Business in china Archives

What Are the Most Important E-commerce Festivals in China?

September 28, 2021

China is not just the world’s most populous country, but it also has the most internet users. And with about one billion online shoppers, the country has the world’s largest and fastest-growing e-commerce market.

The Chinese e-commerce business has evolved significantly over the years, revolutionizing the traditional system for both customers and sellers. Needless to say, the e-commerce market exploded in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, particularly in China, causing an increasing number of firms to want to start selling online.

And one of the market’s driving forces is the China shopping festivals, which is a massive retail event where firms slash prices in honor of Chinese culture, history, and plain old consumerism. Therefore, all international firms looking to grow their sales in 2021 and beyond should learn about China’s biggest and most important e-commerce festivals.

Here at the top 5 e-commerce festivals in China:

National Day/Golden Week

Golden Week, which commemorates the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, begins on October 1st with National Day and lasts until October 7th. It is China’s longest public holiday, and it generates huge business for international brands.

The total sales for overseas brands on Tmall increased by about 80% last year and several international cross-border e-commerce platforms also reported a significant rise in sales. Luxury brands in particular perform well during this time, with several companies reporting a 60% boost in sales in 2020.

Double 11 Shopping festival

The Double 11 shopping festival, also known as Singles Day, is the king of all global retail events. During the festival periods in November 2020, Alibaba and JD earned $155 billion in sales.

With more than 250,000 brands and 800 million consumers participating, last year’s sales were recorded as more than RMB 372.3 billion (US$56 billion).

12.12 Shopping Festival

Alibaba introduced the 12.12 or Double 12 Shopping Festival on November 12th in 2010 for customers who were still looking for good deals after Singles Day. The Double 12 shopping festival is one of the largest in the South Asian online buying marketplace and it is that time of year when careful planning and organisation can pay off handsomely for a seller.

Due to rising customer interest, the event resulted in a 4-5 fold increase in online traffic, 60% unique visitors, and a 2 second average order rate. Last year, 18,000 orders were placed in a single day, with an average spend of 125 SGD per customer.

Nian Huo Festival

The Spring Festival, also known as Nian Huo, commemorates the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls in the month of Jan-Feb

Since Chinese New Year is such a popular festival, discounts are available across a variety of platforms, though market giants like Alibaba and JD tend to attract significant crowds. This famous holiday brought in more than $155 million in retail sales in 2019, and sales of imported goods climbed by 2.3 percent year over year in 2020.

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day, observed on March 8th, has become a lucrative shopping festival in China for female-oriented brands in China.

According to the Chinese Research Centre for E-commerce, 70% of Chinese women prefer to shop online rather than offline. As a result, this is an important e-commerce festival to participate in. Last year, Tmall’s “Own Yourself, Love Yourself” campaign aided female empowerment, garnering more than 600 million hashtag views on Weibo and 2.12 million comments.

Conclusion

Online shopping is an accepted part of life in China. Everything from fresh produce and seafood to appliances and automobiles are being purchased online.

Due to the high demand in the market, e-commerce platforms work hard to encourage online shoppers, resulting in China’s numerous shopping festivals. If you want to increase your brands e-commerce sales, you need to be aware of the major e-shopping festivals and plan your marketing strategy accordingly. This is why selling on Chinese e-commerce platforms is the most efficient way to increase sales among the Chinese audience.

Weibo and it’s Status in 2021

September 20, 2021

Globally, the number of people using social networking sites is constantly rising without an end in sight. By the end of 2021, there will be over 3 billion people using social networks. And with over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most widely used social media site in the world.

Meanwhile, WeChat, China’s most popular social media network, has more than 1 billion monthly active users all on its own. This suggests that the app and other social media giants, in general, are used by nearly all Chinese citizens.

However, ever since China set up the Great Firewall of China and internet censorship, in 2008, western social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube can no longer be accessed in China. As a result, in 2009, Sina Corporation launched Sina Weibo, a microblogging site similar to Twitter and Instagram, to replace the social media giants.

Wangyi Weibo was launched in 2010 and claimed 260 million registered users by 2012. However, Wangyi Weibo vanished by the end of 2014.
Later, Tencent introduced Tencent Weibo in 2010, but it failed to attract a big following.
Following which, Sohu launched Sohu Weibo, but it never really took off.

Because of this, among all the ‘Twitter lookalikes’ that were launched after 2009, only Sina Weibo, has been around to tell the tale. With more than 300 million monthly active users since its launch, Weibo became China’s biggest social media platform after Tencent’s WeChat.

Despite the platform’s success since its launch, its supremacy is now being challenged by competitors like WeChat, Toutiao, Zhihu, Douyin, and others. But despite the fact that Weibo has lost some of its shine as China’s social media leader, it is still expanding rapidly, making Weibo marketing a vital tool for companies looking to expand into the country.

The following features on Weibo can help brands gain visibility in the China market:

Weibo Influencer campaigns
Weibo advertising
Weibo lottery
Cross-promotion
Organic growth

Despite its ups and downs, the platform is on the rise in 2021. Sina Weibo has 566 million monthly active users in the second quarter of 2021, an increase of 43 million from the previous year’s second-quarter total. The Chinese version of Twitter has quickly risen to prominence as China’s go-to micro-blogging destination.

In addition to text, Sina Weibo users can include photos, gifs, and videos in their posts. Weibo now allows users to post audio, video, and photo files, as well as animated gifs. Besides being able to follow friends and celebrities, users may also send and receive messages and search for information using keywords.

As for the Weibo user base, compared to WeChat, Weibo has a significantly younger base. Weibo users are quite young: 30% of them are under 20 years old and 48% are aged between 30-39 years old. This is a significant factor for the placement of your brand and products in the Chinese market. Weibo is also a very dynamic and animated site, and users expect businesses and KOLs to engage at a high level and respond quickly to their posts. Chinese users, particularly Gen Z users, frequently use Weibo to learn about new companies and promotions from major influencers in the industry.

In conclusion, compared to other social media platforms, Weibo has a powerful ability to connect with the younger Chinese audience. Thanks to its vast user base, user affective states and engagement rates,Weibo is still on the rise. As a result, if you are looking to grow your brand presence in China and your target audience consists vastly of Gen Z, then you need to use social media platforms like Weibo.

What is Bilbili and Why Brands Must Consider it When targeting Gen Z

September 14, 2021

When it comes to establishing a business and grabbing the Gen-Z audience through Chinese video-sharing platforms, forums such as Douyin and Kuaishou that create short-form videos take up the majority of air. Hence, one of the fastest-growing social platforms among China’s Generation Z called the Bilibili is often overlooked.

What is Bibili?

Bilibili, often known as B site, is a Chinese video-sharing website where users can contribute and read “bullet” chats, which are real-time comments sent while users watch videos. Bilibili is, without a doubt, an ACG (anime, comics, and games) platform at its core and its homepage looks like any other video-sharing site on the surface, but the aesthetics are dominated by anime characters and screenshots from video games. It is because of this content that the daily active user rate has exceeded 65 million, surpassing Youku to become China’s third-largest long-video platform.

Unlike other Chinese video-sharing services such as Youku, iQiyi, and Tencent Video, Bilibili emphasises professional, user-generated material, hence earning recognition as the Chinese version of YouTube.

Users spend over 80 minutes every day on the platform, resulting in 4.7 billion monthly interactions. It also appeals to one out of every two young people in China. The platform has a highly balanced user base of 49% female and 51% male users, making it one of the most popular video platforms in the country.

Why must brands consider Bilbili?

Bilibili’s new e-commerce mini-programs debuted on the platform in April 2019. After Alibaba invested in Bilibili, it changed its online marketing strategy, focusing on e-commerce rather than user acquisition. Because of the evolving Gen-Z lifestyle, which includes online shopping as one of their most popular pleasures, it has recently become a more profitable enterprise due to which many brands are seeking to register an official Bilibili account as a means of tapping into China’s youth market.

Brands can use this platform for branding by using the “Splash Screen Ads”, which usually appear when users first open the App. Such ads were used by brands such as Swaroski to promote themselves among young Chinese audiences. Brands can also use the service to host virtual presentations and live streams.

How can brands leverage the platform?

Businesses can also use Bilibili to promote their products through its marketing platform, “Sparkle” (Huahuo), which can help with monetization by offering features like smart price recommendations, exhibiting sample work, and access to data on followers and user interaction. Another way to promote their business on Bilibili is by partnering with well-known key opinion leaders (KOLs) or key opinion consumers (KOCs) who engage with Gen Z consumers.

How to engage with the audience on the platform?

Two of the most popular ways for brands to engage with customers on Bilibili include partnering with influencers or opening a personal account. In both cases, it’s critical to have a good understanding of the platform and the target audience. As we all know, the majority of Bilibili users are Gen Z, who are very engaged and on the lookout for authenticity. They are savvy consumers who are well-versed in e-commerce and thus have a lot of options. To win this group, brands should work on creating their brand image and connecting it to a lifestyle, a community, a passion, or an attitude, rather than just hawking their products based on numbers.

Conclusion

Therefore, it is without a doubt that Bilibili has effectively positioned itself as a unique social video platform, with a loyal user community that is deeply involved with the creators and companies that they see as supporting the community. That’s something you won’t find on most other Chinese social media and video platforms, which is why companies should consider Bilibili as a way to reach China’s Gen-Z.