Hello and welcome back to Aim2D for Tuesday March 8th- International Women’s day. Today we continue showcasing our our favourite resources for useful news and stories relevant to marketing, tech, business or social in China. Plus we take a quick look at some things which made local China business news last week.
A few weeks back, we covered a Sixth Tone story around the plight of some of Taoboa’s merchants as they struggle to compete with the enormous live streaming MCN agencies. Today we will also look, again courtesy of Sixth Tone, at how Amazon’s China sellers are moving away to other platforms. But first a wrap of what happened in China last week.
Breaking China Business, Marketing, Tech and social News
OK, lets get to it. In our page “Breaking News” we link to around a dozen different publications that carry credible, objective, helpful and relevant stories news or trends to help businesses, large or small, make the right choices and decisions when researching a China market entry. Today we will highlight two.
China Internet Watch
Singapore based “freemium” model weekly news sheet covering retail, travel, technology, media.
Many of their articles are premium requiring a subscription. They also have annoying nag screens that pop up every so often .
Overall we feel they offer value for money as most of their stories are current, well researched, useful, and informative. Last week we looked at their explainer of Pinduoduo (PDD)
The Luxury Conversation
A platform for luxury professionals that curates and highlights topical issues that are impacting the industry and weighing on the minds of our community.
From consumer attitudes and trends to the factors influencing and shaping the market
The Luxury Conversation features articles on trends and interviews with industry leaders, publishes newsletters and reports.
What Brands Can Learn from Viral China Moments
Today we are show casing The Luxury Conversation (above) and in particular what has become known as the “‘Ding Zhen’” effect. In brief, Ding is a blogger in China’s Sichuan Province, neighbouring Tibet, posting videos of the natural landscape and tourism highlights. His posts went viral, were picked up by several brands, today he is a KOL and official tourism ambassador.
A sort of Rags to Riches, Cinderella story, but for overseas brands in or considering China (yeah, our usual suspects) the article has more merit as a guide to what you can learn from viral moments in China – as our heading suggests! Well worth a read no matter your business sector is fashion, lux or anything else, the lesson is the same.
The week that was in China.
Carmaking tycoon calls for more government support for NEV battery swapping
Last week we wrote about China trucking fleet making a wholesale shift towards replaceable batteries for EV lorries and heavy vehicles. This week Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd., suggested that the government should deepen its collaboration with related parties to accelerate the construction of battery-swapping stations.
American coffee brand “Blue Bottle Coffee” opened its first store in China
Slightly older than last week but, February 25th, saw American coffee brand “Blue Bottle Coffee” open its first store in mainland China. Fans lined up outside the store for hundreds of meters. This story and the article below re China 2021 luxury report come courtesy of China Internet watch (premium) mentioned above. Read More »
China Digital Luxury Report 2021 (excerpt)
China’s post-90s (those born after 1990) are expected to contribute to 46% of China’s luxury purchases in 2021, according to joint research by Tencent Marketing Insight (TMI) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Younger consumers were likely to buy luxury items as a way to express or reward themselves, as well as to experience the brand. They also valued new shopping experiences such as more interactive online shopping or newly launching brands’ pop-up stores.
Amazon in China
Amazon has been making changes to the way its platform operates and some time last year announced they were removing several thousand Chinese stores for breach of terms. On top of this, the industry generally was ravaged by Covid, and whilst for some, it was the bell that summoned them to heaven or to hell, for others it was a golden opportunity.
This article from Hou Yanting takes an overall look at the On line or E-commerce business in China, against the covid background and the gradual shifting away from Amazon as platforms such as Shopee and Lazada became dominant in SE Asia.
At first blush it seems another rags to riches story and whilst luck is an ingredient, it also highlights the importance of determination, flexibility and sheer hard work to even survive in this industry, let alone succeed. Again, the lesson is in the reading.
“When the window of opportunity becomes smaller and the markets have matured, it’ll be difficult to survive by relying simply on fighting over who has the lowest costs.
To achieve better growth in the future, it may be necessary to work on building brand effect, enriching operation methods, optimising supply chains, and attracting investors.”
You can read the entire article – FREE – here at Sixth Tone
Thanks for reading our China news, marketing, tech and social media article – we hope it was useful, relative, informative, valuable.
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But please, be aware of local (China) time when calling from overseas. Despite rumours to the contrary, Everlyne is human, not a bot, she does eat, drink and sleep – sometimes.
Whatever your question re Chinese Business, Marketing Tech or Social Media, she will know the answer, or know someone who does! A brief intro below;
Introducing Everlyne YU
In 2003 Everlyne Yu co-founded WPBeijing Marketing Studio with Englishman Peter Bic, now known as Bic Brands.
She began Uengager, as a SaaS MarTech company focused on customer engagement in 2017.
Hello, Nihao, I’m Everlyne
“I love to talk about and help people understand the amazing ways MarTech and SaaS can work to strengthen your business engagement with Chinese consumers.
I know you have questions or want to talk about your brand or business in China so please, drop me a line opposite. If you prefer live chat, call and talk to me live, in person direct.“
Everlyne is also a key note speaker, lecturer and KOL on MarTech in China. She is CEO of Uengager, business development officer for Bicyu.
Everlyne hs been privileged to work with a variety of international organisations, from VW, Cushman Wakefield, Sodexo, Bristol Myers Squibb to local Chinese firms such as Midea, and OK Order.
If you’re looking for guidance, tips, advice on any aspect of starting or growing a business in China or training, coaching your existing China marketing team for excellence, be sure to check out Uengager. Home page and base for Everlyne Yu. Read her short bio – opposite left – or contact her direct – below – for a free, heart to heart chat.
CONTACT EVERLYNE
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No.1 East Zhongguancun Road,Beijing, Haidian District 100084China
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