As the largest market in the world, China has a lot of potentials to offer for enterprises and brands to expand their businesses. Knowing the market will help you to better understand the consumer’s needs and to adjust your promotion accordingly.
Unique market habits
China is a huge market, and Chinese consumers’ preferences vary from a city to another.
Doing in-depth researches about the demand of your products in the local market and provinces, will help you to know the local preferences and the way you should communicate.
The growth in the Chinese market is undoubtly enormous, it is actually one of the only countries in the world to observe an economic recovery during the pandemic, which means that standing out among your competitors and getting recognized by the local market is getting harder and harder, as the competition to “seduce” Chinese customers is aggressive.
China is in demand of new businesses and the country is moving forward fast. Provinces tend to specialize themselves and that key for Western brands who want to enter the market.
For instance, Guangzhou is the kingdom of the manufacturing industry (textile, electronic, apparels, toys…), Shenzhen and Beijing invested in the IT, biomedicine and communications industries while Shanghai is specialized in the financial, petrochemicals, chemicals or pharmaceutical industries.
Communication about your products
Needless to say, that marketing your business on the internet is the first step of all when you want to make your way in the market. Chinese consumers are highly connected, 90% of the millennials are shopping online according to KPMG and, without a strong digital strategy, selling your products in China might be difficult.
Search engine marketing in China is different than in the West, where Google is leading the industry. Baidu is the main search engine but other companies like Sogou, Haosou (360) and Shenma are emerging, each one of them offering advertising solutions to get exposure.
Social media and communities are also trending and dozens of networks exist to target customers who have common interests, thanks to video, live-streaming and topic-based apps.
Therefore, under the circumstance of intense sales environment, major merchants have gradually integrated social media and other scenes into their sale process, the key being to identify the right network used by potential customers.
In China, the most common social media platforms that companies go to are WeChat, Youku (YouTube-like) and TikTok (DouYin is the local version of the app).
- WeChat account page functions as a website where you can list your products, set up your customer service and even link purchases to your account, from which you can withdraw the earnings to your bank account.
- Youku works like YouTube for advertisers and allows brands to place ads in popular videos and of course, to make videos.
- Douyin is a platform where users can create and share videos publicly, but as for companies, they are also platforms where they can promote their businesses and products. They stand out because they offer a different way for users and brands to share in a more creative and lively way, thus, it reduces the resistance of consumers to promotions and advertisements that are being displayed on the platform.
Other platforms exist. The key is to identify your target customers, to invest in the right channels and a digital agency specialized in the Chinese marketing can help to understand the differences between, WeChat, Weibo, Red, Douyin, Toutiao, Weitao, Kuaishou.
Best practices to sell in China
For companies that want to quickly market a new product in China, the goal is to combine the advantages of online marketing and rapid communication to carry out new product marketing planning.
Meanwhile, offline promotion and demographic expansions cannot be ignored either.
Identify a city where the market is relatively vacant and hire a professional business development team to expand your business is key to understand the local market.
The product life cycle is becoming shorter and shorter, especially in China. Manufacturers are constantly introducing new styles and materials in order to continuously satisfy the desires of consumers, which also tend to bring the end prices down for some industries. Find the right positioning and being flexible are two important factors of success in China.
Understanding the market and the customers, having a quality website in Chinese, adapting the communication to the local habits, using the Chinese social media and search engines are crucial to be more visible in the largest market in the world.