MARKETING IN CHINA

The definition of selling is the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including research and advertising. Today, marketing in China is some things that every company and organization must implement in its growth strategy. Many companies use marketing techniques to understand their goals without even realizing it, as they work to push themselves and increase sales of their product or service. These days, marketing is one of the critical aspects of companies.

People often do not know exactly what marketing is; when asked, they define it as selling or advertising. While these answers don’t seem wrong, they’re only a promotion component. There are many other aspects to marketing, like product distribution, promotion, designing and creating materials like landing pages and social media content, improving customer experience, researching, establishing market segments, and much more.

Market Places in China

Ever wonder what the means to sell in China? Online Chinese marketplaces are the way to go. With a population of over 1.4 billion, there’s no shortage of potential customers for your product or service. And if you’re looking to expand into new markets, this can often be one of the most effective ways to do it! Read on for our top 5 online marketplaces where you will be ready to sell in China and start making the foremost of this massive country today:

1. Taobao & Tmall: the foremost popular e-commerce websites in China
2. JD.com: A Chinese company that has grown tremendously since its founding in 2004;
3. Suning
4. Gome
5. Bonus: VIPshop, Pinduoduo and Kaola.

Taobao & Tmall: the foremost important Chinese Online Marketplace

Chinese platforms like Baidu and Tencent provide various functions and services. In terms of Alibaba, it’s pretty like Amazon, which both operate as online stores. Unlike Amazon, which offers B2C businesses, Alibaba is split into two online platforms, Taobao and 1688.com; these platforms operate C2C and B2B businesses, respectively.

Taobao, per Alizila, has 755 million mobile monthly active users. When it involves Taobao, it should be mentioned that this platform enables small businesses, customers, and entrepreneurs to regulate their business in purchasing and selling goods in an exceedingly very convenient way. Moreover, consumers on the thereon online platform can talk with other customers and even receive messages from Taobao vendors in real-time. Sellers can sell their products at auctions or a challenging and fast price.

Moreover, Taobao boosts sales throughout the year it creates various special promotions. For example, November 11th is the most significant promotion day for Chinese marketplaces. Alibaba started these promotions in 2009 on Tmall online platform; at that time, the complete turnover from these promotions overwhelmed expectations.

Since that day, November 11th became the fixed date for a beautiful scale promotion activity on Tmall. Later, it expanded to other online platforms like Taobao, JD.COM, Yihaodian, and other e-commerce platforms. The complete GMV of Alibaba in 2020 increased up to 372.3 billion RMB ($56.42 billion) due to promotion day on November 11th. Remarkably, the instant is celebrated as Global Online Shopping Festival or Chinese as Single’s Day.

Tmall has seen unlimited growth recently, even with the COVID-19 pandemic disturbing global markets. The Tmall Global platform might be a significant feature within Tmall that allows for international brands to open their store within Tmall and sell to Chinese consumers. This is often an infinite success in cross-border e-commerce between the west and China, making the strategy for global brands to penetrate the Chinese market more accessible than ever before.

 

JD: Innovative Chinese Online Marketplace

Jingdong (JD.com) is additionally stated as formerly called 360buy. It was founded by Liu Qiandong in 1998. Jingdong is one of China’s most important e-commerce platforms by transaction volume and revenue, headquartered in Beijing. Jindong is additionally a member of the Fortune Global 500. Additionally, this platform could be a severe competitor to Alibaba-run Tmall.

The platform has 441.6 million annual active users as of the last report in 2020. Moreover, JD.com is the world’s leading high-tech and AI delivery company through drones, robots, and autonomous technologies.

JD is becoming known for entirely just selling tech within the Chinese market. JD is innovating rapidly into other industries, just like the market (similar to Amazon), which utilizes JD’s digital prowess to spice up traditional grocery stores. The platform is gaining traction in only key product categories like vitamins and sweetness. This is often helping the company diversify and become a robust e-commerce tool for consumers.

A sub-platform of JD is JD Global. Like Tmall Global, JD Global might be a platform that allows global brands to push to Chinese consumers. JD Global is differentiated from competitors because they focus mainly on well-established and reputable brands to sell on its platform. This provides them with some way of reliability.

3. Suning: Offline to Online Chinese Marketplace

Suning Commerce Group may well be a non-government retailer in China. Its headquarter is found in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. Suning operates 1600 stores in 700 cities in China (including metropolis S.A.R.) and Japan. Suning pledged 1 billion yuan worth of stock to Alibaba’s Taobao group in 2020 to secure financing and make a replacement partnership.

 

This Chinese marketplace is among the very best three Chinese B2C companies. Sunning provides different services, including physical merchandise like home appliances, 3C products, books, general merchandise, household commodities, cosmetics, baby care products, content products, and repair merchandise, with the entire number of SKUs exceeding 3 million.

In addition, Suning operates franchised retail shops of electronics appliances in China. Therefore, the company provides services to sell colour televisions (TVs), audio and video (AV) players, disc players, refrigerators, washing machines, digital and data technology (IT) products, small household electronics, air conditioners, telecommunications products, and other products.

 

The platform also provides installation and repair services for electronic appliances. Suning is another digital Chinese marketplace that has ventured into brick-and-mortar industries – Suning acquired Carrefour China and has since introduced devices into those stores and other international products.

4. Gome: Electrical Appliances

Gome Electrical Appliances Holding is the most essential privately-owned electrical appliance retailer operated in China and concrete centre. The foremost basic grocery of household electrical appliances platform was founded in Beijing in 1987 by Wong Kwong Yu (Huang Guangyu). However, the brand’s name, “GOME”, was adopted only in 1993.

The platform started the business with a big target of 3C products but has developed as a one-stop-shop retailer that even operates a grocery wing. The e-commerce platform works as an electronics distributor in China. Additionally, it provides services in its four major categories maternal and baby supplies, health and medical products, home and textiles, and culture and art supplies. In terms of the Chinese B2C market, Gome controls 2 per cent of it.

Gome operates its business in most cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao, Xian, and Shenzhen. Additionally, this platform was listed by Ford within the list of the best 50 Listed Enterprises of Asia. Today Gome is the most rival of

Suning and 360buy since it principally offers retail shops selling electronics and electrical appliances. In 2020, Gome also partnered with another e-commerce platform, Pinduoduo. Pinduoduo has had enormous success as a social network-driven e-commerce business. The partnership is great for both companies but especially for Gome as they’re able to move many of their products onto Pinduoduo’s comparatively quicker-growing platform and user base.

5. Vipshop

Vipshop may well be a Chinese marketplace specializing in online discount sales. The headquarters is found in Guangzhou, Guandong province.

Vipshop, as of 2020, had 43.4 million active users. This platform is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in China and follows after Tmall and JD.com.

In addition, Vipshop provides the most significant offers. Vipshop is leading during this term when it involves special offers since this platform shares 90 per cent of the market share within the special offers category in step with the Hangzhou-based supplier.

Therefore, as compared with Tmall, JD.com offers 5% and 10%, respectively. In this sense, Vipshop offers the following deduction point, which fluctuates between 25% and half-hour. This platform also enables suppliers to want the advantage of such services as photo shooting, storage, product delivery, and customer services.

Guangzhou-based e-commerce platform provides discounts for a limited period and focuses more on women’s purchases. Eighty per cent of consumers on this platform are females. Remarkably Vipshop, in terms of the Chinese B2C market, controls approximately around 3 per cent.

VIPshop is popular in smaller Chinese cities.

Vip International is Vipshop’s competing solution to Tmall and JD’s global platforms, which provides mainly large and established global businesses the prospect of plugging into Chinese consumers. Furthermore, since Vipshop focuses on special offers and discounts, the Chinese marketplace is much more prevalent in lower-tier cities than Tmall, which specialises in higher-tier towns and a more affluent consumer market.

Top 5 Digital Marketing Agencies in China

1. AICY

AICY is  Branding. Corporate Branding applied to Social Media Reputation Management Agency. They’re into Digital Marketing, specializing in the Asian-Pacific market, and charge between 50 and 99 dollars per hour. They also open and manage social media accounts following the business license regulations for China.

2. First Page Digital HK

It is a Digital Marketing solutions agency that helps companies with SEO, PPC, Social Media Paid Advertisements, and much more. The agency enables companies to adapt to the digital age and is a good thing about innovations within the marketing sphere. This ensures clients get leads, sales and profits, yet puts them on a more even platform with their competitors.

3. INCN Technology

They are a world expert in building sound business strategies using the latest trend technologies to form the tactic of getting favourable profit-making platforms like e-commerce, portfolio website, Android, iOS mobile APP, Digital Marketing ( SEO, SMO, Adwords ), Branding, Advance Learning Classes, and Desktop Softwares among others, for your business. They’re also experts in Blockchain and Al dataset-related work with a loyal and experienced team in China, India and other countries. They charge 25- 49 dollars per hour and have a bit force of about 249people.

4. Gentleman Marketing Agency

There are offices built from a passion for China’s web, digital marketing and business. The agency, founded by Olivier Verot and Philip Qian, is uniquely positioned and focused on Chinese Digital growth. With their experience from working in numerous industries; customer care, business negotiation, program marketing, social media communications and online reputation control, the team understands what problems and opportunities your company has in several markets and also the techniques you’d prefer to utilize when communicating along with your Chinese customers.

They charge between 25 to 49 dollars per hour, with a team of about nine.

5. Xinergy Global Business Consulting

Xinergy is a boutique firm specialising in developing international branding strategies, digital marketing global operational management, with global operations in Asia, especially China, geographic areas, Europe and Africa. They charge between 100 to 149 dollars per hour with a team of about 49 people.

Strategies for Marketing in China

China’s unique, ever-changing digital ecosystem is additionally because of the way people live and interact. Having worked with and helped numerous brands across different industries establish their brand names in China. Here are the best marketing strategies to achieve China market during this text.

1. China Marketing Advice: Branding is everything

It is not exaggerated to say that Chinese consumers are scared of new and unknown brands.
China is significant, and thus the Chinese market could also be an advanced one in the sense that there are countless producers. Yes, merchants are selling everything you would like forever here. Meanwhile, the system to protect consumers from fake goods isn’t yet as fully developed as within the West.

Many consumers are cheated with counterfeit products, fake reputable brands, and domestic brands that are expensive but of poor quality. Accordingly, they become paranoid and cautious toward less recognized or unbranded products.

Additionally, Chinese people buy brands not only for their functions but also to reflect their status. Moreover, they improve how people perceive them. Chinese consumers are willing to pay more if the brand can bring them prestige and respect among their social circle. That’s why luxury consumer products have enjoyed phenomenal growth in China for the past two decades.
I don’t mean that you simply should position your brands as a luxury but definitely.
Brand awareness should be your focus priority if you’re unaccustomed to China. So, thanks to increase your brand awareness?

2. Social media marketing is of paramount importance to form e-reputation in China

Unsurprisingly for a country with 1.4 billion people, China possesses an outsized amount of citizens on social media. The country beats out Japan, u. s., and Asian nations within the proportion of its population that uses them, an oversized chunk of users is digital natives (gen Z) or Millenials.

In a new McKinsey survey of nearly 6,000 Chinese Internet users. It was found that 95% of people who board large Chinese cities have an account with a minimum of 1 social network.

Also, China social network users are far more active than in other countries. With 91% of them saying they’d visited a social app site within the past six months.

The McKinsey survey also shows that social networks have an even more significant impact on the buying decisions of Chinese consumers than on those of the opposite country.

If a Chinese consumer sees a product being discussed positively on an SM, especially by a friend or acquaintance. They’re far more likely to purchase the merchandise than their counterparts in other countries.

Peer recommendations have an infinite influence on Chinese culture, as formal institutions are less likely to be trusted.
As your targeted audience is active on social networks, you’ve got to be compelled to be there, too.

3. Chinese forums for customer insight and content marketing

Another powerful strategy is to tap into the massive and active user groups on Chinese forums.
Forums within the West are additionally outdated, but it’s still significant in China. Large communities of comparable interests gather on different forums to debate their favourite topics.

For international brands, forums provide valuable insights into your targeted customers and vicinity to seed your content strategy to increase brand awareness, expertise, and image.

4. Nobody trusts a brand with no website

But in China, brands should see websites not as a separate hub of information but as part of the digital ecosystem that customers would pass till they reach the buying stage.

Well-integrated with social media

When you create a website, you’d prefer to see the most minuscule amount bit the points at which social media popular in china could also be utilized. For example, WeChat or QQ should be used for logins to an internet site built for China.

While virtually every Chinese netizen has an email address, it’s used far as you expect. Inputting a mobile number and receiving a unique SMS confirmation is much more widespread.

Youku or QQ video should be built into a Chinese website for embedding videos, and WeChat pay and/or Alibaba’s Alipay should be the payment method integrated.

Design and UX

UX or design requires thoughtfully and methodically considering the environment, span, and screen space. Like anywhere, the aim and audience must be clearly defined when creating an online site for China.

China is also mobile-first, so your website must be adapted for mobile device usage. Additionally, integrating the net site, you simply create for China with WeChat or building a Chinese  WeChat minisite will create a more seamless user experience.

Besides, the content architecture, image choice, and user flow must be evaluated for Chinese audiences when looking to form Chinese websites.

To reach China, Business Localized content instead of translated content.

The Chinese language is crammed with high-contextual meaning, and your website will use the Chinese language (Chinese characters). International businesses can’t afford to be cheap! You must hire professionals for your china content.

When creating an online site for China, it is vital to remember that the content should speak to your target market: the Chinese consumer.

Rather than hire a translator, hire a copywriter with knowledge in your specific industry who can adapt and polish your content for a Chinese audience.

Domain and Hosting

If you would like your website to rank on Chinese search engines, your website must be hosted in China.

To host your website in China, your Chinese website name must be managed by a Chinese registrar, your organization must be registered in China, and you would like to use it for an ICP license.

An ICP license can be a permit issued by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Data Technology that’s mandatory for China-based websites to regulate in China.

Applying for an ICP license can take it slow, so it is essential to plan this before you build a Chinese website.

An internet site is pointless if not seen on Baidu.

Like the West, worm optimization is a critical pillar of your digital marketing plan. And within the Chinese market, Baidu is king.

Considering that 80% of Chinese consumers conduct intensive searches online (either on search engines, social media, or e-commerce platforms) to seek out products or services, being visible on Baidu is incredibly critical to capturing targeted traffic to your website and ultimately generating sales.

In China, Baidu holds the foremost market share. Many smaller and vertical search engines like Google CN, Sogou, Soso, eTao, and Qihoo 360 exist – each caters to a selected target group.

Knowing which China program to invest in and the proper budget allocation makes all the difference in your search ROI.

In addition, an integrated program strategy that mixes China programme Marketing (SEM PPC) and China computer virus Optimization (SEO) is also essential to your overall China Search Marketing ROI.

How to Advertise in China

There are some guidelines to follow when puzzling over the way to advertise in China to give some thought to always:

1. Understand Your Audience: Advertising in China requires high cultural intelligence. Run every advertisement you place by some native Chinese to ensure you’re not stepping on anyone’s toes if you’ve got the resources to research before initiating any advertising campaigns to better understand your target customer.
2. Use Professional Chinese Copywriters: Good marketers know the difference between a writer and a copywriter. Simply translating content is sometimes ineffective and fails to convey the right message to your target customers. Get an expert to expertly craft your marketing message.
3. Choose the correct format: Ad formats can impact critical metrics like click rate, impressions, and ROI. Take the time to research which ad format fits your goal best. For brand awareness, you’ll choose banners. Apart from engagement, it might be best to travel with video! Do your research and choose the correct format for your unique goal.
4. Concentrate on mobile: Nearly every company in China understands that mobile comes first. In an exceedingly very recent survey, nearly 90% of advertisers said they might increase their budget on mobile ads, while only 11% said they could increase spending on desktop. There is a reason for this. Desktop usage in China has been steadily declining, so target mobile-first!
5. Take the Time to knowThe Customer Journey: give some thought to how potential customers in China would hear about your brand and potentially convert. Is your contact form in an inconvenient place? Any barriers to conversion? The key to successful advertising is within the proper place with the appropriate message at the correct time while ensuring the conversion process is as easy and seamless as possible.
6. Analyze Your Current Customer Base: note the demographics and psychographics of your audience. They may not precisely match your audience in China, but it’s often an honest place to start.
7. Test, Test, & Test some more: an honest advertiser should measure, test, and optimise advertisements. Find which channels convert the only and deliver the best ROI to form a transparent path to growth for your business.