For anyone working in the Chinese marketing industry, or anyone looking to enter the market, the term KOL (Key Opinion Leader) will pop up in virtually every other conversation. More commonly known as ‘influencers’ internationally, KOLs are individuals who command sizeable followings on social media and can use those followings to help brands gain exposure, or directly sell products.

According to E-marketer, spending on China’s shopping apps reached 1.53 trillion US Dollars!

So in 2025, it’s not just Weibo and WeChat influencers who have much work to do – it’s also influencers from mobile apps such as Douyin (Chinese Tiktok), Weitao (Blogging site of Taobao), and Red (Xiaohongshu) who may not have a Weibo or WeChat account, who will be greatly involved in the promotional campaigns of brands.

However, the world of Chinese influencers can often seem opaque and difficult to navigate, both for newcomers and the already initiated. That’s why we’ve come up with our list of top Chinese KOLs for 2024.

How Can Chinese KOLs Help Your Business in 2025?

Influencer marketing all around the world is booming, but the scale of KOL marketing in China, and the diversity of consumer engagement options available, is unique. The Influenceur economy has reached more than 100 billion yuans in 2023.  China’s influencer marketing is booming, shifting from text and photos to live streaming, social commerce, and short videos. Moreover, trust in KOLs remains higher in China than in other Asian markets.

In China, livestreams are incredibly popular, with KOLs either filming in studios or livestreaming their ‘daily lives’ to instantaneously interact with their fans. Short videos and vlogs allow KOLs to inject their own creativity into a brand’s marketing.

Whereas traditional ads are usually disruptive – placed before or between content – KOL endorsement allows the ad to be a part of the content.

“From the consumer perspective, KOL marketing has become the most preferred marketing channel.” – from Statista.

Research from Rakuten suggests almost 4 in 5 online shoppers aged between 35 and 44 made a purchase directly because of KOL endorsement. And in 2022, 67% of consumers admitted to buying products endorsed by KOLs in order to copy their lifestyle.

More recently, Statista and Rakuten Insights came together to create this statistic in May 2023 about the major reasons for purchasing a product endorsed by influencers in China.

• 47% bought the product because they were convinced by the promotion from the influencer.
• 39% because they like and trust the influencer, and thus would purchase whatever the KOLs promote.
• And 12% declared they would have bought the product anyway, regardless of who was promoting it.

This shows that for 86% of the people, KOLs/Influencers are the reason the sale happened!

CAREFUL: As big as this industry is, there are some scams and fraudulent activities. According to Statista, in 2023 around 45% of what is called “Invalid KOLs followers” were detected among some of the most popular social media platforms in China. Influencer fraud can include fake followers, pretending to have more engagement than they do, posting fake sponsored content, and running fake giveaways. These tricks can end up costing companies a lot of money.

Different Types of Chinese KOLs Tiers and Their Results

With over 10 million KOLs and Influencers in China, they have been categorized into groups to better understand and find the right one for your brand.

They are classified based on follower counts, so the size of their audience, and then into industries (see our recommendations of platforms by industries and of Top KOLs by industries below).

In terms of audience reach, there are 5 categories:

• MEGA KOLs

They are the kings and queens of social media with over 10 million followers. Often they get to this point because their popularity already exists for something else than influence alone (for example celebrities, actors, and singers fall into this category). This allows them to have a very large audience and reach lots of people quickly. But, based on the product or partnership you are looking for they aren’t always the best choice. They do offer a high visibility but popularity doesn’t always mean influence.

Indeed, they are not into any particular niche audience, their followers aren’t there for their particular expertise in product recommendations. These would be more interesting for brand awareness than for conversion and purchase.

• TOP-tier KOLs

Holding between 1 to 10 million followers, they are the number #1 target for their industries. Top-tier influencers are experts in specific industries with a very broad niche audience. Their reputation for expertise and trustworthiness means that brands often turn to them for partnerships that drive both credibility and sales.

These influencers are more than just popular figures; they set trends and can influence consumer behavior on a large scale. However, due to their extensive reach and the strong connection with their audience, the cost of collaborating with these influencers can be very high for smaller companies.

• MID-tier KOLs

Going down the pyramid we find Mid-tiers KOLS, from 500,000 to 1 million followers maximum, allowing them to have an even more targeted niche audience. They also share deeper connections with their fanbase and understand them greatly.

Their audience and content are more specific, which means that a Mid-tier influencer being a fit for your product will lead to more sales across their overall followers. You can directly target a relevant customer base, increasing the percentage of conversions and purchases.

• MICRO KOLs

Finally, a Micro Key Opinion Leader typically has between 100,000 and 500,000 followers. Similar to mid-tier KOLs, they command a devoted and engaged fan base, often within very specialized niches.

Their more intimate follower count allows them to build strong trust and credibility thanks to a personalized and relatable approach!

• NANO KOLs

But KOLs aren’t the only influencers that can help your business… In a world where e-commerce is more powerful than ever, we’ve seen a new branch of influencers popping up, more authentically: Nano KOLS or KOCs…

See more below

What is the difference between KOLs and KOCs in China?

KOCs are the influencers with a follower count ranging from 20,000 to 50,000. They aren’t really influencers but more trusted fellow consumers. That’s why they are called Key Opinion Consumers.

They are relatable and authentic people sharing some of their life and tips. They aren’t doing it for popularity or to make it their profession and thus they easily gain the trust of their followers. Their audience base sees them as peers and not as celebrities.

They don’t put much effort into the quality of their content because it is often “on the spot” reviews or recommendations for products they use themselves. They will share if products are worth buying or not, and what the outcomes they got from using them are, most honestly and directly possible.

“KOCs are the digital age’s version of good old word-of-mouth marketing. They’re not selling a dream; they’re sharing their reality.” – WPIC

For brands, KOCs are a cost-effective channel to stay connected with the audience, it’s a direct and honest way to stay in touch and listen to their audience’s needs.

Read more about KOCs and how they are taking over

As you understand it, KOCs are different from KOLs and their multiple levels. Each has its good points based on what you are trying to achieve. But you don’t have to choose necessarily, for a complete Influence Marketing Campaign: USE BOTH.

CASE STUDY: Perfect use of both Chinese KOLs and KOCs

Have you heard of VersaGripps ?

It’s a top brand in functional fitness accessories. When entering the highly competitive Chinese fitness market, they had to differentiate themselves from the many other fitness brands fighting for attention. The company needed a strategy that would not only capture the interest of fitness enthusiasts but also encourage product adoption and build lasting brand loyalty.

Their strategy combined the best of both worlds.

Versa Gripps teamed up with professional trainers and fitness KOLs to demonstrate how their products could improve customized workout routines. These fitness influencers, with their strong online presence and impressive physical appearance, effectively drew attention and excitement around the brand.

Then they also collaborated with Key Opinion Consumers (KOCs), who shared their personal experiences and user-generated content. These everyday fitness enthusiasts played a crucial role in building community engagement and trust. By sharing authentic stories, they helped Versa Gripps feel more like a supportive community than just a brand.

The result was a well-rounded marketing strategy. The KOLs generated interest and enthusiasm, attracting a wide audience, while the KOCs provided the credibility and personal connection needed to turn that buzz into real sales.

Strategies: Best practices with Chinese KOLs

Influencer marketing is a great way for brands to connect with their audience and increase engagement. Here are the most popular strategies and HI-COM Agency Tips for greater results!

#1 Paid collaborations with influencers

This involves paying influencers to create content that promotes your brand or products. This can be an article, video or story in which the influencer talks about or uses your product. As influencers already have a trusted audience, this strategy can help your brand reach more people, build trust, and drive sales. Many brands find this approach to be the most effective.

As we’ve explained previously, this will mostly concern KOLs as you pay them to promote the product you want and how you want it.

#2 Send free products to influencers

This strategy involves offering free products to influencers and letting them share their thoughts and experiences with their followers. This approach works well because it feels natural and authentic. When influencers like and recommend your products, their followers are more likely to have a positive attitude towards your brand.

This strategy fits perfectly KOCs, they get to decide if and how they promote it to their audience.

#3 Organize contests

Contests are a fun way to build excitement around your brand. You team up with influencers to offer their followers a chance to win your products. This not only generates buzz but also encourages more people to follow both the influencer and your brand. It’s a simple way to increase visibility and engagement.

HI-COM TIPS: Indicate Your Business Location when running a KOL Campaign

If what you are promoting is a place then you need to make sure the campaign followers reach your destination.

With this in mind, the campaign of the influencer better includes the exact location of the promoted destination, the best ways to reach it, and the best features of the destination that will bring value to the audience’s life (special experiences, great deals, new products or services).

Apps like Douyin and RED allow KOLs to pin down the location they talk about. When a follower clicks on that link, more information could be available about the spot.

Most of the information could be described in the KOL post, but it is best not to overdo the business side as it could make a post very commercial and not too attractive.

Top Chinese Apps for KOL Marketing in Different Industries

In 2024, the TOP Industries that work the best with KOLs, meaning that recommendation-based marketing is the most effective in those product categories, are Food (54.7%), Apparel Shoes & Bags (48.5%), and Tourist attractions/Travel (37.8%).

Most Popular Platforms and Apps for Chinese KOL /Influencer Marketing :

WeChat

WeChat is more than just a messaging app; it’s a key player in China’s digital world. It has a penetration rate of KOLs among active internet users of 69% (according to Statista in March 2024). Influencers use it to create official accounts and share content directly with their followers. Brands and influencers often collaborate through WeChat Moments, enabling them to reach a vast audience.

Douyin (TikTok in China)

Douyin, known for its short video format, is a mecca for influencer marketing. It’s right behind WeChat in terms of the penetration rate of influencers on its platforms with 55% (Statista, March 2024). Brands partner with influencers to create engaging videos that capture the attention of Douyin’s young, active users.

Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu)

This app is popular among millennials and Generation Z in China, as it combines social media with e-commerce. Little Red Book influencers share product reviews, fashion tips, and lifestyle content while allowing users to easily purchase featured items. Being the closest to Instagram in the West, it is the “go-to platform” for Lifestyle influence.

Weibo

Weibo is China’s version of Twitter, where trends and discussions take place in real-time. It’s an ideal platform for brands wishing to collaborate with influencers, enabling them to penetrate the Chinese market and increase their visibility by joining the ongoing conversations. KOLs’ penetration rate among the platform is 35.4%.

Taobao Live

Taobao Live combines live broadcasting and online shopping. As it’s happening on the same platform the purchase is made, it’s easier to redirect the viewer! Influencers showcase products in real time, interact with viewers, and encourage immediate purchases, offering a new and interactive shopping experience.

Platforms Recommendations by Industry for KOL Marketing in China:

• FMCGG or Lifestyle/Everyday goods

Definitely Xiaohongshu aka Little Red Book for all the inspiration, and E-commerce platforms such as Taobao Live that shows you a very large amount of everyday life products, reviews and use.

• Beauty

Xiaohongshu dominates, with mainly young, female users. Weibo is good for sharing beauty-lifestyle content, and Bilibili is sought out for tutorials.

• Food & Beverage

Douyin is hugely popular for sharing recipes and food challenges. Weibo and Bilibili go more in-depth.

• Sport

Bilibili is actively investing in increasing its sports credentials, while Douyin and Keep maintain user-driven popularity.

• Education

WeChat is popular for its long-form content, while Weibo and Xiaohongshu are more about sharing tips as part of a community.

• Parenting

Xiaohongshu is more product-centric, showing parents products that might help them raise their children, while Weibo is more lifestyle and community-centric.

• Travel

Xiaohongshu, Weibo, and Dianping give on-the-fly recommendations to people based on location.

But to go further: it is important to understand the social media landscape of the traveling industry in China. Unlike the west, Chinese tourists have dozens of sources to rely on when traveling.

Xiaohongshu (RED/Little Red Book): before traveling

This app is mostly used by Millennials and Gen Z women from top-tier cities in China. Red’s main purpose is review and recommendations. Started as cosmetics and skin care cross-border app, today Red is one of the top apps for all kinds of advice giving including travel.

Brands use Red to cooperate with Chinese KOL on a “organic” level, where the advertising is not too obvious. Red provides a “brand station” type of account where brands do not sell anything, but have a brand information page with latest updates and videos.

Qunar Blog: While traveling

When people are on a go at the destination, and want a little extra advice, they go to 2 main platforms: Qunar and Dianping.

Qunar is one of the very first Chinese travel ticket booking engine and travel blog. One of the differentiating points of Qunar are the running comments lines on featured image of the post. Qunar is easy to use, and popular among

TIPS to find the right Chinese KOL for you

How to choose a Chinese KOL/ Influencer

1. Know your audience: Make sure the trusted rep’s following matches your target market.
2. Set clear goals: Decide what you want to achieve, such as brand awareness or sales, and choose key informants who can help you reach those goals.
3. Then research the KOLs :
   1. Focus on authenticity: Choose expert consultants who create authentic content that web users trust.
   2. Check engagement: Look at likes, comments and shares to find KOLs with active, engaged audiences.
   3. Examine content quality: Make sure KOL content is visually appealing and well-crafted.
   4. Align with your brand: Choose consultants whose values and image match your brand message.
   5. Consider multi-platform reach: Look for consultants who are active on multiple platforms to benefit from greater visibility.
4. Communicate clearly: Agree on the terms of the collaboration, including content, timing and payment.
5. Choose the right partnership duration: Decide whether you need a short-term boost or a long-term partnership for ongoing impact.

Avoid these common mistakes

Set Clear Goals and Communicate them Clearly to avoid any confusion.

Choose the Right Influencer: It is determining that the KOL’s audience and values match well with your brand.

Give Creative Freedom: Let KOLs be creative while guiding them to ensure the content stays true to your brand.

Plan Thoughtfully a connection with your target audience that fits the cultural context.

Keep up with the latest platform regulations to avoid any hiccups during your campaign.

Be Ready for the Aftermath: Prepare to handle the increased attention and customer service needs once your campaign wraps up.

Measuring the success of your Campaign

To measure the success of your KOL campaign, start by monitoring its reach, focusing on how many people see your sponsored posts compared to regular content and whether this leads to an increase in brand followers. Next, track engagement by analyzing likes, comments, shares, and other interactions to gauge audience interest. Finally, assess conversions by measuring the sales generated from the campaign, using platform tools like those on Douyin and XiaoHongShu to track sales within their ecosystems.

How much does a Chinese KOL / Influencer Campaign cost?

The cost of a KOL or influencer campaign in China can vary considerably depending on several factors.

These include the type and price of the product you’re promoting, the size and objectives of your campaign, the audience you’re targeting, and your overall budget. The cost can also be influenced by whether you’re focusing on a specific city, the type of content you want (such as videos or blog posts), and, of course, the influencer’s level of influence, number of followers, engagement rate, and relevance to your industry.

TOP KOLs for FMCGG or Lifestyle/Everyday goods

#1 – Chinese KOL Everyday Vlogs – 林怡伦

Name: 林怡伦

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 3.86 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

#2 – Influencer Lifestyle – 王七叶

Name: 王七叶

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 2.86 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

#3 – Chinese KOL Xiaohongshu – Papi酱

Name: Papi酱

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 5.4 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

TOP KOLs for Travel

#1 – Chinese Travel KOL Winnie文

Name: Winnie文

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 6.33 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

#2 – Travel with 氧化菊

Name: 氧化菊

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 4.08 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

#3 – Chinese KOL 房琪kiki

Name: 房琪kiki

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 3.31 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

TOP KOLs for Beauty

#1 – Chinese Beauty KOL 易梦玲 yimoney

Name: 易梦玲 yimoney

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 4.47 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

#2 – Beauty KOL 李佳琦Austin

Name: 李佳琦Austin

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 11.1 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of his account

#3 – Chinese KOL 垫底辣孩

Name: 垫底辣孩

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 2.32 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of his account

TOP KOLs for Food & Beverage

#1 – -肥猪猪的日常

Name: 肥猪猪的日常

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 2.47 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

#2 – Foreign KOL in China 铁蛋儿Tyler

Name:铁蛋儿Tyler

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 2.22 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of his account

#3 – Chinese KOL: 培根日记

Name: 培根日记

Platform: Douyin (Tiktok For China)

Followers: 63.4 million followers 

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of his account

TOP KOLs for Sport

#1 – 帕梅拉Pamela Reif

Name: Pamela Reif

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 11.7 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

#2 – Chinese KOL 刘耕宏

Name: 刘耕宏

Platform: Douyin (Tiktok For China)

Followers: 64.5 million followers 

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of his account

#3 – 欧阳春晓Aurora

Name: Aurora

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 2.79 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

TOP KOLs for Education

#1 – Chinese Education KOL 老爸评测

Name: 老爸评测

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 7.99 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of his account

#2 – 丁郑美子

Name: 丁郑美子

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 6.55 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

#3 – Chinese KOL 英语雪梨老师

Name: 英语雪梨老师

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 2.282 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

TOP Chinese KOLs for Parenting

#1 – 小麦

Name: 小麦

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 5.6 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

#2 – 我是机灵姐

Name: 我是机灵姐

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 6.32 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

#3 – 开心好奇妈

Name: 开心好奇妈

Platform: Xiaohongshu also called Little Red Book or RED.

Followers: 2.97 million followers

Link to her profile: here.

Sneak peek of her account

Need help with your first Chinese KOL campaign? Drop us a line!

About HI-COM:

What do you need to know about attending trade shows and exhibitions in China post-pandemic? How can you make sure your company is ready to face the world’s most digitally advanced customers and partners? What are the every-day obstacles for foreign guests in China?  Let’s take a look together!

Participation in trade shows and exhibitions is great for creating leads and sales, as well as getting exposure in your industry. Trade shows are also great sources of knowledge where you can learn what’s happening in your industry. Some of the participants of Trade shows in China are government officials, media, influencers, large retail buyers, and hundreds of thousands of different business representatives.

If you have attended trade shows in the past, you’ve likely seen just how much goes into them. Businesses have displays (from standard sample shelved to fully operational chef-stations or robotic-productions), promotion teams and locally hired extra staff on-site, free samples and gifts for attendees, stand entertainment, and of course business reps, ready to talk endlessly about their products. There are events that take place within trade shows as well as in addition to them. Some events are hosted by the trade show organizers (seminars, awards, etc.), some events are hosted by country organizers (dinners, breakfasts, online forums), and some are organized by the exhibitors (customer appreciation dinners).

With all this in mind, there is an awful lot to prepare before attending an exhibition. The same is true when preparing to attend an exhibition in China.

To ensure you have all your bases covered, follow this detailed checklist to help make the most of your time.

What are the differences in Chinese and Western Trade shows? Chinese trends and attention grabbers

Canton Fair, CIIE, SIAL, and CBIE are some of the biggest trade shows in China. In fact, the Canton Fair is so large that it has been split into 2 seasons (Spring and Fall), with each one taking place in 3 phases of 5 days. The surface area taken up by each phase is so large that it would take one person 8 days straight just to make a very brief visit to each booth. Of course, not all exhibitions are so large, but if you’re not organized beforehand, you may end up wasting valuable exhibition time on issues such as staying too far away from the site, or insufficient transport.

Trade shows in China have lots of similarities to the ones is the West, especially in terms of organization of space. Some of the main differences are the digitalization of every possible step, from registration and badge use (a photo of a QR code of your badge is normally enough for access to all areas), to contact exchange (having your own WeChat account is crucial for exchanging contacts), to vendor management (order and payment of printing, food, express delivery and so on).

When it comes to booth preparation, you would probably need to spend lots of time on the design of the meeting space. But don’t forget that what you actually do in your booth and how you behave will also be noted by the guests and will leave a longer impression in their hearts. To gain extra attention, businesses use costumes and models, lottery activities, games, and shows (cooking/playing instruments/high tech entertainment).

Needless to say, having a local partner or agency to smooth all those aspects for you can be extremely useful, allowing you to focus on what you came to promote: your core business.

Click here to enquire about business assistance for your coming trade show.

What do you need to know before you come to an exhibition in China? Preparing your team for that big business trip to China 

Personal necessities

In China there is generally no access to Google, Uber, Facebook, or WhatsApp.

You will need to make sure to get roaming when you arrive; even to access the airport WIFI, it’s necessary to have a phone number that works.

When you have a moment, download all the equivalent apps that you will need.

An alternative to Google that works well and is foreign-visitor friendly is Microsoft’s Bing.

Uber’s Chinese alternative is Didi; an English version of the app is also available.

WhatsApp is blocked in China, and people use WeChat. Make sure to add your most important contacts in China beforehand.

Maps – Google maps wont work in China but there are several other options.

If you are using your foreign SIM card with roaming – all the apps blocked by the firewall should work normally.

What can you do to promote your brand and your business in China?

Some of the larger brands host customer appreciation dinners or other events within the frame of exhibition, such as a standard dinner for existing and potential customers, or a lavish Business Awards evening.

Our Case study: 

The Pollock Group (Russian Fishery) together with Pacific Rim have been engaged in a few interesting activities as part of the China Seafood Expo 2023.

They have used the PR possibilities and tools (provided by HI-COM) to ensure their business audience would hear their name one more time. The PR list provided included 15 most reliable and business oriented media names in their industry (including China Daily, Xinhua news, China Business portal, Tencent news, China food, etc).

Secondly, the company invited one of the most famous food influencers in Qingdao (where the expo was hosted), Hunrgy Monkey, to participate in an eating contest. His live stream generated more than 80,000 views.

And lastly, the the company hosted a Business Award banquet for 100 people. That event was created to celebrate the big return to the market and the end of Covid restrictions for their business. The event was greatly appreciated by their most loyal business partners and customers.

Business necessities

Before coming to China for an exhibition, you might want to translate your marketing materials, invitations, thank you letters, and name cards. A professional translation agency like HI-COM can even arrange for prints to be delivered directly to the booth.

Getting an interpreter is another task that should be addressed before you arrive. Professional translation agencies (such as HI-COM) will be able to shortlist the candidates according to your criteria. You might want to talk to the interpreter by phone before coming to make sure your expectations are met. Changing an interpreter last-minute may backfire.

If your companyn is serious about the Chinese market, it is advised to register a corporate account on Chinese social media such as a WeChat official account. This will serve as a localized mobile website, and news and update center for your company, as well as a newsletter service for your clients in China.

Having a WeChat official account will also show prospective customers that you know all about your market, and are here to stay. HI-COM is here to assist you with this task.

How to use WeChat for Message blast (sending one message to several hundreds of people at once)

If you would like to send invitations or thank-you letters to all your visitors at once via WeChat, here’s how to do it.

Step 1. Prepare the image. It must be an image. The app supports one image per blast.

Step 2. Go to WeChat–>Me–>Settings–>General–> WeChat tools–>Broadcast Message

*If you can’t find this function, update your app to the latest version.

Step 3. Click on ‘Send now’ and select people you want to send the message to. Then choose the image.

Step 4. Send.

Taking care of your online reputation before coming to China

Chinese businessmen are known for their tendency to double check every bit of available information. So, when they see your product for the first time, they will Baidu it (search for results on Baidu, a local equivalent of Google). But fear not! There is a way to put their minds at ease.

Take matters into your own hands and start working on your e-reputation in China before your brand or your booth arrives here.

Working on your e-PR list and content to be showcased can significantly multiply your success in China. This can be done similarly to how you would approach it in the West, by outreaching to media outlets in your niche with proposed articles for publishing.

HI-COM can help you to handle this by providing:

• PR List (suitable media)
• Registration of WeChat account (or other social media apps)
• Content creation in Chinese
• Cooperation with Livestreamers, Bloggers, KOLs and other talents

Getting help on-site at exhibitions in China

Most companies arrange their booth with the help of the organizer. Design, furniture, and samples can all be handled by the country representatives of the host exhibition. However some companies prefer to have that personal touch, which means they’ll be looking to put in extra effort and set up differently. These companies would need a local partner who can assist not only in setting up, but also in assisting you at the time of the event. For small emergencies such as running out of business cards, a local partner like HI-COM can give you a hand in most situations.

What can HI-COM provide for your booth in China:

1. Specialized interpreters in your industry, who can also serve as a travel assistant (arrange transportation, communicate with local exhibition staff and vendors, communicate with prospects, etc.)
2. Marketing Materials (including localization of catalogues, invitations and thank-you letters)
3. Interpreters for factory tours
4. Exhibition follow-up – data processing
5. KOL/Influencer coverage of your booth (inviting niche influencers to your booth and showcasing your products on social media)
6. PR and Press cover on-site
7. Models and Animators for your booth (depending on the product category, these talents can make a significant difference to visitors’ experience)
8. Photographers and Videographers for the event (why not have professional materials for your website and social media?)

How to translate your marketing materials

It’s important to catch the attention of people passing by your booth. To do so, make sure your your materials are translated appropriately. More importantly, ensure your materials are localized to suit Chinese audiences.

This means not only having your content translated into the target language, but also taking an approach that will ensure your pictures and color schemes are not inappropriate. It is inadvisable to cut corners when translating and localizing your materials; after all, it’s your reputation that’s at stake here.

A professional translation agency is able to adapt your original brochures and technical data sheets into another language, modify the design and prepare it for printing. A competent agency will even deliver these prints to your booth.

Here at HI-COM, we only use native language translators and editors, ensuring a smooth workflow, high-quality output, and design!

Want to check if we are a good fit? Drop us a line!

Choosing and Working with Interpreters in China

During the trade show, it will be crucial to have at least one person on-site who can interpret or speak Chinese so that you do not miss out on opportunities to network. After all, your goal is to meet potential customers and influential attendees.

Don’t expect all of them to feel comfortable speaking your native language. Although more and more people in China are learning English, and will likely be able to have some simple conversations, when it comes down to negotiations and terms, you will want someone on your side who can understand what is being said, and also so that prospective customers feel comfortable discussing business in their own language.

When looking for exhibition interpreters, make sure you prepare your basic technical exhibition materials, hold interviews with potential talent, and make sure your exhibition interpreters are experienced, presentable and outgoing.

Here at HI-COM, we pay close attention to these criteria, and provide one of the most comprehensive Exhibition Interpreting Services in the industry. In our practice, we have provided interpreters for large and small businesses, summits, training courses and press conferences in Shanghai, Hong Kong, as well as numerous trade shows and exhibitions around China, France, Germany, Russia, Korea and other countries.

Take a look at HI-COM’s Exhibition and Summit interpreting portfolio!

Emergency management

If you run out of business cards, or realise you ordered last year’s prints, don’t panic! Your Chinese temp staff, or even interpreter, will manage to fix the situation. In China, exhibition halls are crowded with all sorts of vendors and printing agents. It is not recommended to fully rely on them, but in times of crisis they will be the ones to the rescue! Express name card printing will be available every day of the event, and will take 30 minutes to be delivered to your booth (of course, the highest quality paper may not be available in such a short space of time, but it will certainly be be better thank nothing).

The wall prints can be done in 2-3 hours and placed on your walls within 15 minutes.

But of course, keep in mind that a real emergency can strike at any time, so make sure that you and your team members have the necessary insurance.

What do you need to do for your brand/business after the show to maximize potential

Once the exhibition is over, the work doesn’t stop! Don’t miss your chance to follow up with the connections you made during the expo.

You can continue partnering with an agency to help translate your email marketing content and thank-you notes. Following up with your new contacts in Chinese is a thoughtful gesture, and an important aspect when building working relationships.

Once you have decided to commit to a trade show, it’s time to start preparing. Your chances of new business are high if you are ready to meet new people, answer questions, and sell your products or services!

Need help with preparation or booth management? HI-COM, as always, is here for you! Drop us a line if you have any difficulties with your upcoming trade show in China, and we will be happy to do all we can to support your business needs!

Chinese E-commerce platforms keep booming in China. It probably comes as no surprise that e-commerce has been hugely affected by the global pandemic. Many experts agree that consumer behaviour has changed significantly from 2020 as a result of Covid-19. However, in 2023 it is clear that e-consumers have adapted to the current global situation, and numbers in China have grown by an additional 17%.

Thanks to social networks, e-commerce has been able to develop more and more, by making promotion, communication and online purchasing easier. In addition to this, Chinese apps such as WeChat, have now made it possible for consumers to buy products directly.

What platforms are there, and how do you choose the right one for your brand? Let’s analyze the e-commerce ecosystem of China and find out!

E-commerce is a Growing Sector in China in 2023

E-commerce is a booming sector that offers a completely different customer experience to any physical store. Online consumer behaviour has drastically changed in 2021 due to the explosion of social media and travel restrictions.

According to GlobalData’s E-Commerce Analytics, e-commerce sales in China are expected to register a robust growth of 17.2% in 2023, as a result of the travel restrictions.

The e-commerce market has developed, creating even more advanced features and offering faster online exchanges to enrich customer experience.

The very minimum requirements for brands to be able to stay afloat on the e-commerce space, as well as on social media platforms are still the same: flawless content, trusted e-commerce partners or experienced employees, and a strong marketing strategy.

How Coronavirus Has Changed E-commerce Consumption Habits in China?

Online consumers have changed their e-commerce consumption habits as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This particular situation makes online communication on social networks more complicated than usual. In 2020 brands felt too uncomfortable and assumed that people might not pay attention during this time. Therefore, they decreased activity on social networks.

According to research conducted by Mckinsey, 85% of consumers said that they spent more time per day in front of a screen during the pandemic, whilst 84%, took the opportunity to try out new programs and services during isolation and quarantine.

As an outsider, entering the Chinese market may seem intimidating and overwhelming due to its rich eco-system of platforms and apps. In this article, we will discuss how to choose the best E-commerce channel for your brand in China.

Every company hopes to be successful which often encourages brands to use only the biggest and most popular platforms to do so.

Furthermore, popular Chinese platforms can sometimes be ineffective as they often require a lot of investment for traffic and marketing, yet, not every company is willing to spend hundreds of dollars when entering the Chinese market.

The World of E-commerce in China: How Does It Work for Foreign Brands?

General trade and cross-border e-commerce platforms

The Chinese e-commerce ecosystem is very developed no matter what type of trade foreign brands wish to be involved in. But before we go into the technical aspects of each, let’s get familiar with the terminology:

General trade e-commerce refers to the unilateral import or export trade of enterprises with import and export rights in China. It involves goods imported and exported according to the general trade transaction mode and are general trade goods.

Cross border e-commerce refers to an international business activity with transaction subjects belonging to different customs areas within Special Economic zones, where purchase orders, payment, delivery, and other transactions are completed through cross-border ecommerce and logistic channels.

One other detail worth mentioning about this transaction model, is that there are no import taxes applicable, as the goods are “floating” in the international space, and are delivered from companies abroad directly to the customer’s home, thus eliminating the involvement of importers and resellers.

Does this mean that all businesses shall go “cross border”? No. The cross border model will be 100% dependent on whether or not your brand store is strong enough in bringing in traffic to it. And this is another large expense, as platforms that provide this service know very well that brands fully depend on them.

How Much Does It Cost to Sell Products on Leading E-commerce Platforms in China?

Different E-commerce platforms in China require different levels of investment. Some Chinese E-commerce platforms take a commission from the sales you make and also charge for platform usage fees, template fees, marketing tool fees and deposits.

Tmall

When opening a flagship store on Tmall, it requires an average investment of 30,000 USD (dependent on the type of commodity, as it can vary from 20,000 to 100,000 USD).

Minimum monthly sales volume of the store:
One million RMB +

Marketing Costs
To try and reach one million US dollars in sales per year, it is likely that you will need to spend at least $10,000 USD each month on marketing. This means roughly 12% of your gross income will go into advertising.

Agent (TP) fees:
10-20%

JingDong

Managing a business on JingDong (JD.com), can be as expensive as Tmall, or even more.

Enterprises will have a commission of 4-6%. Local businesses will be expected to pay 1,000 RMB /150 USD as a monthly platform usage fee, whereas foreign enterprises will be paying 1,000 USD per month.

However, the store design template is free.

Lower safety deposit

JD also has a lower safety deposit (10,000 – 100,000 RMB depending on the industry, and 100,000 RMB applies for high-risk products such as cars, electric bikes, etc.)

Pingduoduo

This platform is probably the most cost-efficient as no commission is collected from retailers for using the platform.

Safety deposit

Safety deposits are also very low, with a maximum payment of 10,000 RMB/1,500 USD.

It is free to enroll and the advertising on the platform is still reasonable (CMP is the cheapest of all of the platforms above).

Red/Xiaohongshu

It will cost 300 RMB annually to use this platform.

The safety deposit is around 20,000 RMB/3,000 USD.

In order to use advertising on RED, another 20,000 RMB shall be charged to the ads account.

Some other options to sell your products online

Taobao

It will cost 300 RMB annually to use this platform.

The safety deposit is around 10,000 RMB/1,400 USD.

You will also need to purchase yearly design template package that could vary from 20-100 USD per year.

Kaola

Coming in second, after Xiaohongshu by Monthly Active users (7,6M), this platform is female oriented (>80%), with a market share of more than 27.1% in year 2020. Owned by NetEase and backed by Alibaba, this platform brings tons of traffic to the brands listed on it.

It will cost 6000 RMB annually to use this platform.

The safety deposit is 15,000 USD.

• Commission: 2-10%, based on product category

VIP.com

Competitor of Koala, backed by Tencent and JD.com, this platform is targeting the generations that are born in the 1980s and the 1990s.

Some commissions and payments might be applicable depending on the product category.

Douyin Market

Some commissions and payments might be applicable depending on the product category.

Mogu Jie

Some commissions and payments might be applicable depending on the product category.

Different types of Chinese E-commerce Platforms

The Chinese market has developed lots of successful E-commerce platforms, all of which cater to the needs of the consumers and products.

Most brands tend to approach one of China’s most popular platforms, Tmall. Tmall is an Integration of the Taobao app. However recently, brands are reporting more and more that their sales are decreasing dramatically on Tmall. Those who set up their store on this platform without fully researching if there is a demand for their product will struggle.

In 2018, Kantar Media released a whitepaper to show which businesses best suit the different types of E-commerce platforms:

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Who Is Shopping on E-commerce Platforms in China?

The Platform’s audience is often a deciding factor for brands to join a certain marketplace. The percentage of female shoppers, age, education, income and time spent on specific platform will play a crucial role for brands.

Platform size: The platform’s audience size matters. However, it is also essential to bear growing trends in mind. For example, four years after its creation, Pingduoduo became larger than JD (Jingdong) based on its registered and active users.

Tier-one cities: For luxury businesses, it is necessary to aim for the wealthier cities in China. Whereas other businesses might instead target second or third-tier cities dependent on their products. However, the brands that target top tier cities may find their competition to be much more ambitious.

Some platforms that focus on tier-one cities: RED, Tmall, Jingdong, VIP.com, Koala.

But don’t forget that in order to get any traffic on these platforms, you will need to pay great attention to store and product optimization, marketing activities and advertising. This is another budget to be used upfront.

Should I Localize My E-commerce Website into Chinese?

Many brands started their market entry via localizing their e-commerce websites in China.

In fact, Nespresso, Ikea, and most luxury brands took that road. But as it turned out, Chinese customers are very suspicious when it comes to purchasing products on official websites (excluding luxury brands), especially when it comes to payment processes and returns. The two ecommerce giants Tmall and JD had popularized their payment experiences (almost seamless), delivery times, and 7-day product returns, making this almost a “national e-commerce standard” that now Chinese customers are expecting either the same exact conditions or better ones (if at all possible).

This has led to the majority of the Chinese population developing an e-commerce habit. Jack Ma called it “e-commerce lifestyle”. Not only people would go to e-commerce apps to search for products to buy, they would also just window shop, look for entertainment, and even play games. Seeing these and other reasons, Nespresso and Ikea both had to create Tmall flagship stores, as this channel is not only the gate opener to the largest online traffic pool, but is also a way to improve their brand recognition and brand engagement.

It doesn’t mean that brands shouldn’t have any type website.

All established brands have official websites that showcase their brand story, their positioning, as well as the latest products or services they provide. When it comes to lesser-known brands entering the Chinese market, potential customers do their due diligence search and check what other people, bloggers, magazines are saying about this brand. Thus, it is necessary to work on your brand’s e-reputation, and this can be done before the products reach the shelves in China.

Click here to find out more about content localization

What about Starting with Smaller E-commerce Platforms in China?

When it comes to choosing the platform to start with, one should keep in mind the variety of business model platforms to work with.

Other than traditional/general e-commerce channels such as Taobao, Tmall, JD, there are platforms that work with the “group buy” model (Pingduoduo), word-of-mouth model (RED), flash sales (vip.com), cross the border (Koala, VIP.com), social sales (doujin market, RED).

Not to mention that foreign brands popular with Chinese customers are being sold via Daigou (personal shoppers abroad) through second hand apps, such as Xianyu and Zhuanzhuan.

These Chinese e-commerce platforms can be a great fit for your brand if:

• You brand is targeting GenZ or Millenials
• Your brand is already known in China via PR or E-repputation
• Your brand is coming from the most popular destinations, according to the product category (Scandinavian countries for mother and child, France/UK for cosmetics and perfumes, Western Europe or Oceania for food and beverage etc.)

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How to Choose the Right E-commerce Platform for Your Brand?

Not sure how to choose the perfect e-commerce platform for your brand? Start with these steps!

1. Market research. This is perhaps the most important task of all. Seeing what market share your brand can take in the Chinese market, and learning who your direct and indirect competitors are.
2. Investment allocation. Big Chinese ecommerce platforms are not for every brand. Brands need to be smart about how to use their resources in such a complicated market as China. Will smaller brands bring as many business opportunities? How can your brand outrun the existing competition? When is the right time to launch your brand in China? All these and lots of other questions must be answered when your brand does the due diligence research.
3. Branding and brand localization. Once you have made the call, you need to prepare your brand for the Chinese market. How will the customers pronounce your brand name? Would this name be available for trade mark registration? Where can the customers find information about you? Perhaps you have seen the examples of some lesser known Chinese brands selling their product on Amazon, that use auto translation for their product description. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you in China! Localization of foreign brands done by professionals is crucial for the successfully entering the Chinese market.

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What Type of Store/account Can You Register on Chinese E-commerce Platforms?

When entering China’s E-commerce space, both the platform’s business model and your brand’s business model should be “on the same page”. Here are some models to choose from:

• Regular Local Enterprise: registering on a platform as one of the local businesses (even fully foreign-owned corporations), requires a Chinese business license.
• Regular Overseas Enterprise: registering on a platform as an overseas business that wants to use a cross border channel, to be a platform supplier, or have an overseas brand marketing station (for marketing only, not for sales), also requires a foreign business license and foreign bank information.
• Flagship store: available for Local and Overseas Enterprises on various platforms. Flagship means “branded” and requires a trademark.
• Supplier of the platform: Is not an actual account, but more of a supplier contract. Suppliers provide products that are sold on Tmall, JD mall, Tmall’s membership store, Alibaba’s Hema and many other markets. They also require a manufacturing and hygiene license.
• Personal store: a personally owned store where anything can be sold, usually a small business/DYI type of store. This requires a Local ID.
• Exclusive Distributor: similar to a local enterprise, an exclusive distributor is a representative of one or two brands that have an exclusive distributorship right with those brands. For Tmall it would be a TP (Tmall partner) and would require a brand’s letter of authorization.
• Brand station: In RED/Xiaohongshu. The brand station is a brand account that is used for communication and marketing.

Brands have multiple options to choose from with regards to Chinese E-commerce platforms. These can vary from working abroad, to working with local partners or hiring a local team.

According to a platform’s business model, brands will need to structure their marketing and sales operations accordingly. On PingDuoDuo with group buy priority, brands will need to consider a special price structure for different group sizes. On Xiaohongshu, a review and advice platform brand should work closely with content creators in order to generate traffic and sales. JingDong requires strong marketing on its platform, as well as knowledge on PPC type of advertising.

It is important to understand local shopping and product searching habits. It is also important to remember the specifics of each E-commerce platform and the top priorities for your brand planning to operate on local social E-commerce or media. Localizing your brand’s message or even brand name is also critical for the brand’s success.

Want to learn about best marketing strategies? Check our guide out!

How can HI-COM’s help your brand to enter China’s E-commerce

Consider starting with these actions in order to be able to sell your brand in China.

1. Market study: a comprehensive study of product/brand deficits in China. Study of competitors. Gathering data about industry-specific local shopping habits and tastes. Evaluation of pricing strategy of competitors.
2. E-reputation: creating a digital footprint on various Chinese wiki sites, blogs, and magazines, in order to create trust from Chinese consumers.
3. Brand localization: lite version. Localizing a “lite” version of a brand’s website, and hosting in China. Localizing brand name, brand attributes, marketing collaterals.
4. Brand awareness social media campaigns: the creation of social media campaigns that highlight the brand’s differentiating factors, educate the local audience about the usage of the product/service, evaluating results. Social media listening.
5. Creating social media channels: choosing one or two of the most efficient social media accounts, creating a 6-month publishing plan.
6. Using KOL for brand awareness and lead generation.

This is the first 6-9 months of a brand’s market entering plan, which might need some extra input depending on the industry.

If you have any more questions about Chinese E-commerce platforms and how to enter the Chinese market with minimum costs, feel free to get in touch as we’d be delighted to hear from you.

HI-COM is a multilingual localization and communication agency dedicated to providing professional localization solutions, content and social media management to businesses around the world. HI-COM helps companies enter the Chinese digital ecosystem with a simple and hassle-free approach. Contact us for your free consultation today!

2023 is set to see China open itself up to more international businesses. What products will most likely succeed in this new landscape after China’s three years of relative isolation?

One trend that does not seem to be stopping  will be the accelerated development of e-commerce technology. The launch of the digital RMB signals the government’s commitment to positioning China as the world leader in e-commerce infrastructure. Loosening regulations on the previously heavily scrutinized tech space has already initiated a rush of investments into big tech. Tech products, both hardware and software, will likely see healthy demand in China’s market in 2024.

According to the 2023 McKinsey China Consumer Report, during China’s zero COVID policy, consumer confidence plummeted while the middle class’s savings grew. As China exits zero COVID, the government will aim to encourage consumer spending to prop up domestic consumption. Domestic and international brands offering products in the luxury and premium category can expect success provided their products are unique, high quality, and well localized for the Chinese market (think bio-active honey or products with established name recognition in China).

International brands looking to take advantage of this critical opportunity for establishing their business in China must create strategies for localized branding, communication, e-commerce, and traditional distribution. These will require a deep understanding of Chinese consumer behavior habits and consumer profiles as well as knowledge of local marketing and operation tools.

Wondering how to start building your China market entry strategy? To begin we suggest doing Chinese market research and reviewing local strategies and trends that have already been proven to work:

1. Establish a strong online reputation
   In 2022, over 1 billion Chinese people accessed the internet, making China’s digital population the largest in the world. Having a strong digital presence is a must for any brand looking to succeed in this landscape. Ensure your website is localized – this means fully translated including Chinese metadata and tags, with local domain and hosting, optimized for mobile (most people in China access the internet via mobile), and searchable on Baidu.
2. Marketing and ad placements on Chinese social media platforms
   Due to China’s great firewall, a strong digital presence on China’s domestic social media platforms is essential for targeting Chinese audiences. Understand the various demographics found on major platforms like RED (Xiaohongshu), Douyin, WeChat, Weibo, Kuaishou, and Bilibil before tailoring your marketing and ads for each platform.
3. KOL marketing
   A KOL, or key opinion leader, is the Chinese term for an influencer. KOL marketing is prominently used in China to not only increase a product or brand’s exposure but also to localize marketing for international brands, inspiring trust and familiarity among Chinese consumers.
4. KOC marketing and product seeding
   KOCs, or key opinion consumers, are influencers who review products within a specific niche. Unlike KOLs who are usually celebrities, KOCs provide consumers with a more relatable point of access for brand marketing campaigns, demonstrating to consumers how end users engage with a product. Brands reach KOCs via product seeding.
5. Establish your brand’s e-commerce sales channels
   As of 2023, China has the world’s largest e-commerce market, with an extremely mature logistics infrastructure to support it. China’s e-commerce has also become so closely interconnected with Chinese social media platforms that the term social e-commerce was coined to describe it. Major platforms include Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall, JD.com, Tencent’s Weidian, and e-commerce integrated social media platforms such as Douyin and RED.
6. Livestream sales
   Livestream sales is a trend uniquely successful in China. In 2022, livestream sales accounted for over 10% of e-commerce revenue in China. It offers consumers an immediate and interactive shopping experience along with discounts and flash sales. Popular platforms for livestream sales include Douyin, RED, WeChat live, Taobao live, and Kuaishou, all of which offer seamlessly integrated livestream ecommerce functionality such as one click purchases.

Now that you’re familiar with localized Chinese marketing strategies, let’s talk about how to fine tune and optimize a complete China marketing strategy for your brand in 2023.

10 Tips from HI-COM to Optimize Your 2023 China Marketing Strategy:

1. Competitive Marketing Study and Benchmarking Analysis

Every marketing plan should begin with benchmark competitors, and the Chinese market is no different.

Often, the biggest mistakes foreign companies make in this market is a result of their lack of knowledge and/or underestimation of the local competition. For example, brands come to China with a vision to be a perfect fit in the Chinese consumers lives, but sometimes they do not take into consideration that similar products might already be present in the local market ( with a much lower price), or that the foreign version of the product is not appealing to the Chinese locals.

Mapping out the opportunities, exhibiting challenges and external development conditions are the elements you need to look at firstly. Here at HI-COM we can help you to do a full comprehensive research of these and more elements.

What are other elements you must pay attention to when doing market research in China:

• Market size and the size of your niche 
• Buyer persona in China, general rules of consumption in China 
• How can your USP be localized and presented on the Chinese market? 
• Communication strategies of your competitors 
• Distribution models of your competitors 
• Future trends and changes that might affect your business in the next 2-3 years. 
• Do the technical research on import and logistics, there are products forbidden for importing in China! 

Examples of Western and Chinese Market Differences:

In an interview to HBO TV Channel, influencer, Mr. Bags, mentioned that luxury brands often reach out to him for the promotion of “western looking” products for Chinese consumers.  However, he tells these brands to not launch their products in China or to instead create a different version of this product customised to the local taste.

In the automotive market, miniature versions of cars are very popular in heavily populated cities of Europe. Therefore, one would assume that in a city such as Beijing where there is lots of traffic, very few parking spaces, and pollution is a big concern, that smaller cars would be a big hit – but surprisingly they’re not. As a result of this, the Smart line of cars were discontinued in China, and are instead now in the process of improving their USP by working together with Geely on a brand new electric car – which will appeal to a completely different type of customer.

2. Localize Your Unique Selling Proposition

Bands should keep in mind that those products and services taking Instagram (or other foreign media channels) by storm, might not actually be very popular in China, and vice versa. The Chinese market is essential for most luxury brands, as well as digital product brands such as Apple, on-the-go brands such as Starbucks, lifestyle brands such as Ikea, and many more. However, it should also be noted that all of these brand successes came with experience and understanding of the different needs of foreign markets.

What can you do to assure your product or service is localized for the Chinese market?

• Understand the consumption habits and how business is conducted in China, especially in your category.
• Do not stop at desktop research, arrange focus group to really grasp the essence of Chinese consumer insight. Include as many questions about your product or service as possible, from packaging to usage, to customer journey and experience, to why would people would  recommend or not recommend your product or service to friends.
• Use the insight collected, change the product or service accordingly before entry to the market.

Examples of good localization strategies:

By understanding the concept of “面子/mianzi” or “keeping the face”, Apple made millions by providing Chinese people the opportunity to tell their friends that they are “rich” by only investing one or two thousand dollars on a new model of the phone. Of course there were many other reasons that made Apple so popular in China, but it is astonishing to see how the vast majority of citizens using the subway have the newest model of the iPhone every year – but each time no longer than a week after its official release.

When Starbucks came to China it realised that people were not interested in the coffee-to-go concept but rather the “here to stay” idea, so they immediately restructured their space into big comfortable communal areas so to accommodate their young customers. Starbucks also realised that in the larger cities, the younger generation needed a place to “hang out” with their friends.

As the country rapidly develops, the generations are growing up with very different values, which leads to a lack of common interest within families.

3. Localize Your Brand

It is important for brands to develop a reputation in order to enter the Chinese market. Many variables go into the making and localizing of a brand name, therefore, it is vital to come up with a name that associates the message that your company wishes to convey. It is also important for companies to be aware of how the name translates into other languages.

Brand name translation is implemented in 4 main steps: brand image consideration, knowledge of a target audience, benchmark of brand names of existing competition, and linguistic aspects of the new brand name.

This might sound obvious, but companies must know who their target audience is.

Next, you need to localize the communication when entering the Chinese market. Localization is the process of adapting or recreating a company’s marketing materials to fit another market so that it appears natural and effortless. This can include a variety of actions, from translating the content to changing fonts and images.

The purpose of localization is to make the product feel as natural as possible in the hands of the new users. Companies should make sure that their marketing strategies are aware of cultural customs/languages, because if Chinese marketing materials seem unnatural or unprofessional to the online user, chances are, they will be less likely to take an interest in the product or service.

Other elements to pay attention to when working on brand localization:

• Creation of communication strategy that answers the questions: who are you reaching, what message are you sending and what do you hope to achieve? 
• Creation of editorial plan using Chinese digital tools and SM platforms. 
• Creating localized content for your brand, including text and visuals. 
• Setting up measurable KPI.
• Reviewing your competitors communication strategies on monthly basis.
• Creating promotion strategy using paid (ads) and earned (KOL, PR) media channels.

Interested in brand localization services for the Chinese market? Shoot us an email!

4. Align Your Goals with Budget Wisely

One of the most common mistakes a brand can make is planning to go after a whole country, without realising its size. For example, a lot of brand owners can’t name more than 5 Chinese cities, but yet plan to target every person in China.

However, the problem with targeting a whole country like China, is the expense of such a large promotional campaign. China is also home to 56 different ethnicities each with different values, different everyday habits, and contrasting opinions. Therefore, it is almost impossible to target every city in China, unless your brand has a multi-million dollar annual marketing budget and an outstanding product/service retail price.

According to Jing Daily, In China in 2021, yearly marketing budgets on average have grown to around $100,000 on the low end and over $1,000,000 on the high end. This doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve any results if you don’t have these resources. It rather means that you need to be realistic with your goals and expectations. Set your marketing priorities and follow that list from most to least important.

Some of the advices HI-COM’s marketing team can give is:

• Learn what metrix to look at in order to keep your hand on the pulse of the business. For example, mid-size premium brands are not looking at amount of followers they have, but rather on engagement levels of their audience. 
• Have a clear idea of long term and short term marketing strategies and allocate resources (and budgets) accordingly. Overstocking products that have expiration dates in China can be a very expensive mistake. Even if it is more costly to produce and transport smaller amounts of products, it is still cheaper in the long term. 
• Make research on the most trendy marketing and sales ways. See what new media is suited for your brand. 

5. Accept that in China People Don’t Lack any Type of Products

This point is vital for any company aiming to enter the Chinese market. Brand’s should realise that China is not a third world country where imported products are being fought for, but it is actually referred to as the “factory of the world”, and has extremely rich resources – sometimes even things unheard of by Westerners, including imported and local items. Therefore, it is important to do thorough market research when planning to enter the Chinese market to have a clear picture of any gaps in the market and to understand why your product could benefit the Chinese market.

When working on your Chinese market entrance plan, be sure that your brand positioning doesn’t begin with “because we are an imported brand..”

6. Develop an Education Content Marketing Strategy

Many foreign brands have succeeded in China with products that were previously unknown to the Chinese population. At the beginning, McDonalds, Nespresso, and Rexona all struggled in the Chinese market and had do a lot of research and customer education in order to introduce their products/services into the habit of local people.

The benefits of products such as coffee, chocolate, imported wines and spirits, energy drinks, avocados, pastries, etc. had to be presented to the public in a sensitive and educational way. Brand still do this today, for example, influencer Viya, has recently been informing people on her livestreams why they “can’t live without” products such as dental floss and facial massagers, and selling thousands of items within minutes.

7. Use a KOC (Key Opinion Customer) and product seeding marketing tactics

There is no better marketing than “word of mouth”. A good (or bad) word of mouth message can be spread faster throughout communities than any type of advertising. To encourage this, it is not enough to just have a great product, but instead, brands must provide appealing offers.

Local Chinese brands are champions when it comes to word of mouth marketing. Chinese brand, Perfect Diary, uses a great scheme to stimulate its sales. For example, when a customer buys one of their items for 99 RMB (12 USD) he/she then has an option to get a second complimentary product for 1/10 of the price. Every order they process includes samples of their new products. Perfect Diary was one of the highest selling brands in 2019 after the Double 11 festival, and has only grown since. The sales revenue of the brand at Double 11 spiked up to 80,000,000 RMB, and the brand was 7th place in the list of most popular cosmetics of the Double 11 festival (the first among Chinese brands).

Foreign brands entering the Chinese market should consider providing a good deal or offer. Whether that means offering competitive prices, an extra service, or an upgrade – it will beat any other long-term marketing tactics.
Learn more about KOC marketing and how to get started with it here

Product Seeding is another way to use KOL and KOC marketing “on the budget”. Product seeding happens when brands send free products to influencers and content creators with the hope of getting free or law-cost media coverage. This means that the brand has no say in what will be published by KOL or KOC. Product seeding is a great way to earn low cost or even free word-of-mouth marketing in China. But there are some details you need to pay attention to. Here are some tips from HI-COM influencer outreach managers:

• Chinese KOLs and KOCs prefer working with known brands, and seeding campaign will be more successful for bigger international brands. 
• Chinese influencers are quite professionals, but select your talents carefully, there are still many fake accounts and agencies out there! 
• Sometimes the gifts sent to KOLs and KOCs are not published on their pages at all, but this doesn’t mean that the product was wasted. You have started to build the relationship with valuable resources and that’s what matters.
• Chinese KOL’s have their own style of reviewing and publishing content, so don’t be surprises by creative or overly traditional posts about your brand. 

8. Learn about the Customer Journey in China

When entering the Chinese market, it is very important to consider the conversion funnel and customer shopping habits for different products and services in China. Companies should make sure that their marketing strategies are adapted to the cultural customs and way of life of the market they’re targeting.

For example, is your product more suitable for RED (Xiaohingshu) or WeChat Mini-program customers? To answer this question, you need to find out who uses these apps and why.

It is important to be clear on the demographics of the most-used apps and platforms in China, for example, the business focus and the best-suited industries, etc.

When targeting a specific group of customers, brands must understand every aspect of the customers’ life and find a way to fit in with it.

9. Groups, Private Traffic and New Media Marketing Strategy

In 2021, the Chinese consumer is more service-oriented than ever before. For example, it is a well-known fact that Chinese customers are very demanding, as they expect amazing service 24/7 and this service must make the customers’ lives easier.  Customers are now expecting an even more personalised service.

In 2021, like many other brands, Luckin coffee in Shanghai began to increase its customers via private location groups (dependent on the store location). These groups are used for promotions, announcements of pop-up events and sales, weekly draws, mini-games, and other online products.

How does it work for most brands and why should they care? By the end of 2020, brands started to pay more attention to the customer journey and brand discovery of WeChat. A big problem for companies was their low following of WeChat official accounts.

However, WeChat doesn’t provide an option to view the WeChat ID of the followers, therefore, there’s little chance of having a private conversation or being able to check whether the follower is a “bot”. To overcome this, brands started adding potential followers, customers, and friends, to private group chats.

10. Be ready to react and adjust quickly

Have a flexible mindset when enter the Chinese market 

A unique feature of the Chinese digital market is its fast-paced development.  For example, something that was mainstream yesterday might be not an option tomorrow. However, a lot of foreign brands do not adapt to these changes, which leads to weaker product visibility and decreasing brand loyalty.

Today, in order to get a space on the Tmall platform, foreign brands must go through a detailed assessment by Alibaba’s representatives, in order to find out whether they’ll have a “fighting chance” on this platform.  This includes an analysis of the brand’s mindset. Only flexible and adaptable brands” are able to receive a green light and join the platform.

Another example that comes from one of our client’s in snack import sector. After being on the market for 2 years, they started to receive comments and requests from few large wholesalers about minimizing their packaging to a pocket size of 50g. and mixing all the flavors of snacks in these mini packages. Being able to handle such requests (that developed to orders), the brand was able to grow their sales a solid 39% within that year, and 80% in the year after that.

How to get a strong China market entry strategy that is tailored for your business, resources and KPIs made by professionals? Follow these few steps: 

1. Send email request to our managers, specifying your needs
2. Get a detailed proposal along with lead-time and quotation 
3. Confirm the proposal
4. Schedule a kick-off call with HI-COM’s strategist, where you can get knowledge on China market and your specific case, and provide the details of your business. 

Further Reading

 Banned marketing terms in China

What are the distributors in China looking for in foreign brands?  

Top livestreaming platforms in China

KOL (Influencer) marketing in China: costs and best strategies

HI-COM is a localization and multilingual communication agency dedicated to providing China-specific strategy, social media communication and e-commerce marketing services to businesses around the world. Working with more than 100 brands, HI-COM is the go-to partner of companies that want to enter China market!  Contact us for your free consultation today!

Scan QR code to follow Localization and The Chinese Market Entry News or Contact us on WeChat: 

They sell out stocks worth of millions of dollars in minutes, they make newest products trendy and famous, they are the most-watched Chinese influencers and internet stars in China, they are the king and the queen of Chinese e-commerce!

E-commerce in China is booming. In 2021, it is expected to grow more than 20%, versus a 7% growth in total retail sales. For the first time in history, anywhere in the world, the proportion of a whole country’s retail sales will be more than 50% online. The mountain is huge, and who sits atop? Chinese influencers, aka KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders).

We’ve charted the top KOLs for 2020-2021 elsewhere, but here we want to introduce a special kind of Chinese KOL. The kind that has the ability to sell out entire inventories in minutes in 2022!

Livestreaming has taken over KOL marketing in China. By year 2022, popular shopping dates like Singles Day and 12.12, hundreds of millions of people log on to shopping platforms to receive the best discounts of the year. To guide them towards which products to buy, they often tune into livestreams by beauty and fashion bloggers and KOLs in each and every product category. For the top KOLs, the products they feature invariably sell out in minutes.

Below, we want to talk about Influencer Marketing in China, the top 10 KOLs in China and how influential they have been on the Chinese e-commerce market.

As the 

Taobao Live-steamer KOLs in 2022

It is worth noting that after Viya stopped live streaming, Viya’s live streaming assistants continued live streaming under the name of “Bee Joy Club”.

Bee Joy Club

At present, the live streaming room has accumulated 900,000 fans. Its popularity is still relatively strong even though its ability to sell goods through live streaming is not as strong as that in the Viya era.

Up and coming KOLs on Taobao update 2022:

This month’s top 3 KOLs – according to the Taobao native ranking platform are “Brother Hui”, “Pop Corn” and “Charlies’ Angels”. 

Looking for a partner to get your KOL Marketing in China right? Check out our Case studies: 

Top 1 Chinese Influencer & Livestream Sales KOL in 2020-2021 (off air at the moment)

Austin Li

Austin Li otherwise known as ‘The Lipstick King’ has some impressive accolades under his belt.

Q: How many followers does Austin have?

A: Austin has over 29 million followers on Weibo and over 44 million on Douyin

Disappearing from the public eye, the brand featuring in broadcasts of Li Jia Qi remains paused. While different sources provide different information of the true reason of his suspension, he did not give any official statement. 

For anyone even vaguely familiar with KOL marketing, Austin should need no introduction. For newcomers, here are the basics: Austin is a Chinese beauty blogger specialising in lipstick. Various feats of his, such as earning a Guinness World Record for the most applications of lipstick in a minute, and trying on 138 lipsticks in a 30-minute live stream, have garnered him the title ‘Lipstick King’.

While he’s able to pull in $145 million in a day in sales, like Viya, he’s also socially conscious. In 2020, he worked to promote products from Wuhan following its difficult period, and helped raise RMB 70 million on Chinese New Year’s Eve in aid of rural farmers and communities.

During the 6.18 shopping festival in 2019 , he broke his own record once again, he sold 150,000 lip glosses in one hour livestream. He also managed to sell 5,000 Shiseido Ultimunes within 3 minutes and 40,000 Sori Yanagi cast iron pans within 1 minute.

But his reach does not stop in lipsticks. Austin was featured in major campaigns of KFC, Uniqlo, Clear, Dr.Jart+, Paris fashion week sponsored by L’Oreal, Godiva and many others.

Forbes China 2019 recognized him as one of the most influential in their list of “30 Under 30”. He was also awarded various awards including “Man at his best” award, Esquire awards and many more.

Today Austin dominates the Chinese social media by having verified accounts on Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu/Red and Kuaishou. Engagement of his posts on Weibo reach from 5K to 1.5 million reactions!

To be able to cooperate with Austin via livestream sales event brands shall have a store on one of the Alibaba’s platforms: Tmall or Taobao.

Top 1 Female Chinese Influencer & Taobao Livestream KOL in 2020-2022 (off air at the moment)

Viya

Viya is another fierce Chinese influencer / KOL star in China that was taken off the air. Former  No.1 Anchor on Taobao, her accounts were frozen by the platforms, following the tax evasion scandal.

Q: How many followers did Viya have?

A: Viya has over 17 million followers on Weibo, over 16 million on Douyin, over 1,5 million on Xiaohongshu, and over 12 million followers on Taobao’s Weitao.

Chinese influencers, despite stereotypes, are not vapid product-selling husks. Their rise to prominence is usually accompanied by a great deal of hard work, and often admirable achievements outside the world of selling. This is why they’re trusted by their followers.

Viya (薇娅) is was apex example of a Chinese influencer with substance and credibility. Her livestreams are a mix between variety shows, infomercials and casual chats with her viewers. In 2020 she sold $365 million in a single day, and drew more than 37 million simultaneous viewers.

But she also devotes her time meaningfully, becoming one of Alibaba’s 2019 Poverty Alleviation Campaign anchors, and frequently featuring products produced in poorer regions of China. She is also one of the ‘The Belt and Road Thailand Product Ambassador’.

The products she chooses to promote have been carefully selected by her. When selling any product, this Chinese influencer pays attention of the following things:

1. time limit (the offer is only valid for the time slot at the broadcast)
2. quantity limit (the amount of products available is limited, urging the viewers the make decision quick)
3. price limit (the price of the products must be the lowest when comparing to official channels of the purchase)

Wonder how much Viya charge per one livestream? Depending on the industry she charges from 40,000 to 200,000 RMB.

While doing her livestreams on Taobao, Viya, on average, creates a total transaction value of 66 million CNY / 10 million USD in one hour!

But to cooperate with Viya, brands shall be ready to go through an application and selection process and ready to provide up to 30% commission on sales she generates plus the production fees. Interested to get in touch with Viya? Email your request right now!

Where to start with the KOL marketing campaign? Check out our guide!

Fashion KOLs who Sell Products in Minutes – available KOLs in 2022

WeChat Chinese Influencer in Fashion: Becky Li

Record of selling 100 MINI cars on her WeChat official account within 4 minutes

Top fashion KOLs by Forbes China

Q: How many followers does Becky Li have?

A: She has over 7,6 million followers on Weibo, over 75 thousands on WeChat, and over 650 thousands on Douyin

When mentioning Becky, she is often described as “one of the most influential fashion bloggers” or a “shopaholic”. In fact, she was the chief reporter of the Southern Metropolis Daily, mainly reporting current affairs and movies, and was one of the best entertainment reporters in China before she managed the WeChat account “Becky’s Whimsical World” and became a fashion blogger, and of of the top Chinese influencers.

She was invited by Chanel to attend Paris Fashion Week, and has worked with Chinese A-listers such as Chen Yanxi for the promotion of the philanthropic projects organized by Louis Vuitton and UNICEF. She has cooperated twice with the Palace Museum on culture and jewelry projects, with a transaction volume exceeding 2 million RMB.

In 2017, Becky and MINI cooperated for the first time to exclusively sell the “MINI YOURS Caribbean Blue Limited Edition”. 100 custom cars sold out within 4 minutes. This achievement became a much-told story in the industry and was listed as a classic case by Harvard Business School. At the end of the same year, Becky launched her own clothing brand with the same name.

She has appeared in H&M advertisements, served as a mentor for Helena women’s entrepreneurial projects, became the first KOL partner of WeChat Pay, and acted as its overseas payment experience officer and a friend of the BALLY brand. Earlier last month, Forbes China released a list of China’s top KOLs, listing 50 Chinese key opinion leaders in five specific sectors, such as beauty, fashion, mother & baby, lifestyle, and e-sports. Becky was one of the leaders among them.

So, unlike other Chinese influencers fashion bloggers, and although Becky is a “shopping enthusiast”, people have the impression that she is real, sincere, and down to earth. Just like an everyday beautiful lady, she talks about all kinds of good things, and also builds an image of “I can also have it” from the perspective of an ordinary woman. Therefore, she draws a lot of attention from female customers.

She was “Miss Shopping Guide” in the newspaper office because she always had a good eye for unique and trendy shopping.

But, today, seven years has gone by since “Becky’s Whimsical World” was set up, a fashion WeChat Official Account that is now followed by nearly ten million women, with each of her posts generating over 100,000 views.

“A lot of people focus solely on the number of followers, but I would prefer to have 10 followers who really know an recognize me instead of 100 followers who disagree or do not engage with me.”

Is it possible to find a KOL that does not charge a crazy amount of money? YES! Here is the list of top 10 mid-tier KOLs!

WeChat Chinese Influencer in Fashion: Zola ZHANG

The WeChat Media channel “It was Zola” is undoubtedly one of the best WeChat channels that integrate KOL and WeChat e-commerce sales successfully.

Q: How many followers does Zola have

A: Zola has over 2,9 million followers on Douyin and over 200 000 on WeChat

On the other hand, Many individual products recommended in Zola’s WeChat articles come from her Taobao “Just Chilling” brands, which mainly focus on European and American niche brands. Zola and her employees use those brands, promote them and go one step forward; they determine the product’s price together with the supply chain after contacting the authorizing parties.

On the other hand, it is reported that “It was Zola” made annual sales of about 40 million RMB and monthly sales of 3 to 4 million RMB. The amount is not huge on Taobao, but for a We Media owner switching to e-commerce, it’s impressive.

However, unlike other Chinese influencers, Zola”s “It was Zola” channel does not specialize in a specific topic.

She provides a comprehensive guide to the fashion life circle from all aspects of life rather than being merely a beauty or fashion blogger. Now the number of her followers has reached 7 million on various social media, including 1.5 million for her WeChat official account, and 2.82 million for her Weibo. She has signed and incubated more than 40 bloggers, and the number of her network’s followers across 15 platforms has reached 75 million.

“On WeChat, we are one of the first of several WeChat advertising test accounts. In the WeChat Alternative Advertising case in cooperation with BiOil, we completed 417% of the KPI, reaching 62,700 ad exposures and 177,000 views. On Taobao, we have cooperated with EVE LOM, a niche skincare brand prices 50 – 100, in the CPS advertisement of Guang.taobao.com, in which we sold out 200 fortune bags in 19 seconds.”

Top Fast Sale Chinese KOLs in Kuaishou

Xin Youzhi

Q: How many followers does Xin Youzhi have?

A: Xin Youzhi has over 1,3 million followers on Weibo and over 3,5 million followers on Douyin,and over 70 million on Kuaishou.

Xin Youzhi (辛有志辛巴), is a livestreaming entrepreneur, with over 70 million followers in Kuaishou. He streams less frequently than others, because he maintains a team of livestreamers that do so on his behalf. Still, when he does, he can generate more than $50million of sales in a single day. Unlike many other Chinese influencers, he does not specialise in one product category, but rather sells across many.

Sanda Brother

Q: How many followers does Sanda have?

A: Sanda has 2 million followers on Weibo and 50 million followers on Kuaishou.

With 50 million followers on Kuaishou, Sanda Brother (散打哥) is also known as ‘Fast Sale King’ in China. He’s garnered several awards for his livestreams, and broken records here, there and everywhere, proving the might of KOL marketing. In a single day in 2018, his sales totalled RMB 160 million.

Yu Childe

Q: How many followers does Yu Childe have?

A: He has over 57 thousands followers on Weibo and over 23 million on Kuaishou.

Anchor of Kuaishou’s beauty products platform, Yu Childe (瑜大公子) is considered a pre-eminent beauty KOL and celebrity in his own right. On January 5 2021, he joined several other celebrities to livestream the ‘Stars Giving Back’ event, which was watched by more than 10.2 million people. As part of the broadcast, he set a record by selling RMB 368 million in a single broadcast, putting him in the top ranks of Chinese KOLs.

More KOLs from China who Sell Products Fast

Cherie

Q: How many followers does Cherie have?

A: Cherie has over 12 million followers on Weibo, also she has about 1 million followers on Douyin and on Xiaohongshu.

After opening a Taobao store in 2011, Cherie (雪梨Cherie) has grown a following of more than 200 million fans for her livestreams, making her one of the most popular KOLs in China. Featuring more than 30 brands, in 2020, Cherie set a record for the highest number of transactions in a single live broadcast; in five hours, her sales exceeded RMB 300 million.

Dandan Kid

Q: How many followers does Dandan Kid have?

A: She has over 3 million followers on Douyin

A relatively new kid on the block, Dandan Kid is making waves on KOL platforms. In 2019, 30 livestreams generated a sales volume of RMB118 million. In 2021, she racked up RMB 120 million of sales in one hour, with one broadcast exceeding RMB 330 million in sales.

Kiki

Q: How many followers does Kiki have?

A: Kiki has over 5,8 million followers on Weibo and over 3.5 million on Douyin

Chinese influencer Kiki (陈洁) once sold RMB 177 million in three days. She made a name for herself in a cooperation with actor Lei Jiayin to promote Borward Auto. In two and a half hours, the duo pulled in more than 220 million orders, helping Borgward become the car manufacturer with the most live broadcast bookings in 2019.

LieEr Baby

Q: How many followers does LiEr Baby have?

A: She has over 4,5 million followers on Weibo and over 3 million on Douyin.

Another record-breaking Chinese influencer, on Singles Day 2017, LieEr Baby (烈儿宝贝) had sales of RMB 10 million in just five minutes. Her live broadcasts, even back then, before China’s KOL hayday, garnered view counts of millions. In the following year, 2018, her annual sales exceeded one billion RMB. Fast-forward to 2021, in January she won the 13^th spot on the list of ‘Hot People of the Year’ according to Sina Weibo.

Hasi Food

Q: How many followers does Hasi Food have?

A: She has over 5 million followers on Douyin

A Chinese food and beauty blogger, Hasi Food (哈西美食) did a whopping 303 live broadcasts in November 2021 alone, achieving sales of RMB 418 million. Her content is generally aimed at demonstrating recipes, but she accompanies this with selling beauty and body products.

In conclusion, according to most brands, KOL marketing is one of the most effective ways to promote in China. Here at HI-COM we understand the Chinese market. If you want to learn more about Chinese KOL marketing or need help with your Chinese marketing? Drop us a line!

The popularity of livestreaming has exploded over the past year in China. There are now more than 550 million people tuning into livestreams on a regular basis, up from around 150 million just two years ago. Many livestreams serve purely social functions – the bedrock of any social media is communication between friends, old and new.

Why Livestream in China in 2024 is an important element for your brand?

Increasingly, though, companies and entrepreneurs are capitalizing on the huge audiences available to meet their own commercial ends. They face two options: create their own livestreaming content, or place their brand within an already well-subscribed source of livestreams. The live streaming e-commerce market size in China has expanded 121% in 2021 compared to the previous year, and has reached 961 billion RMB! This market size is expected to rise by another 150.73 billion RMB by the end of 2022.

The former option offers perhaps the highest reward, but also involves the most risk, and will need significant investment of time and resources. Livestreaming is fiercely competitive, and brands will need to think very carefully about what might get the attention of audiences.

Budweiser took this route and excelled in 2020. When clubs and bars closed, or were emptied of patrons, because of COVID-19, they took to the online airwaves, streaming DJ sets and inviting people to party with them from home. As a result, they saw double-digit growth in direct online sales, and triple-digit growth in sales on third-party delivery apps.

The rise of KOLs in China is now well-charted territory. More commonly known as ‘influencers’ in the West, KOLs now play a huge part in the Chinese mediasphere and e-commerce.

They range from the expected – those who do makeup tutorials, post images living the ‘high life’, or narrate themselves while playing games – to the unconventional – those who eat a whole week’s worth of food in an hour (which is now actually prohibited), or simply sit and study in silence. Boasting follower and view counts whose numbers reach beyond seven-digits, it’s a no-brainer for brands who want exposure to try and get on board somehow.

Enlisting KOLs can involve simple product placement, a product review, or inviting them to a marketing event. Brands might organise parties, excursions or fashion shows, invite KOLs to livestream, and feel the knock-on benefits.

This is also a fairly competitive market, as viewers will want to see something new, and perhaps unique, from the stream. Chinese vlogging platform Xigua (西瓜) is a good place to look for examples – in 2018 they took a selection of their most popular content producers on an all-expenses-paid cruise from China to Japan and back.

So, where to start? Here’s an overview of the top platforms for livestreaming in 2021, then a few tips for how best to execute.

Livestreaming in China: The Top 10 Chinese Platforms

#1 Douyin

Known as TikTok outside of China, this is the app that needs no introduction. It is simply a behemoth. For brands, the important thing here is to create truly creative, interesting content that is responsive to the latest trends.

Douyin is a the top 1 platform in China for Livestreaming sales. Connecting your Taobao and Red stores as well as Douyin native e-commerce shop, this tool is creating more than 9 million live-streaming sections per month.

According to the Douyin 2022 ecological convention, platforms gross merchandise value (GMV) growing 3.2 times year-over-year.

According to Statista ,in 2022 Douyin reported having 86.8% of its users streaming live content in China  and spending at least 89 minutes watching videos on the platform each day!

Giving the perfect platform for Influencer marketing business, this tool is home to booming new talent: Liu GengHong (刘耕宏）, Dongyuhui (董宇辉 ) and Jianailiang (贾乃亮).

#2 XiaoHongShu

XiaoHongShu, AKA ‘RED’. RED emerged in 2019 as a fairly unexpected e-commerce frontrunner. Favoured among young women, who make up around 90% of the user-base, it gained a reputation for reliability and authenticity.

The vast majority of the content is user-generated, and the platform itself is specifically geared towards e-commerce. If a user likes a product featured in a livestream, they are only one or two clicks away from viewing it, purchasing it, and having it delivered.

A brand account allows for direct interaction with users, allowing companies to respond to comments, convert interest into sales and maintain relationships.

#3 Kuaishou

Kuaishou is another relatively new kid on the block, and one that packs a punch. It started as a GIF-sharing platform in 2011, but opened up livestreaming in 2016, and boasts upwards of 300 million active users.

The reason it’s still considered new is because it’s only recently integrated e-commerce and transactions into its livestreaming platform. More than US$30bn of transactions were processed in the first nine months of 2020, an eleven-fold increase on the year before.

#4 Taobao Live

The granddaddy of e-commerce, Alibaba, and its offshoots Taobao and Tmall, represent the vanguard of China’s livestreaming sales boom. On Single’s Day (11^th November) 2020, sales from livestreaming surpassed $3bn in less than 24 hours. For example, Estee Lauder’s Singles Day livestream pulled in US$28m in sales, garnering more than 500 million views.

Taobao Live is available year-round, however. The aforementioned Budweiser livestreaming campaign was a tie-in with Tmall, wherein they were cooperated to create an additional custom landing page for the products.

#5 Inke

Inke is a general-content angled livestreaming platform, popular with gamers and those seeking light-hearted content.

What sets them apart is a ‘battle mode’, where users will agree on a predefined challenge, such as holding a pen on their upper lip, or balancing a spoon on their nose, then livestream the challenge within a timeframe.

Viewers can send cash-paid-for-gifts to the livestreamers to determine who is winning, and the loser then must complete a forfeit.

#6 Bilibili

What started as a video service for anime fans is increasingly being described as China’s closest equivalent to YouTube. For those new to the platform, they should know that its users are still very much tied in with its fandom history, however. Livestreams that involve cosplay or anime-themed elements are popular.

#7 Yizhibo

By partnering with Baidu and Sina Weibo, social e-commerce platform Yizhibo has secured an audience from one of the ‘big four’ (BATX) tech giants in China, and one of its most subscribed traditional social media platforms.

Given its tie-in with Weibo, users are less likely to be interested by straight-down-the-line sales livestreams, and more interested by viral content such as challenges and celebrity interaction.

#8 Huya Live

Known internationally as Nimo TV, Huya mainly focuses on gaming livestreams. It provides official coverage of esports competitions. Tie-ins could include more traditional advertising deals, or collaboration with gaming KOLs.

#9 Douyu

Another huge gaming livestreaming service which, in 2021, is slated to merge with Huya Live.

#10 Meipai / Meitu

The once-popular Meipai app abandoned, leaving its young, female user base to seek beauty tips elsewhere. Owner of Meipai, Meitu, launched its own app in the end of 2020, but it remains to be seen how successful it will be.

Want to enter Chinese e-commerce market? Learn about 5 options besides Tmall!

How to set up your Livestreaming Campaign in China in 2024

Pick a host for your livestreaming in China.

This needn’t necessarily be a KOL – there are agencies now who represent livestreaming hosts, just as agencies represent TV hosts. Think carefully about the target audience, and who they might relate to, or look up to.

Plan your content very carefully

You do not want to be going viral for the wrong reasons. First, consider the regulations around which words, phrases and topics may or may not be used. For an outline of these, click here.

Second, think about the culturally sensitive topics you may wish to avoid. A quick search on the internet for brands falling fowl of Chinese consumers is a good place to start.

Promote your livestreaming in China in advance

Use more traditional social media to get the message out there, and build hype.

Choose an appropriate timeline

Is it Singles Day? Okay, a 20-hour livestream marathon may be okay. If not, consider commuting times, or evenings after dinner.

In need of livestreaming services? Contact us today!

HI-COM is a multilingual communication agency dedicated to providing China-specific social media communication and e-commerce marketing services to businesses around the world. Working with more than 100 brands, HI-COM is the go-to partner of companies that want to enter China market! Contact us for your free consultation today!

If you’ve had any contact with China in the past five years, you’ll know just how embedded WeChat is in daily Chinese life. With 1.4 billion monthly users according to Tencent’s 2021, WeChat has almost complete penetration of the Chinese market.

WeChat was launched in 2011 by Chinese tech giant Tencent. Literally meaning micro message (微信), it was launched as a messaging app and soon replaced texting in China. Since then, it has grown to become a full suite social-media app encompassing all aspects of daily life.

Its WeChat Pay function has eliminated the need to carry cash in most cities in China. Its WeChat Mini Programs function means users often don’t even need to leave the app to access other utilities and applications, such as ride-hailing (Didi taxi) or booking plane/train tickets. Its WeChat Store function, while not able to compete with larger Chinese e-commerce platforms like Taobao, means e-commerce is also covered within the app’s ecosystem.

As a complete ecosystem with ubiquitous reach in China, it is imperative for any business looking to break into the Chinese market to have a strong WeChat presence. Below we detail a list of WeChat marketing best practices for businesses:

Types of WeChat Official Accounts

A WeChat Official Account is similar to a Facebook page. It allows brands to publish content for their followers to see as WeChat newsletters. This replaces email mailing lists common in Western marketing campaigns, as most people don’t use email in China. There are two types of WeChat Official Accounts: service account and subscription account.

Following these three steps in setting up a WeChat Official Account:

1. Go to https://mp.weixin.qq.com/?lang=en_US and click Register Now
2. Choose the account type most suitable for your business
3. Enter your email and click the Register button

Prices for Influencer Campaign on WeChat

Now that you’ve set up an Official Account, it’s time to reach your audience. In China, influencer marketing is widely known as KOL (key opinion leader) marketing. By partnering with local KOLs, you are able to localize your brand messaging in China while getting access to their network of followers.

Some KOLs run their own WeChat groups, which have a maximum capacity of 500 members. These groups usually revolve around specific interests, and engagement can vary depending on their quality. Other KOLs have their own Official Accounts with large followings due to their reliable content. Below is a rough guide for industry standards for WeChat KOL marketing:

All about WeChat Mini Programs

Depending on the scope of your business, it might make sense to dive into making a mini-program specifically for your brand. WeChat Mini Programs are applications built within the WeChat platform, providing advanced features with smooth integration with WeChat. WeChat features such as WeChat pay, geo-location, contacts, and notifications can all be smoothly integrated between WeChat and its Mini Apps.

Loyalty Programs on WeChat mini programs

Brand loyalty is still important in China. After a strong marketing campaign, you now have an influx of customers. Loyalty programs are essential in retaining them. WeChat Mini Programs allow you to build a loyalty program for your brand easily.

Build your WeChat loyalty program by rewarding points to potential customers for proactively linking their WeChat accounts and filling out their profile on your Mini Program. Giving points for daily check-ins will incentivize your followers to keep up with your brand’s latest news and offers. You can then allow users to use these points towards discounts when they shop for your brand.

Using WeChat as H5 Mini Website

While WeChat Official Account pages have limited customization features, an H5 landing allows for providing users a professional and unique experience for your brand to stand out. H5 is a Chinese buzzword that essentially means HTML 5, or a single HTML 5 landing page. It allows for illustrations, artwork, and animations perfect for mobile experiences.

Get started with building an H5 page with services such as MAKA, Renrenxiou, Yixiouwang, but do keep in mind the interface is in Chinese.

How to do WeChat Live-streaming

Livestreaming is a huge aspect of the Chinese trend of social e-commerce. It allows for engaging with audiences and potential customers in real-time to answer their questions about your brand and products. Leverage the immediacy of see-now-buy-now mentality with WeChat’s recent livestream feature.

WeChat allows for two main options for livestreaming: via Tencent’s native livestreaming solution and via WeChat Mini Program feature. Both offer a variety of integrations with WeChat’s native WeChat Shop feature for a smooth e-commerce experience.

Want to leverage livestreaming in China? Contact us today!

WeChat Ads

WeChat ads is a Tencent program that sells ad space under other WeChat Official Account posts (WeChat banner ads) or in users’ timelines, or Moments (WeChat Moments ads).

To apply for WeChat Moment ads, there is a minimal entry price of 50,000RMB for both Chinese and foreign companies. It requires verifying your WeChat Official Account and applying for the right to advertise on WeChat in the backend of your Official Account. Only after approval can you start creating campaigns. The CPM for WeChat Moments ads is between 60-150.

Launched in August 2014, these type of WeChat ads have notoriously low performance. Advertisers are only able to choose rough target demographics and cannot control which specific accounts their ads appear. The CPM for WeChat banner ads is between 2-5RMB.

Learn more about advertisement on Wechat in our WeChat Advertising: Types of Ads, CPM, PPC Prices guide!

WeChat Channels

WeChat Channels is a new feature that just launched in 2020 for businesses and personal accounts. This feature is similar to Douyin (China’s counterpart to Tik Tok) in that these accounts can now share short video content (3 seconds to 1 minute long) under a branded profile. Video and static images are accepted, with a maximum of 9 static images laid out similar to Moments posts.

Read more about the latest features on Wechat

Regardless of how many different WeChat features your business chooses to include in you campaign, content is still king. A solid localization plan is essential in making sure your brand and product messaging resonates with Chinese consumers and their culture. Remember to post often to keep you followers engaged.

WeChat Update of 2022

WeChat has updated its app ones again and this year the users can enjoy the functions of music share, pausing and resuming voice messages, blur of the background during video call, channel videos in a floating window and some other minor ones.

 Foreign brands using WeChat to drive conversion in 2022

As WeChat is unavoidable tool for everyday life in China, brands big and small are taking advantage of the functions of WeChat to drive traffic and conversion. Here are some of the rules you need to follow when planning your WeChat marketing strategy.

1. Have a strong visual identity. This means using professional software to create long page design, using high quality photos.
2. If you are a tangible/product oriented brand, you don’t need to write lots of text in your post. Focus on visuals to stimulate desire in your readers.
   
3. To drive traffic to your WeChat mini program or WeChat store, do not forget to link products from posts.
   
4. To drive traffic to Tmall or other marketplace, use customized codes (specific per platform)
   
5. WeChat now allows redirection to other social media platforms – use links to mention them! This includes the mention of your website in China.
   
6. Don’t forget to include “read other articles” at the bottom of your post and link these posts.
   

WeChat Official Account Promotion in 2022

One of the best and quickest ways to promote your account on WeChat is to use the help of KOLs, influencers and buy advertising. But not every brand is as big as Zara, and many young brands are keen to promote themselves without using large budgets. But in this case “small budget” means “lot’s of working hours”.

In the year 2022 one way to do so is to “break the closed circle” of WeChat and start using WeChat Channel – a video platform where people are exposed to all content published, not only the content of people and accounts you follow.

Another way to promote your WeChat official account “on a budget” is to invest in community building and private traffic. This means inviting every person who might be interested in your brand one by one to groups you manage and communicate with them via these groups. You can hire a manager to do this full time, or an agency like HI-COM, to save cost and time.

For some foreign brands offline activities work wonders. pop ups, expos, collabs with offline partners, event sponsorships and more can help you to achieve more than one goal at a time! Guests will be exposed to your WeChat QR codes and fulfill the commercial purpose of the event you hold.

Learn all the ways to promote your WeChat account here!

Conclusion

WeChat for business is a part of any strong Chinese marketing plan. While the above is a list of current best practises for WeChat for businesses, the Chinese tech landscape moves rapidly. Keeping on top of the newest features being rolled out on WeChat will give your business the edge over the competition in this fast-paced market.

HI-COM is a localization and multilingual communication agency dedicated to providing China-specific strategy, social media communication and e-commerce marketing services to businesses around the world. Working with more than 100 brands, HI-COM is the go-to partner of companies that want to enter China market!  Contact us for your free consultation today!

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As the second largest consumer economy in the world, China has been at the forefront of marketing trends shaping the global economy. According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, in 2020, China saw sales of consumer goods reach 6 trillion USD. Home to major online e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba and JD.com, China has also ranked in as the world’s largest online retail economy for the past 8 years.

The country’s mature online retail economy, high mobile penetration, and comprehensive e-commerce infrastructure has made it the perfect environment for the emergence of a variety of innovative marketing trends in the past few years. These trends have not only reshaped marketing playbooks within China, but also impacted consumer markets around the globe. Understanding these new trends will help businesses around the world effectively craft cutting-edge marketing strategies.

What marketing trends should we look out for from China in 2022?

1. From KOL to KOC marketing

KOL (influencer) marketing, also known as influencer marketing, was one of the major trends to emerge in the social media era. However, as China’s online consumers become increasingly internet savvy and media reports started exposing KOL misconduct, the prestige of KOL endorsements have waned. Today, China’s consumers, especially the digital natives of Gen Z, are increasingly turning towards KOCs, or key opinion consumers, for product recommendations.

KOCs are seen as more “real”. With fewer followers and a more approachable internet presence, they are seen as the everyday consumer. By providing product reviews and recommendations from an end user perspective, they hold more sway over consumers looking for quality products as opposed to brands with cultural cachet.

In China, marketers are turning towards a two-pronged approach of combined KOL and KOC marketing, using KOL marketing to increase brand exposure and using KOC marketing to more granularly target specific consumer groups.

Further reading:

KOC marketing in China: what it is and how to get started with it

All You Need to Know Before Starting a KOL Campaign

Top KOLs in China 2021-2022

Top 10 affordable KOLs that generate sales

2. Livestreaming

Livestreaming marketing became possible in 2016 with the launch of Taobao’s livestreaming function Taobao Live. It has since only exploded in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic. With the integration of e-commerce functionality on livestream-ready social media platforms like Douyin, Xiahongshu, and Kuaishou as well as the integration of livestream capabilities on e-commerce platforms like Taobao and JD.com, livestream marketing has become a mainstay in today’s Chinese marketing strategy.

Last year, on Taobao’s Single’s day shopping festival, livestreams accounted for 6 billion USD in sales. Livestream marketing’s success is the result of combining the frictionless one-click purchasing of e-commerce, the interactivity of livestream product presentations and Q&As, and the dynamism of live product demonstrations.

This trend has now expanded beyond China, with Amazon and Walmart dipping their toes in the livestream marketing trend last year.

 

Further reading:

Top livestreaming platforms in China that generate leads

3. Social E-Commerce 

The emergence of platforms like Xiaohongshu and the development of e-commerce functionality on various social media platforms in China have ushered in the age of social e-commerce. According to e-Marketer, in 2019, Chinese social e-commerce sales totalled 186.04 billion USD, a figure that has only grown in the last two years.

An important innovation in Pinduoduo’s massively successful marketing model was the social aspect of community promotion of products. Social media platforms like Douyin and Xiahongshu took advantage of their massive userbases to integrate e-commerce functionality in the last few years. WeChat’s comprehensive ecosystem, with mobile payments, instant messaging, mini-programs, and official accounts offered the perfect environment for social e-commerce to thrive.

Today, Western platforms are playing catch-up, with Facebook and Instagram refining their e-commerce functionality only with the massive changes in shopping habits brought on by COVID-19.

Further reading:

How to register a store on Xiaohongshu, one of the most popular social e-commerce platforms in China

4. Group-Buying

In 2018, Pinduoduo went public, raising 1.6 billion USD through a US IPO, becoming one of the largest deals of the year. In just three years since founding, the upstart platform broke into the upper echelons of China’s e-commerce market.

It’s secret success? The group-buy feature.

The group-buy feature allows communities and neighbourhoods to place large orders together to get direct wholesale prices. These deals are accessed through WeChat mini-programs, and community leaders post links to various popular or on-sale products in WeChat groups. The massive discounts and communal nature of this marketing model have helped it become extremely popular in smaller cities across China.

Best platforms for group-buying in China

The group-buying market was worth over 11 billion USD in 2020 and is estimated to exceed 16 billion USD this year. In the three years since Pinduoduo’s IPO, Alibaba and JD.com have created their own group-buying functions to challenge the Pinduoduo’s massive market niche.

5. Private Traffic

As an alternative to the increasingly expensive option of paid traffic, private traffic (私域流量) marketing has taken off in China.

While most private traffic in the West is accomplished with blogs and mailing lists, China’s unique internet ecosystem has seen the rise of private marketing via WeChat. By setting up exclusive WeChat mini-program clubs and WeChat groups, brands can easily cultivate communities of consumers with share lifestyle aspirations. Private traffic allows brands to become less reliant on e-commerce platform search algorithms and give businesses the power to present their brand directly to consumers.

This more intimate environment of closed groups allows for higher rates of CTAs than large scale advertising campaigns. In addition, by building a closer relationship with consumers, private traffic increases customer retention rates.

6. Targeting of Lower Tier Cities (下城Xiachen)

As China’s top-tier cities become increasingly saturated for luxury and lifestyle products, brands are turning towards China’s rapidly burgeoning lower-tier cities. Once considered the market for domestic brands, lower-tier cities are now an integral target in the marketing strategies of more and more foreign companies in China.

Lower-tier cities in China, while not having the same cultural exposure and name recognition as tier one cities, constitute a vast portion of China’s population and have seen increasing spending power. Lower-tier city middle income earners have cheaper living costs and a slower pace of life than their tier one city counterparts and are happy to spend their growing wages on consumer goods.

As such, lower-tier cities are now major drivers of China’s consumer market growth, with 70% of Alibaba’s newly registered users coming from lower-tier cities in 2019. Notably, Pinduoduo’s emphasis on lower-tier cities played a crucial role in its meteoric rise.

7. Artificial Intelligence

From AI powered customer service, AI real-time translation/captioning, AI logistics optimization, AI product recommendation algorithms, to AI powered virtual influencers, advancements in the field of AI have created a vast trove of use-cases for marketing. These new advancements will free up resources for other marketing strategies and help to create more efficient pathways to reaching consumers.

Major Chinese tech and e-commerce platforms have been heavily investing in AI, including Alibaba, Bytedance (Tiktok), Baidu, and more. As a developing technology, AI technology integration into the Chinese marketing sphere is a major trend to watch out for in the coming years.

8. Personalization and Customization

According to a 2018 study by Luxue, customization is the top service requested by Chinese millennials.

While not a new concept per se, the trend of personalization and customization in the apparel market has been steadily growing in China. Product customization was a costly prospect reserved for high-end clientele not so long ago, but with the rapid development of e-commerce there are now more direct avenues of communication with customers.

Today, personalization and customization are widely offered by major fashion brands in China, often taking advantage of WeChat’s mini-program features, as seen in campaigns by Calvin Klein and Longchamp.

HI-COM is a multilingual communication agency dedicated to providing China-specific social media communication and e-commerce marketing services to businesses around the world. Working with more than 100 brands, HI-COM is the go-to partner of companies that want to enter China market! Contact us for your free consultation today!

Developing a comprehensive China marketing entry strategy can be a daunting task. More and more brands find China an attractive market, not only due to its size, but also due to its growing middle class, demand for new product categories, and new regulations favoring imports from a list of countries. There’s plenty of room for new brands big and small to enter this market, given they know where to start.

What are the business models of China’s fashion retail  channels?

Offline distribution

Depending on the industry, retail channels may include large retailers (shopping malls, specialized stores), convenience stores, and large and small brand stores.

Online channels

Online markets can be categorized according to two models: localized fulfilment, with most platforms belonging to this category (Tmall, JD, Douyin, and other social commerce platforms), and cross-border fulfilment, where products are imported only after they are sold to the customer (Koala, Tmall Global, RED cross-border, etc.)

How do distributors choose the brand to work with?  

To answer this question, we have invited the co-founder of Export2China, Mrs. Xin Lingling who is specialized in fashion retail and has more than a decade of work experience with brands like Lacoste, and many more.

Q: What are the distributors in China looking for in foreign brands?  

A: Distributors are looking for a unique proposition to offer to the market. Either the brand is strong and popular in the brand’s home country already, or the brand is offering a very competitive price, or perhaps the brand is ready to work on an aggressive digital marketing strategy in China in order to take the market share. Length of the contract also plays a big role, as no distributors will want to put years of effort educating and engaging with the local target audience just to see the brand go to the competitor.

Q: What is the general rule for brands when choosing their distributors in China?

Brands choose their distributors according to a set of criteria including the distributors brand portfolio, the yearly purchasing budget, the geographical location, and the size of the business. Other factors are also important. For example, does the distributor have a strong network and favorable conditions to enter the most suitable shopping malls of the regions? Will the distributor support the brand in marketing activities in the area?

Q: What type of marketing activities do brands need to prepare for in order to attract the local audience and the best distributors? How early do these activities need to be launched? 

A: Nowadays distributors realize the power of marketing in China and strongly prefer to work with brands who are willing to invest in digital marketing.

So, what does that mean, exactly?

• Marketing Study: brands need to have a clear picture of the market, including the interest of Chinese customers in the product, both in brand’s home country and in China. Focus group studies, competitor analysis, pricing strategy, target audience definition, all these elements are important in order to create an effective marketing plan in China.
• Brand Name Localization and Trademarking: this is an important step and should be completed early on, before the brand is even physically present in China. A Chinese trademark is needed for many administrative tasks, such as registering a corporate social media account or for e-commerce store registration.
• E-Reputation: here we are talking about the brand’s digital footprint in China. It needs to inspire trust among the Chinese local audience. This includes press releases, reviews, social media mentions and other publicity.
• Social Media Groundwork: Create a WeChat Official Account, establish a presence on RED (Little Red Book) with reviews and recommendations, and ensure other digital activities related to the brand’s business model and industry are covered.
• KOL Marketing: if the brand falls into the categories of fashion, cosmetics, mother and child products, or food and beverage, KOL and KOC activities are crucial for setting up the brand for the market.

How to find a trustworthy distributor in China for fashion retail?  

There are a few ways to approach your search. Traditional trade fair participation is a solid way to meet many business players in your industry. But with the recent travel restrictions to China, this way is not the easiest. 

Online search and outreach can be another way to connect with a China market distributor. But this runs the risk of landing an inexperienced distributor with a pretty website. In fact, not many local Chinese brand distributors even have websites, rendering this option suboptimal.

Word of mouth and relationship building can be an excellent way to find the perfect business fit. It demonstrates that your brand already has built solid business relationships in China and possesses channels for gaining insider information. However, it’s unlikely that a brand of the same category or even industry would be willing to share their effective Chinese distributors. In this case, a China-based business partner or a representative will be able to help.

It is important to remember that there is no “magic solution” for China market entry. No honest company will ever “guarantee quick results” for one simple reason – the market is just too complex and competitive. The era of foreign products shortages is long over, and the Chinese market is now one of the most developed and dense markets in the world. That’s not to mention China’s increasingly rapid technological advancement and demanding customer base.

Do you need a local partner in China?

Having a locally based partner company provides a crucial advantage to any brand that is aiming to enter the Chinese market. From aiding in setting up the essentials to advising on best practices, a local partner serves as a foothold in a new market. Your local partner can help establish a network of distributors, find warehouse solutions, and procure other necessary resources. This company can be your brand’s eyes and ears when it comes to dealing with local affairs, whether it be distributors or TP management, as they have the ability to judge the project by the domestic market industry standards. By being on the ground, they are able to see and report local market reactions in real-time and rapidly assist with necessary adjustments.

Export2China is a Chinese-based consulting firm focused on fashion and education industries.

HI-COM is a digital marketing agency dedicated to providing China-specific strategy, social media communication and e-commerce marketing services to businesses around the world. Working with more than 100 brands, HI-COM is the go-to partner of companies that want to enter China market!  Contact us for your free consultation today!

Scan QR code to follow Localization and The Chinese Market Entry News or Contact us on WeChat: 

In today’s world of oversaturated digital ads, brand e-reputation has never been more important. This is especially the case in China, where word-of-mouth and KOL marketing are widely regarded as the most trustworthy.

How to Build E-Reputation in China

1. KOL Campaign

Worldwide, influencer marketing has become the dominant marketing paradigm. In China, influencers are known as KOLs or key opinion leaders. For building brand reputation and awareness in China, KOL campaigns will provide a strong return on investment.

A strong KOL campaign consists of working with reputable and respected KOLs to translate your brand messaging in a way that localizes for your customer base in China.

KOLs play a key role in online reputation management for your brand. Picking the most suitable KOL for your brand requires being in tune with your target audience. By working with trusted KOLs within their community, your brand will acquire the cultural cachet for gaining traction in China.

As brand reputation requires time build, brands should view KOL marketing as a long-term, dynamic strategy.

2. KOC Campaign

KOC (Key Opinion Customer) marketing is an incredibly effective tool for building brand interest and driving sales in China.
Although most KOCs don’t have a large fan base, they are the key for consumers when making a buying decision. They are generally seen as more trustworthy due to their authentic and reliable content. If your brand is at seeding stage in the Chinese market, collaborating with KOCs would be a safe option.

Check out this guide to learn about the most efficient ways to promote your brand through a KOC-based strategy!

3. PR

To complement your social media campaign, getting your brand into press releases will help grow your business’s e-reputation in China. With third-party outlets reporting on your brand, you not only gain increased reach but also increased credibility.

In China, like elsewhere, people rely on various e-magazines and press outlets to help them with their purchasing decisions. These range from childcare advice columns to technology review platforms to fashion magazine editorials. As these outlets represent a third-party assessment of your brand, consumers are more likely to see them as trustworthy and credible.

These outlets play an important role in online reputation management. Having your brand name mentioned in press releases will help with building long-term consumer trust and awareness in your brand. The most popular sources for doing PR in China are:  参考消息,  环球时报, 新华社, 中国日报.

4. Local SEO

When potential customers want to know more about your brand, they will check your website for sure. Most searches online are done on Baidu, but there are other local search engines such as Sogou, Youdao, and 360.

A helpful resource for keyword research is Dragonmetrics. By analyzing monthly search volumes for various keywords and phrases, you can build a solid foundation for the next step of building your e-reputation campaign in China – content.

5. Social Media

Much like any other market in the world, having a strong social media presence in China is key to building your business’s reputation online.

Today, the social media landscape in China is relatively fragmented, with many platforms specialized for specific interests and demographics. This means that overseas brands need to understand which platform is most suitable for reaching their desired target audiences.

For example, Xiaohongshu is a rapidly growing social recommendation platform in China. While a massive platform, 90% of its userbase is female, making it most suitable for beauty, healthcare, and fashion brands.

On the other hand, livestream platforms Bilibili and Huya have massive gaming communities, making these platforms most suitable for tech and digital brands, while Dianping, a review platform, has become the go-to platform for Chinese brick-and-mortar stores.

With so many specialized social media platforms in China, it’s easy for brands to spread themselves too thin. Focus on the platforms most suitable for your brand and work to establish a strong online reputation on those.

 Steps to Build Social Media Campaign in China

Step 1. Identify Your Platforms

As mentioned previously, choosing the right platforms to market on is of utmost importance. Due to the differences in algorithms and demographics on each platform, you will need to adjust campaign content and strategy around the platforms you choose.

The most popular platforms for building brand visibility in China are Sina’s Weibo, Zhihu, Baidu’s Baijiahao, Ifeng, Sohu, Tencent’s WeChat, andToutiao. For reaching younger audiences, visual-heavy platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, Huya, and Kuaishou are also very popular.

Step 2. Keyword Research

Social media might not be the first thing that comes to mind when we think about keyword research – but it can be an awesome source for marketers to understand what their consumer base in China wants to see online.

Step 3. Content

As overused as the phrase is, content really is king. Based on your research into keywords and platforms, you’re now able to perfectly craft content and build your online reputation.

In China’s highly visual social media landscape, strong content combines powerful visual elements, either pictures or videos, with enticing written content. It is important to ensure both the format and message of your content is tailored towards where you market and who you market to.

Step 4. Build Publication Plan

Depending on your resources, such as graphic designers and copywriters, schedule content in advance to be published at least once a week. Curate content schedules to ensure a diverse and balanced flow of content.

While much of your content will be perennially relevant, for some content, timing can be just as important as what you say. Plan your publication schedule around major brand events to build anticipation and relevant Chinese holidays to localize your brand.

Conversely, it’s also important to keep publication plans flexible, allowing you to react to current events to catch audience attention.

Step 5. Post Content Regularly

Now that you’ve started your social media campaign, keep in mind the fundamentals – online reputation relies on consistency. With a regular schedule, you will remain relevant to platform algorithms and stay on your audiences’ radar. Remember that your competitors are on the same platforms, producing their own tailored content to attract the same target demographics.

Difficulties When Building E-Reputation in China

Content Localization

The process of localizing your brand messaging for any region plays a huge role in how successfully you are able to build your brand reputation. Being able to navigate the cultural differences between your home market and the China market can make or break business expansion goals.

Beyond textual translation, localization for the Chinese market means reworking your brand messaging to meet the aspirations of Chinese consumers. In the fast-paced environment of China, cultural trends move quickly. From specific wording changes to major overhauls in visual branding, content localization can be a large undertaking.

Hiring a professional brand localization agency based in China will help your brand smoothly transition into this new market, letting you focus on building your business.

Platform Matching

China’s digital ecosystem may seem daunting to the uninitiated. With a myriad of choices, there are many nuances and pitfalls to watch out for when it comes to choosing the right platforms.

With China’s major online platforms attracting different segments of China’s diverse population, building your brand’s online reputation on these platforms requires a deep understanding their various demographics. Don’t make the mistake of seeing the China market as homogenous. To be successful you must localize for China’s diverse online communities.

Navigating these Chinese platforms for an overseas brand can challenging. That’s why agencies like HI-COM are here to help overseas businesses establish brand presence online the right way in China.

KOL Campaign Execution

Even without the language barrier, finding the right KOLs and managing them is challenging. While KOL marketing may be the most used marketing tactic in China today, successfully executing a KOL campaign requires experience and a strong understanding of the Chinese market.

Accurately gauging the actual reach and engagement of a KOL across platforms can be difficult. While managing KOLs, some details may be lost during communication, resulting in promotion campaigns that don’t reflect your vision.

We recommend working with a professional KOL agency. This way you are able to have peace of mind in the legitimacy and efficacy of their KOLs. A KOL agency has strong working relationships with their rosters, taking out the guesswork in conveying brand vision.

HI-COM is a digital marketing agency dedicated to providing China-specific strategy, social media communication and e-commerce marketing services to businesses around the world. Working with more than 100 brands, HI-COM is the go-to partner of companies that want to enter China market!  Contact us for your free consultation today!

Scan QR code to follow Localization and The Chinese Market Entry News or Contact us on WeChat: