Douyin (抖音 or Tik Tok) is the short-video app everyone seems to be talking about in the recent months- especially in China. In September 2017, the app celebrated its first birthday and in the first quarter of 2018, it became world’s most downloaded app for iOS (Google Play is blocked in China hence there is no accurate data for Android). In Japan alone, the app has been downloaded more times than Facebook.
Some time ago we decided the pictures on our website deserved a makeover – they hadn’t been changed for years. Over time we all got even prettier, so why not show it to the world, am I right? ;-)
We always ask our newsletter subscribers what they struggle with when it comes to Chinese digital marketing. Recently, one of them said: “We are not exactly struggling in China, we do a great job.” If it were a scene in a movie, the music would go silent and all the faces would turn to him. We definitely wanted to know more! And we’re sharing their example with you now.
For the past few months, we live-streamed our China marketing trainings on Yingke. We did it mostly for fun, to play around with live-streaming which is becoming more and more popular in China. We’ve used this marketing channel while working with our clients and we decided to give it a try as well.
If you're planning to enter the Chinese e-commerce market, should you consider using a standalone website based on Magento? And, if you do, what do you need to do to be successful.
Today we interview Jing Zhou, Business Director of TMO Group.
For the past few weeks they’ve been everywhere. In elevators, WeChat Moments and website banners, online and offline. They’re staring at me first thing in the morning when I leave my flat and later, when I go back home. Those blue cups everywhere! Luckin Coffee’s offensive has grown stronger lately and they claim they want to revolutionize China’s coffee market.
A few years ago the idea of an unmanned store would sound like a sci-fi story. But not anymore. China’s giant, like Alibaba or Tencent, do everything to make sure the term blends into consumers’ daily vocabulary.
We have posted before about many features that are incorporated into WeChat app. One of the latest is a mini-program function. It’s an excellent way of making sure its users won’t ever leave the app. It was not very welcomed right after it was introduced last year, but now many brands create their own mini-websites and mini-stores to make sure they don’t miss out on the trend. The mini-programs indeed make a user experience quite pleasant.
Using KOLs for a brand promotion has become a very common form of marketing, especially in China. According to "2017 Digital Marketing Trends Report", 72% of brands’ executives increased social marketing investments in 2017, of which 63% was directed into KOL promotion.
Chinese New Year is a very busy time for both domestic and international brands. For some industries, like travel industry, for example, it starts as early as two or three months ahead. Clothing brands roll out their holiday campaigns a bit later, a few weeks before the festival. In order to draw customers attention, every year they must be more and more creative, especially because Chinese customers have become very demanding. Moreover, Chinese giants, like Alibaba or Tencent, have gone mad making up new ways to integrate offline and online shopping experience.