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1. Shanghai takes the lead as Chinese coffee consumption averages 16 cups per year

China’s coffee industry amassed a staggering 265.4 billion RMB (approx. 36.66 billion USD) in scale last year, with an average per capita annual consumption of 16.74 cups
Coffee Carnival is running in Shanghai between 30 April to 4 May, alongside over 50 esteemed local coffee shops.
Additionally, takeaway, payment, and social media platforms initiated the “Drinking in the City” campaign in Shanghai, poised to invest nearly 100 million RMB (approx. 13.8 million USD) into the consumer market.
With a net increase of 118 shops, marking a 14% year-on-year rise, the total count of Starbucks outlets soared to 7,093.

LINK:https://daoinsights.com/news/shanghai-takes-the-lead-as-chinese-coffee-consumption-averages-16-cups-per-year/

2.What’s driving China’s unstoppable second hand luxury market?

China’s secondhand luxury market is tipped to grow to $30 billion (217 billion RMB) in 2025 from $8 billion (58 billion RMB) in 2020, with Gen Z and millennials (under 40) together accounting for more than 80 percent of the total number of secondhand luxury consumers
From a luxury brand point of view, perceived value on the secondhand market can have direct repercussions on reputation and desirability in the eyes of consumers.
Brands should not see the secondhand market as an adverse phenomenon, but encourage customers to trade in or resell their pre-owned items through authorized channels, ensuring that the brand retains control over the quality and authenticity of the products in the secondary market.
Luxury brands must monitor and manage their perceived value in the secondhand market, as it can impact their reputation and desirability among consumers. Digital marketing efforts should focus on maintaining brand authenticity and highlighting the enduring quality and heritage of their products.

LINK:https://jingdaily.com/posts/what-s-driving-china-s-unstoppable-secondhand-luxury-market#8548723daa5e

3. Decoding China’s $170 billion ‘romance economy’

China commemorates love on three separate holidays: the Western Valentine’s Day on February 14, the uniquely Chinese 520 Day on May 20, a celebration derived from internet slang where the numbers “520” phonetically resemble the words for “I love you” in Mandarin, and the traditional Qixi Festival, which usually falls in August.
China’s Gen Z consumers are a key element of the “romance economy,” responsible for 54% of related orders according to the “Romantic Economic Big Data Report” released in 2022.
Survey data from iiMedia Research in 2023 revealed that regardless of their relationship status – single, in a relationship, or married – over 90% of participants were eager to celebrate romantic festivals by presenting gifts to family and friends.
Notably, jewellery ranks as the number top gift category for coupled-up individuals on China’s romantic days.
Traditional gifts like flowers, personal care items, and beauty products remain favorites and “gift boxes” persist as a preference for consumers on seasonal occasions.
“Love-brain” (恋爱脑) has recently emerged as a trending term online. It centers on the idea that individuals often lose their emotional or financial rationality when in love. This phenomenon prompted the creation of the phrase “scolding to cure love brain” (骂醒恋爱脑) as a response. And in turn, this has sparked a new type of service.

LINK: https://jingdaily.com/posts/decoding-s-china-s-usd170-billion-romance-economy

4. Xiaohongshu: Unlock new opportunities in Chinese beauty market

Customers are getting more connected to Chinese culture and caring about value, which makes domestic beauty brands more popular. Younger consumers are stepping up as key players in the domestic beauty market.

Emergence of quality Chinese cosmetics: Domestic beauty annual sales surged around 10%, outperforming foreign cosmetics with a commanding market share of 50%.
Co-create content with the brands: Hundreds of celebrities and top KOLs embarked on the offline and online collaboration with a lot of brands.
Create a personalized IP Matrix: Xiaohongshu collaborated with more influential media like CCTV network and created more personalized IP/topics for brands.

LINK: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4oAwT-Q0mtbWHGQtRYSPLg

5.ByteDance surprises AI rivals with ultra-low cost Doubao model:

ByteDance has surprised the artificial intelligence industry with the ultra-low cost of its Doubao model
The company said it is capable of processing 2 million Chinese characters, equivalent to 1.25 million tokens, for RMB 1 ($0.14).
OpenAI’s most advanced multimodal model, GPT-4o, also unveiled this week, comes in at $5 per million input tokens handled.

LINK:https://technode.com/2024/05/16/bytedance-surprises-ai-rivals-with-ultra-low-cost-doubao-model/

6. Which fashion campaigns for China’s 520 Day hit the mark?

Luxury fashion campaigns for China’s 520 Day focus on limited edition collections, celebrity endorsements, and creative storytelling, often in the form of mini videos.
Brands like Gucci and Saint Laurent tapped into Gen Z’s preferences by incorporating traditional Chinese elements and leveraging digital platforms for greater engagement.
520 Day’s fusion of traditional Chinese culture with commercialism highlights the evolving landscape of celebrations and consumer behavior, emphasizing the importance of cultural resonance and meaningful experiences in luxury marketing strategies for brands looking to better connect with consumers.
These strategies aimed to blend cultural significance with contemporary marketing, enhance brand appeal and foster emotional connections with consumers.

LINK: https://jingdaily.com/posts/which-fashion-campaigns-for-china-s-520-day-hit-the-mark

7. 2024 May Day Holiday: The rise of small cities tourism and AI companions

Amid an economy yet to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels, this year’s May Day break underscores a notable trend towards tourism in lesser-known destinations.
On social media platforms like Xiaohongshu (RED), many young people are keen to explore counties and even aim to ‘visit Top 100 Counties of China’ as a novel approach to May Day travel.
Hong Kong has shifted its focus to cultural and artistic events, as well as large-scale concerts.
It is also worth mentioning Japan. With the Yen reaching a 34-year low against the US dollar during the holiday period, this made it more attractive for overseas tourists.
‘AI companion’ emerged as a new trend in travel. This involves using AI technology to offer personalised travel assistance services, crafting tailored itineraries and services.

LINK:https://daoinsights.com/opinions/2024-may-day-holiday-the-rise-of-small-cities-tourism-and-ai-companions/

Weibo is often called China’s answer to Twitter but is that actually true? Let’s dig into the specifics of both of the platforms and understand what Weibo is really about.

With over 140 million active users, Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms in the United States, and the platform was acquired by Elon Musk for $44 billion, about a month ago. In China, Weibo is regarded as Twitter’s equivalent. There are a number of Chinese microblogging sites. The most popular of these is Sina Weibo.

Unlike Twitter, Sina Weibo, which debuted in 2009, was not the first in this space. However, it has increased its user base during the last three years.

Twitter Vs. Weibo: Features

Rich Media
Weibo: Sina Weibo allows users to insert extra material such as photographs, videos, music, emoticons, and polls. The site also allows you to see links from video streaming sites such as Youku Tudou, without leaving the site.
Twitter: Twitter, like Facebook, allows you to include video URLs in your tweets and reshare videos. It also allows you to download videos on occasion, but only at a very low level. Here, it might take a page from Weibo and implement a feature that allows users to view videos linked to tweets without leaving the platform, so increasing user retention.
Comment Threads
Weibo: Weibo has capitalized on its platform’s social validation feature by making its comment thread user-friendly. You can see comments properly sorted out under a tweet with a single click. You can also include your @username in the comment to remind the audience about your brand and company. In this way, Weibo supports corporations in raising brand awareness.
Twitter: Twitter, on the other hand, is still unorganized in that sector because you have to take the time out to browse and track who has responded to your tweets. The ones commenting on the tweets mix with other comments about different topics. The thread is sorted under one umbrella.
Trending Categorization
Weibo: Weibo’s hall of fame is a dedicated page that tells you what’s ‘trending,’ similar to Twitter’s except for this one. Weibo dominates the trending game because it divides its trends into categories such as sports, entertainment, finance, and travel, making it more user-specific.
Twitter: Since the hashtags that appear on a user’s feed are generally news or brand-related issues, Twitter has yet to categorize its trending hashtags based on user preferences.
Contests
Weibo: Weibo includes a function called ‘event,’ which is the virtual equivalent of a party, but in sections (as usual). The feature aggregates everyone’s ideas, increasing engagement by a factor of ten. The Weibo event allows you to participate in local events, prized events, forum events, and other great events highlighted at the top of the website, as well as spark Weibo messages (weebs).
Twitter: Twitter hasn’t yet reached this level of engagement, but it has managed to generate interest through contests and meet-and-greets with influencers. These sponsored contests have provided marketers with an exciting way to reach out to their consumers, but they could learn a thing or two from Weibo on how to organize it on a larger scale.
Number of Characters
Sina Weibo, like Twitter, has a character limit of 140 characters. Nonetheless, it makes a significant difference. A Chinese character, like an English word, has a meaning. A string of 140 characters might mean a lot of different things. In English, however, each word consists of many characters. The 140-character constraint restricts the expression of thoughts. As a result, you cannot use extended words to explain complex concepts on Twitter. According to the most recent Economist research, Chinese is great for microblogging.

Twitter Vs. Weibo: Revenue

Twitter: At first glance, Twitter’s business appears to be in good shape. Its revenue increased by 7% in 2020 due to the pandemic but increased by 45% year over year in the first nine months of 2021 as those challenges faded.

Twitter’s total monetizable daily active users (mDAUs) increased by 27% to 192 million in 2020. It had 211 million mDAUs at the end of the third quarter of 2021, up 13% from the previous year. This expansion was driven by its expansion in other markets, particularly Japan.

However, Twitter became unprofitable in 2020 and continues to lose money in the first nine months of 2021. A substantial chunk of the losses was due to tax and legal charges, but they were also exacerbated by a 30% rise in staff this year.

Twitter also anticipates that the forthcoming sale of MoPub will cut revenue by $200-$250 million next year, making it more difficult to meet its target of producing more than $7.5 billion in annual revenue by 2023.

Weibo: Weibo’s income declined 4% in 2020 due to the pandemic, which lowered ad sales. Its live streaming business has also slowed. However, Weibo’s income increased 39% year on year in the first nine months of 2021 as those businesses recovered. Analysts anticipate a 37% increase in sales for the full year.

Weibo’s total monthly active users (MAUs) increased by less than 1% year on year to 521 million at the end of 2020. However, it concluded the third quarter of 2021 with 573 million MAUs, a 12% increase from the previous year.

Weibo, unlike Twitter, has been consistently profitable under generally accepted accounting rules (GAAP). Its net income fell 37% in 2020 but increased 10% year on year in the first nine months of 2021 as pandemic-related challenges faded. Analysts predict that its net income will grow faster in the fourth quarter and by 54% for the year.

They predict Weibo’s revenue and earnings to climb 12% and 29%, respectively, in the coming year, which is still outstanding growth for a stock that trades at only ten times forward earnings

Weibo Twitter

Conclusion

If you’re a business looking to expand globally, or considering entering the Chinese market for the first time, this article should be a good guide. Both Twitter and Weibo have their advantages and disadvantages, so there’s no one-size-fits-all solution here; instead, it’s a matter of researching your target audience and deciding which platform is best to your needs. It may even make sense to maintain a presence on both—if nothing else, that will allow you to reach customers at both ends of the spectrum.

Both platforms are popular worldwide, and their differences open avenues for different types of businesses. For example, Chinese businesses would benefit from a Weibo account to attract Chinese customers and global firms should rather create a Twitter account to attract customers worldwide.

Though the features of Weibo outnumber those of Twitter, and revenue for the Chinese platform appears to be increasing, it is still too early to determine whether Twitter will be replaced (or at least complemented) by Weibo. However, with Weibo’s recent development and expansion, it is certainly a unique alternative to Twitter.

Read more about Weibo and its recent status here.

If you wish to know more about Weibo and other Chinese social media platforms, please contact our team. We use our knowledge and expertise to help businesses build meaningful partnerships and develop their network among Chinese customers. For additional information, please contact at contact@thewechatagency.com.

Discovering Opportunities: Exploring China’s Recent Updates