.
While the idea of Guochao does arise from deep rooted Chinese culture, brands can use this opportunity to innovate with their products and come up with new and unique messaging for their brand in China.

What to Infer

Brands, both domestic and international, have to think outside the box if they want to survive the changing paradigm of Chinese fashion industry. Guochao is here for the long haul, and while western trends and fashion are still relevant, the majority of youth in China will look towards brands that connect with them on a deeper level. Doing so can help brands build loyalty and trust with their customers, which goes a long way towards surviving the Chinese market.

WeChat Marketing vs Website Marketing

July 15, 2021

Introduction

China has 574 million active mobile internet users and 668 million internet users. People in China spend about 50% of their daily time on digital devices. Going by these huge figures, there is a huge potential for digital marketing and advertising in China.

There is an uncapped potential for digital communication for companies to reach out to the masses and engage with them in innovative new ways. This phenomenon is taking place globally, but what makes China stand out is its massive tech savvy population who form a big chunk of the market.

This article will provide tips on how and when to utilise WeChat as well as websites to market your product to this market in China.

1. WeChat Marketing Practices:

WeChat, the Super-App

WeChat was launched in 2011 as a messaging platform but transformed into an app for both personal as well as professional use. Along with its basic social networking features like news feed and messaging system, it also has a digital wallet, gaming center, and options for businesses to promote themselves.

WeChat is (or should be) any company’s first choice to engage with Chinese audiences.

Best Practices For WeChat Marketing

Timely Activities

Like any social media platform, people check their WeChat on the go, so it is a good idea to keep tabs on the times when users are most active and optimise marketing campaigns around those times. Agencies like TheWeChatAgency can help you monitor your engagement and ensure all posts and responses are on time.

Interesting Snippets

WeChat marketing strategies usually work if the information is short, simple and interesting as attention spans vary in effectiveness from user to user. Forbidden City & Tencent had launched an interactive campaign which featured Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, coming to life from an ancient painting. It involved users by taking selfies, singing songs and navigating through various features of WeChat. Within two days, it had around 800 million downloads.

Connect Your Website To WeChat

It is a good idea to connect your product catalogue or website to your WeChat account. This will lead to automatic updates on WeChat whenever you post or update your website.

2. Website Marketing Practices

First things first. Hosting a website in China requires an Internet Content Provider (ICP) license. These are issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. ICPs are only given to companies with an established Chinese legal entity such as a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) or a Joint Venture (JV).

It’s also essential to register a “.cn” domain name with the Chinese Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). This domain name also gives an impression to your potential customers that you have a brand presence in China.

Lastly, companies need to register with Baidu, China’s online search engine, for visibility.

Best Practices For Websites In China

Mobile Over Desktop Websites

Most websites in China use a phone number instead of an email ID, and for users their phone number is linked to their e-commerce accounts, digital wallets, social network accounts among others. So it makes sense that a mobile website would be your first priority.

Designing The Website

The next hurdle to cross in your efforts to reach the masses is to create a user-friendly mandarin-based website aimed at Chinese consumers. In designing your Chinese-language website it’s also important to consider the role of space.

In most Chinese websites, the font size is large as there is no space between Chinese characters.

Other important website design features involve choosing the right colours and symbols which appeal to Chinese audiences.

Although Chinese websites are not as fancy as their English-language counterparts, they have more text and updates on promotions and offers. The visuals are also different to keep it localised and these visuals play a large part in attracting Chinese consumers.

The Accelerating Growth of Niche Perfume Brands in China

July 8, 2021

Introduction to Niche Perfume Market in China

According to research put forth by Forward, the global perfume market in 2017 consisted of only 1% Chinese consumers. Even though it would seem like a small number, the Chinese perfume market has been growing by more than 15% annually – a rate far higher than any other category in the beauty sector. The report also forecasts the sales volume of China’s perfume industry growing from 25.2 billion RMB (3.7 billion USD) to over 50 billion RMB (7.4 billion USD) by 2023. That is double the revenue in a span of under 7 years which is extremely impressive by all standards.

Foreign brands dominate in China, and the big beauty companies you’d expect to see are all leaders in the arena: LVMH, Chanel, Coty, L’Oréal, and Estée Lauder. Today, many Chinese consumers have since developed the habit of using perfumes and consider it an essential part of their daily routines. Let’s look at the market factors that are accelerating the growth of niche perfume brands in China.

Gen-Z Perfume Trend Preferences

When fragrances first started gaining popularity in China back in the 2000s, consumers were most attracted by the classics (Chanel’s No.5, Yves Saint Laurent’s Black Opium). But a few years ago, a different opinion started emerging from China’s younger, more discerning generation – Gen-Z. Fragrances by luxury brands were viewed as too pedestrian and common. Many young consumers referred to them as “街香” (which literally means “street scents”). The traditional marketing method for perfumes – beautiful, glossy ads and endorsements by A-list celebrities – also started coming across as passé to this consumer group.

According to industry experts like Allie Rooke (beauty consultant and the founder of Clean Beauty Asia), post-90s generations are driving the demand for niche names, and Gen-Z trends are shaping new perfume preferences. Furthermore, they are using it as a way to express their identities, and gender-nonspecific scents are particularly appealing.

Online Opportunities

Online platforms like Tmall and JD.com are key outlets for fragrances. Hermès Fragrance opened up recently, along with the launch of Gucci Beauty, featuring fragrances. Both of these were seen in 2021 itself. Cartier added itself to the category by offering names like Panthère and Carat.

Popular niche brands to drop on Tmall Global during the pandemic were Replica and L’Artisan Parfumeur. These two brands were backed up by social media, which was vital for their amplification. Baidu optimization is also essential for brands to improve their visibility.
Perfume KOLs and bloggers are on the rise too. Weibo’s top KOLs include names like Sunillusion, Initialscent, and The Perfume World of CC (CC的香水世界).

Home Fragrance Market

Home fragrance is booming in China. There are more home fragrance choices than ever before and the marketing strategies for perfume and fragrances has been very strong lately, with lots of celebrities and KOLs sharing their decor and candle purchases on Chinese social media. Not to mention The Chinese have burnt incense ever since the Han Dynasty.

Chinese luxury consumers only bought perfume and fragrance because of their brand names. These purchases were less about the scents and more about the status quo provided by the brands. But now, Gen-Z consumers want to know how to change their interior fragrances as part of their holistic luxury lifestyles. This demand continues to grow thanks to social media platforms like Douyin. Find out more about how to leverage Douyin for your brand.

What To Infer

It is safe to say that Chinese consumers today no longer desire to smell like cookie-cutter bottles of designer perfume. Many of them are looking for something a little more personal and complex – be it in the form of their favourite tea, or the scent of freshly cut grass. They need variety to pick the right one that suits their needs. While it remains to be seen if this category will continue to grow exponentially, it is certainly one to watch.