Alibaba’s Singles Day is the highest grossing shopping day in the world. This year, shoppers spent a record 268.4 billion yuan (38.2 billion USD), 26% higher than last year and more than 60% higher than Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day combined.  

There’s no doubt that China’s consumers are avid shoppers. They’re also experienced world travelers and savvy tech users, as we learned from several industry experts at Colab 2019, our Global Summit in Singapore last month.

Humphrey Ho, Managing Director with WPI Partner Agency Hylink Digital Solutions, Viveca Chan, Chairman with WPI Partner Agency WE Marketing Group, and Ian Chan, Senior Director of Business Development with Tencent, the Chinese internet platform responsible for superapp WeChat, discussed the booming Chinese market. They shared details on the economic and marketing landscape within China today, explained innovations that are driving growth, and revealed the various nuances of the Chinese market to help our network of independent advertising agencies create a China strategy for their brand. 

Following are the top considerations and insights for brands entering the Chinese market:

China is Mobile-First & Cashless

China not only has the largest and fastest growing internet population, it also has the fastest growing mobile usage of any country. 

Viveca Chan with WE Marketing Group shared the staggering mobile usage stats in China.

That usage also extends to making purchases. “China is 41 times the size of the U.S. in mobile payments,” Viveca Chan explained, largely driven by Alipay and WeChat Pay. If a brand expects to generate revenue in China, it must allow mobile payments through these platforms. 

This presents great benefits to brands. “With the app, we know where you are, what you are buying, we know all your behavior, and we can target,” Viveca disclosed, sharing an example of how they helped their client Luckin Coffee beat out Starbucks in China by leveraging WeChat.  

Innovation Is a Core National Strategy

Since June 2015, InternetPlus has been a core national strategy in China. InternetPlus strategy crosses all sectors to push mobile internet, cloud computing, big data, and IoT, not only supported by businesses and consumers, but sanctioned by the government.

The purpose of this innovation is not only to make consumers’ lives better, but to make the world a better place. Every big company is China is spending a lot of money, time and effort to do good, and create better citizens.  

There are No Consumers Anymore, Only Users

Knowing that someone is, say, a 45-year-old woman in a second-tier city is less useful than knowing their social media, shopping, and search behavior. Humphrey Ho explained how at Hylink Digital Solutions they instead rely on a combination of user ID data from WeChat, Taobao and Baidu to understand who their customers are and thus how to market to them. 

It’s All About BATS

Humphrey went on to explain the importance of BATS (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Sina), the four major internet giants in China, and the newest player on the scene, Bytedance. If you’re going to market a brand in China, you need to be on these five platforms (and leveraging user ID data to target the audience). 

Humphrey Ho shared the five biggest internet platforms in China.

You Can’t Do Business in China without WeChat

If you don’t live or work in China, you may not truly understand the influence that Tencent’s WeChat has in the nation. To explain their influence, Ian Chan shared some astounding numbers--Tencent is the fifth largest internet company in the world, it’s the only firm outside the U.S. listed in the top 10 most valuable companies, it overtook Alibaba and Facebook in market value, and Tencent apps account for more than 55% of mobile usage, with WeChat accounting for 35%.

However, to truly understand the significance of WeChat, it’s better to see it in action. Ian shared a New York Times video that perfectly explains how consumers are using WeChat, and the power it creates for consumers and businesses alike.

WeChat’s power comes from rolling numerous functions into a single superapp, integrating social aspects throughout, and leveraging a staggering amount of user data to continue targeting consumers with precise personalization. “If you go to China and do not have WeChat, you cannot survive for 24 hours,” Ian affirmed. This is true for consumers, and it’s true for businesses.

The Chinese Traveler Is Changing

The Chinese traveler was a hot topic among all speakers, and it’s no surprise why when you see the stats. Ian Chan shared that Chinese tourists spent $277.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 on overseas travel, a figure that is up 9-10% in 2019 according to Humphrey Ho. But these aren’t the same travelers as they once were. Today, Chinese travelers are younger, more independent and more adventurous.  

Young, Free and Independent 

Humphrey explained that the typical Chinese traveler today is between 25 and 34 years old, female, and more likely to travel alone, with immediate family or in smaller groups. “The free, independent traveler has increased about 44%,” Humphrey cited. 

Desperately Seeking Experiences

Chinese travelers are no longer looking to simply check off sites and locations from a bucket list. They want to go deeper, to get a local experience, and to truly understand what makes the locals tick. “These are people on helicopters, they’re on private jets, they’re glamping, they’re adventure travelers...they’re renting a million dollar campaing van and driving it from Omaha to Las Vegas...because they want to experience what they think every American does,” stated Humphrey.

Viveca Chan shared how they’ve leveraged this desire for experiences with their client Lufthansa Airlines. “We no longer talk about services, we talk about life-changing experiences,” Viveca explained. WE Marketing Group’s strategic #LifeChangingPlaces campaign included in-depth FAQs on Zhihu, interesting podcasts on Himalaya, and thorough articles published on The Paper. 

Viveca Chan with WPI Partner WE Marketing Group shared strategic campaigns for client Lufthansa to reach the Chinese experience travelers. 

Creatures of App Habit

Chinese travelers use their own apps when they travel, they don’t bother to download Google Maps, Facebook or other country-specific platforms. “These are all opportunities in your local market to engage with those media publishers to see if you can engage with the traveler when they’re traveling locally,” explained Humphrey.

Humphrey Ho shared the go-to apps for Chinese travelers in any market.

China is home to nearly a fifth of the world’s population, and its economy is now second only in size to the United States. China has established itself as a global leader in technology and manufacturing, and continues to grow each year. Any brand implementing a globalization strategy, must have a China strategy. Understanding these unique nuances and changing trends can help guide that strategy to reach and engage Chinese consumers within China and abroad.