What’s New In The Chinese Market?

July 26, 2022

Xiaohongshu cashes in on tourism by setting up a travel agency

Puzhen Xiangli, a travel agency run out of Shanghai, has been established by Xiaohongshu. About 64% of China’s regular wanderlust users now start their journeys on the platform. Since Gen Z travelers prefer Xiaohongshu over more established online travel agencies like Ctrip and Fliggy, this popularity has paved the way for Xiaohongshu to further challenge established market players. 

Due to Airbnb’s exit from the market, there is now more room for domestic competitors to enter the fray. However, Xiaohongshu’s interests extend beyond homestay. Over 16 million views have been generated by platform searches for the keyword “Travel” so far, which is eight times more views than searches for the keyword “Homestay.” This shows that there is still untapped market potential for the platform to tap into.

Link: https://daoinsights.com/news/xiaohongshu-cashes-in-on-tourism-by-setting-up-travel-agency/

ByteDance debuts the first metaverse-like social app, Party Island

After the rise and fall of the formerly popular proto-metaverse social app Zheli, Chinese tech giant ByteDance has stepped up to take on the challenge of social networking with its highly anticipated social app, Party Island, which, according to Gamelook, a website focusing on the Asian games market, went live for public testing on July 13. 

With the help of their personalized avatars, users can interact with one another in the three-dimensional virtual space; meet up; hang out, and even go to events like concerts and movies with their virtual peers. The app’s access to a vast media library within the ByteDance empire, including live streaming events, films, and TV shows owned by Douyin and Xigua Video, adds to its appeal. 

This enables the app to provide its users with a rich digital experience that will amuse and engage them. While their resemblance to hot technology has largely won over the audience, it appears that the feature that enables a distinctive online experience and meets the social needs of today’s young Chinese is what will really pique user interest. The new innovation from ByteDance would revolutionize China’s online social networking scene if it goes off without a hitch.  

Link: https://daoinsights.com/news/bytedance-debuts-first-metaverse-like-social-app-party-island/

China’s “Silver Economy” Is Here To Spend

The 2022 product catalog for China has been encouraged to include clothing and other items for elderly people by the Ministry of Industrial and Information Technology. This is consistent with the Chinese Community Party’s 14th five-year plan, which was released in 2020 and has a section devoted to enhancing government support for the well-being of senior citizens. In comparison to their Gen Z and Millennial consumer counterparts, the “new” older generation has greater purchasing power and more free time, making them more readily available for discretionary spending. 

We wrote about this here >>> China Trend: Silver Generation

Link: https://jingdaily.com/china-silver-economy-government-support/ 

Brand zone search

It was created to strengthen the demand for building brands. Users actively look up brand terms to learn about the brand, comprehend the consulting services offered by the brand, and enter brand official account message templates, mini programs, and other private domains for information gathering and conversion. WeChat plans to develop more advertising options for search.

More details about WeChat search and brand zone in our article: A Quick Guide To WeChat Search

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/SkduovJwM4Up0Nj9JNTw2A

Douyin, China’s TikTok, tests food delivery, bringing ByteDance into a market dominated by Meituan and Alibaba

In order to compete with market leaders Meituan and Alibaba Group Holding, ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, is once again entering the food delivery market.

Some restaurants in specific cities, such as Shanghai, whose economies were severely impacted by a resurgence in Covid-19 this year, now offer a delivery option on their Douyin channels.  However, eateries are required to employ their own delivery personnel or use external delivery drivers. Market leaders Meituan and Alibaba’s Ele.me, on the other hand, are well known for their armies of delivery drivers, who are a common sight on Chinese city streets.

To gain market share, however, one must alter user preferences for the apps that have proliferated throughout many Chinese people’s digital existences. Meituan and Alibaba made up 69 percent and 26 percent of the market, respectively, in 2020. As a result, ByteDance is still facing a great challenge. In order to gain market share, marketers believe Bytedance should think about how to set itself apart from the competition and work on its pricing strategy. 

Link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/douyin-chinas-tiktok-tests-food-093000424.html

Tencent makes a move to turn WeChat’s short-video function channels into a money pot through ads and e-commerce tools.

The Shenzhen-based company unveiled a new e-commerce tool on Thursday to build online stores on Channels, the quick-video and live-streaming platform inside the multipurpose app WeChat. This tool simplifies the procedure for merchants to list products, sell them, and collect payments.

The e-commerce tool was announced shortly after Tencent Monday added video ads to its Channels feeds, enabling users to directly shop through an ad and share it with friends on WeChat.

WeChat’s video service has added new users rapidly over the past six months, according to data from the Chinese analytics company iiMedia Research, thanks to concerts and entertainment content that makes use of Tencent’s music division’s resources.

Link: https://www.yahoo.com/now/tencent-makes-move-turn-wechats-093000560.html

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Case Study: AkzoNobel (B2B Management)

June 14, 2022

WHAT IS AKZONOBEL?

International Marine Coating is the flagship trademark of AkzoNobel’s Marine & Protective Coatings division, which employs over 5,500 people in over 60 countries.

THE SCOPE OF WORK

Major shipping firms such as Maersk, COSCO, and CMA CGM are among International Marine’s target customers.

Its main goal in China is to raise brand awareness and equity so that it may be regarded as a major player in the industry.

AkzoNobel - Content Creation China

AkzoNobel – Content Creation

As part of our retainer contract, we deployed a combination of strategic activities, including engaging with industry expert magazines to publish material from the brand on their WeChat account in order to acquire access to relevant audiences and the validation of well-established media in the market.

THE RESULTS

The 2 Magazine articles surpassed by 80% and 125% the brand’s best-performing owned article of the whole year among the relevant target audience.

AkzoNobel China

AkzoNobel – Hot Accounts Collaboration

IMPORTANT TO NOTE

These PR-like collaborations also serve as SEO backlinks, boosting the brand’s ranking in the SERP.

These collaborations have a short-term benefit of raising brand recognition among magazine readers who may not be familiar with the company, and a long-term benefit of improving SERP ranking.

 

If you wish to know more about WeChat and its various features, 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.

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What’s New in China This Week?

June 9, 2022

What a Buzzword Reveals About Chinese Tech’s Urban Bias

By increasing the frequency of notifications and advertising lurid or scandalous content outside of large cities, internet providers appear to be playing into prejudices about rural or less educated customers.

The ‘xiachen’ practises of internet corporations frequently reflect a skewed perspective of rural and small-town internet consumers. They’re portrayed as exploitable locales, with citizens who are readily satisfied. China’s economic development, however, differs not only between metropolitan cities and rural areas but even inside so-called xiachen markets.

Link: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1010263/what-a-buzzword-reveals-about-chinese-techs-urban-bias

WeChat Channels: The Key to Your WeChat Ecosystem

Despite the fact that the material on WeChat Channels is not sales-oriented, the platform is nonetheless beneficial to enterprises, particularly those who have already set up e-commerce operations on the network.

Brands can connect visitors to a WeChat article featuring mini-program store embeds by including a link in the post description. WeChat Channels released an update in March 2022 that allows certified users to list mini-programs on the homepage, increasing conversion rates.

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/yax22WrsGERrmtN-2FjMnA 

Nike CEO John Donahoe Says He’s Chasing Generation Alpha

Although Gen Z is presently Nike’s main source of revenue, the sportswear company has already set its sights on Generation Alpha – children under the age of 12.

Nike faces intense competition in China from disruptor and challenger brands, as well as continuing headwinds in China as a result of local anger over Xinjiang linkages and now Covid lockdowns. Nike released a Roblox game with LeBron James to use Web3 to increase physical sport participation while activating in the metaverse. You received a virtual reward for performing physical activity.

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/sPMKsitKWHNQ6CzEBFlNYQ 

With Concerts and Pop Stars, Tencent’s Channels Emerge As Big Challengers to Short Video Giants Douyin, Kuaishou

Online concerts featuring big stars from the 1990s and 2000s, such as Lo Ta-yu, Jay Chou, and Westlife, have been organised by Tencent. WeChat’s Channels are gaining popularity, which might shake up the Chinese short video market, which is now headed by ByteDance’s Douyin.

Tencent claimed in its latest quarterly report that thanks to additional entertainment programming and improved algorithms, the volume of videos and total viewing time on Channels, its WeChat-based short-video platform, saw “substantial growth.” The growing popularity of Channels has the potential to shake up China’s short video business, which is now dominated by Douyin.

Tencent’s decision to invite bands that were popular in the 1990s and 2000s corresponds to WeChat’s short-video section’s user base, which is older than Douyin and Kuaishou. Channels also take advantage of WeChat’s large social media network, which allows users to view what their WeChat contacts have enjoyed in terms of posts and videos.

Link: https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3179857/concerts-and-pop-stars-tencents-channels-emerges-big-challenger-short?module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article&campaign=3179857

China Digital Currency: Leading Mobile Payment Apps Alipay, and WeChat Pay Install New Features to Help Widen E-Cny Roll-Out

On Thursday, Alipay said that its app now includes a button that allows users to search for and download the official e-CNY wallet. Users can make purchases with e-CNY on the app by creating an account with the same phone number as Alipay. On Alipay’s platform, approximately 6 million digital yuan wallets have been “pushed” to merchants, a process that allows a new e-CNY user to commence that payment option. Last year, Alipay, which has around 900 million users, enabled the payment option.

WeChat Pay, which accepted digital yuan as a payment option three months ago, added a similar e-CNY wallet capability to its app in April. At the end of December, the mobile payments platform, which is part of the multipurpose super app WeChat, had almost 900 million users.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong aims to launch a trial programme to utilise the e-CNY in the city soon, making it the first offshore city to use the digital currency outside of mainland China.

Link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-digital-currency-leading-mobile-093000549.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADsmwpThaIz1VCSUKtkfFxHs8-2J7tneZmfm2YAnImpD5J3BErW0uvdA4ob6OWCz2GLMb_HSkAHalgS82PWinLZ0zM_FAmnTXHt8znZFwhpJpdA93eYjSHAb2SS0ya2YFYTWsaXgE9E8F16WPnT8HqAfNPm6l_72SOnF8cYey1x3

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Latest China News

May 31, 2022

Chinese Consumers are Comfortable Sharing their Data Compared to Consumers in Other Markets

Between 2017 and 2021, China’s loyalty programme market grew at a 13.7% annual rate to $15.7 billion. Over the following four years, it is predicted to increase at a rate of 13.0% each year.

Quick-service restaurants are establishing green rewards programmes to incentivize consumer behaviour in order to promote a more sustainable lifestyle and attract consumers who are driven by eco-friendly companies.

Link: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220512005913/en/China-Loyalty-Programs-Market-Intelligence-Report-2022-Chinese-Consumers-are-Comfortable-Sharing-their-Data-Compared-to-Consumers-in-Other-Markets—ResearchAndMarkets.com

WeChat Channels Live Streaming Rewards “Traffic Coupon” to Drive Traffic and Sales

Option 1: Mini program live streaming: Brands and businesses can add a Live Streaming module or component to WeChat mini program. For example, brands such as Perfect Diary, Forest Cabin (in Chinese: 林清轩), and Prada have held live streamings through WeChat mini program for sales or events.

Option 2: WeChat Channels Live Streaming: Up to early 2022, WeChat Channels have reached 450 million Daily Active Users, a 50% increase compared to early 2021. WeChat Channels Live Streamings are more visible to the public audience compared to mini-programs. For example, people browsing content on WeChat Channels may enter live streaming of a brand they didn’t know before.

Traffic coupon: In 2022 April 12th to December 31st, any live streaming for shopping purposes with the shopping cart function activated will be automatically participating in Merchant Incentive Plan. 

Brands or merchants have to introduce 50 new viewers that didn’t come from WeChat Channels to gain official traffic coupons. You can drive followers from your WeChat Official Account, spread the news through WeChat Moment, WeCom, personal chats, or groups, to Channels Livestreaming.

Link: https://walkthechat.com/wechat-channel-livestreaming-rewards-traffic-coupon-to-drive-traffic-and-sales/

How to Inspire Word of Mouth Marketing from a Chinese Audience

Any marketing strategy’s success is determined by two factors: reach and impact. Unlike mass media advertising, which has a broad reach but a limited impact, word-of-mouth marketing has a narrower reach but a far greater impact.

The value of word-of-mouth marketing is represented in statistics: according to Semrush, word-of-mouth marketing accounts for $6 trillion USD in global expenditure each year and accounts for 13% of all sales.

Currently, the top social media platforms in China for word-of-mouth marketing include WeChat, Weibo, Xiaohongshu (RED), and Douyin (Tik Tok’s Chinese counterpart), all of which also have their own e-commerce functions built in.

  • KOC
  • DTC
  • Group Purchase

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/IRwuZJ_-B26ACLLWt5osEw

Three Chinese Digital Marketing trends in 2022 

 

Regular product updates: More than 200 million new products will be launched on Tmall in 2021, accounting for 35% of the market. It signifies that new products have emerged as one of the most critical components of brand growth.

New goods, on the other hand, do not have to replace prior ones; rather, the new ones might be based on the previous ones and emphasise essential components to highlight the brand’s individuality. For example, OPPO debuted a new series Reno 6 with a light blue cover in September 2021, then 6 months later, they released a new colour Purple Star with the same feature.

Second, more and more brands are collaborating with other brands, particularly those that focus on completely different areas, in order to introduce a brand-new concept and capture the audience’s interest. For example, LV and Nike Air Force collaborated on a new shoe design. Holland, in collaboration with Pokeman, has released a new line of cakes.

Introducing virtual space and unleashing marketing imagination: Because of the Facebook revolution, metaverse has grown in popularity since 2021. More and more firms are creating advertising based on this notion, and NFT makes it even more appealing. With the advancement of new technology and the increasing risk of celebrity (scandals), more corporations are creating their own virtual idol for marketing objectives.

On the one hand, developing virtual idols assists firms in lowering marketing costs. Brands, on the other hand, can create a virtual image to suit the company’s position.

Brand responsibility has been enhanced: In recent years, a few corporations have developed a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) department with the goal of increasing both social and financial value. Sustainable development will be one of the most essential aspects of a brand that encompasses three major themes: environment, climate, and biodiversity.

– Kangshifu and Pepsi both launched a drink without labels, to reduce carbon and build an environmental concept.
– Kuaishou created an advertisement, revealing the reality of the polar bear, and started a public campaign calling upon the whole society and corporations to actively respond to global warming with low-carbon actions.
– Clarins, together with WWF, created a foundation, starting with protecting the habitat of Siberian tigers and appealing to people to pay more attention to the living status of those tigers and hoping to help them come back home sooner.

Link: https://socialbeta.com/t/10-digital-marketing-trend-in-2022

WeChat Channel Admin Can Be Migrated

Previously, if we wanted to display the channel on the official account’s page, we needed to have the same administrator for both the WeChat official account and the channel. However, if the administrator of the official account is removed for personal reasons, but the administrator of the channel remains the same because the channel administrator does not support change, the channel will not be featured on the front page.

Now the administrator of the channel can be changed, and the function is still under test.

Key points:
It can be replaced 5 times a year
Only certified video numbers are supported
Private messages cannot be migrated

Link: https://developers.weixin.qq.com/community/develop/article/doc/000882fe1d01a003afed3e00e5b013

 

 

 

 

 

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China Weekly News Roundup

May 24, 2022

Elon Musk Praises the WeChat Model As He Discusses Plans for Twitter

Elon Musk praised WeChat as “really an excellent app” and labelled it “a good model” 

“We don’t have anything like that,” Musk said, as he complimented the Tencent super app’s offering of services like Twitter, PayPal and more “all rolled into one.” 

“Such an app would be really useful” in markets outside of China, speculating that it could be created by converting Twitter to something all-encompassing or starting a new app from scratch. 

Musk’s comments quickly went viral in China, with the hashtag “Musk praises WeChat” amassing more than three million views within a few hours on the microblogging platform Weibo.

Link: https://technode.com/2022/05/19/elon-musk-praises-wechat-model-as-he-discusses-plans-for-twitter/

Tencent’s Total Revenue Stays Flat, Profit Drops in Q1 Amid Regulatory and COVID Headwinds

Tencent fell short of market forecasts after posting almost flat revenue growth in the first quarter of this year ($21.2 billion in revenue versus $21.1 billion in the same period last year).

The company’s earnings for the period were RMB 26.3 billion, a 24% reduction year on year, while net margins fell to 19% from 26% the previous year.

Tencent’s worst result since its IPO in 2014 is primarily due to clients’ reduced ad spending and more competition from competitors like TikTok owner ByteDance. Despite the state signalling a softening of pressure on digital giants, the impact of regulatory crackdowns will remain since it will “take time for specific regulators to convert directly into meaningful action.”

Link: https://technode.com/2022/05/19/tencents-total-revenue-stays-flat-profit-drops-in-q1-amid-regulatory-and-covid-headwinds/

TikTok Parent Aims to Double Ecommerce Volume on China App to $240 Billion

This year, ByteDance hopes to more than double the amount of shopping done on Douyin in China to about $240 billion. ByteDance is now planning a global e-commerce development.

TikTok launched an e-commerce function, TikTok Shop, in the United Kingdom and Indonesia last year, allowing users to complete transactions within the app.

It launched the feature in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines last month.

If TikTok’s 1 billion active monthly users embrace the buying option, ByteDance will be a serious competitor to Amazon.

Link: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/tiktok-parent-aims-to-double-e-commerce-volume-on-china-app-to-240-billion

JD Rolls Out Online-to-Offline Department Store Business with Plans for Physical Outlets

JD has introduced a new department store channel by combining numerous existing businesses from its fashion and lifestyle areas, such as apparel, cosmetics, and housewares.

In addition to online platforms, the company intends to expand the service’s offline presence by opening themed brick-and-mortar storefronts in major cities. The first will open before June 18 in Beijing, Chengdu, and Xi’an.

Link: https://technode.com/2022/05/10/jd-rolls-out-online-to-offline-department-store-business-with-plans-for-physical-outlets/

Zhihu 知乎: The Q&A platform for B2B marketing

Zhihu 知乎, which was created in 2011, is a Chinese social platform that has been compared to the western question-and-answer website ‘Quora.’ With more than 100 Million Monthly Active Users in the fourth quarter of 2021, the 36.4% year-over-year rise attests to the community’s ongoing development and potential.

Unlike Baidu Zhidao 百度知道, where the sort of content and responses are given are shorter in length, Zhihu 知乎 provides high-quality content that prioritises quality over quantity.

Even though the platform has a large user base, a larger portion of the audience exhibits unique characteristics. The majority of users are highly educated; they spend about 40 minutes each day reading the stuff submitted, and 60% are between the ages of 25 and 35.

How can you improve your visibility on Baidu?

Since Zhihu has a strong domain authority on this search engine, sharing content on Zhihu boosts your chances of appearing on Baidu SERP.

You can link your business social profiles as well as your corporate website on your Zhihu page, guiding viewers to your key communication channels.

Other features have been added to the platform throughout time. Zhihu Column 知乎专栏, for example, allows you to produce an essay on a given topic without having to attach it to a specific query. Zhihu Roundtable 知乎圆桌 allows specialists to deliver in-depth insights about a certain field of expertise, whilst Zhihu 知乎 Live allows people to interact with the company in real time.

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/1uguDRjXl01yj0f4W5BkQQ

Balenciaga’s WeChat Campaign for China’s 520 Day

Balenciaga produced a campaign that includes a number of social activities and limited editions, all of which were available on their official website and in their physical locations. The “5:20 Video Game Hall,” a virtual arcade with pixel art and realistic audio that is now live on the company’s WeChat channel until May 20, stood out. Along with this, 520-exclusive profile images and WeChat gags were made available for free download.

The mini-games throughout the hall struck a chord with Chinese Millennials who grew up with arcade classics like Galaxian and Super Mario, and many WeChat users have already utilised the memes and profile images. Such assets serve as a virtual identity stamp, assisting the company in consolidating its digital significance and expanding its online communities.

Link: https://jingdaily.com/520-2022-balenciaga-louis-vuitton-prada/ https://www.163.com/dy/article/H7MFPPE20552U2HZ.html?f=post2020_dy_recommends 

Wufangzhai Created the Cone Universe

Wufang Pictures has reopened and has officially released “The Next Stop of the Metaverse.” Not only did the brain hole fly out of the Metaverse in this blockbuster, but the copywriting made people crave it.

The short film concludes with a gloomy night, the Metaverse city with many high-rise structures, but no sign of human people. However, no matter how many worlds exist, there is no alternative to the preciousness of human people, which tickles the emotional link deep within every individual and tempts them to try that magical zongzi.

Link: https://socialbeta.com/c/11455 

The WeChat Service Account Has Added a Function–No Notification

The “no notification” capability was incorporated in the most recent WeChat upgrade. To see the message non-disturbing switch, click three points in the upper right corner of the home page of each service number, and then choose “Settings” in the pop-up menu. When there is a new message in the service number after opening the message without interruption, the unread number is not displayed but is simply represented by a small red dot.

This might be bad news for the service account: because it includes a reminder function, it can remind users to read the articles on time, so increasing the amount of reading.

But it’s also good news to a certain extent: according to our experience, after each article is pushed, the account will lose some users. Maybe when the user is not disturbed by the reminder information, the user will not unfollow the account.

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zQtJ5RU7edeAvzFd22l2-A 

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