{"id":3390,"date":"2017-06-12T14:35:47","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T05:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/?p=3390"},"modified":"2024-05-24T17:54:15","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T08:54:15","slug":"e-commerce-becomes-entertainment-and-china-leads-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/e-commerce-becomes-entertainment-and-china-leads-the-game\/","title":{"rendered":"E-commerce becomes entertainment, and China leads the game"},"content":{"rendered":"

China is today\u2019s e-commerce world leader. With a population of 1.4 billion among which 52%<\/span> is connected to the internet and have only known the mobile era, this is not a big surprise. However, too many brands are still looking to the US seeking inspiration, while the front runners in E-commerce are in the Asia Pacific. As we see China bringing e-commerce to the next level with social media and entertainment strategies.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nIn China, e-commerce is mainly driven through mobile<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Mobile sales made up half of China e-commerce in 2016.\u00a0<\/span>A meaningful example of this mcommerce boom can be found in \u201cChina\u2019s Singles Day\u201d Shopping Festival. <\/span>E-commerce giant Alibaba hosted the event on its shopping platform <\/span>Tmall<\/span><\/a>, the festival was able to top its 1st Billion dollar sales within 5 minutes after it launched, and 82% of the sales were made from mobile devices. <\/span>For comparison, USA \u201cBlack Friday\u201d sales during 2016 closed with \u201conly\u201d 3 billion dollars. A third of these purchases were made via mobile.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPeer influence triggers the Chinese to purchase<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What influences Chinese consumers in their purchase decisions is peer recommendation.\u00a0<\/span>Chinese society is based on <\/span>GuanXi<\/span><\/a>, a system of social networks and relationships that ease business and social life in the country. Chinese tend to trust their peers more than any brand or individual evolving outside of their circle. <\/span>Most Chinese consumers won\u2019t buy anything without collecting product information online and cross-checking it with their peers\u2019, past experience and opinions of brands. 75% of Chinese internet users share monthly ratings and reviews, versus 20% in the US and Europe<\/span>. <\/span>Peer influence being key in shopping, influencer marketing is rising in China. <\/span><\/p>\n


\nChinese opinion leaders are key sellers<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Liaising with local opinion leaders is a powerful tool to enter the Chinese market and trigger word of mouth on Chinese social platforms like WeChat.\u00a0Chinese are content creators, they share pictures and videos of their life online: where and what they eat, where they shop and what they buy. <\/span>WeChat and other social platforms are well aware of the importance of China\u2019s word of mouth, so they created marketplaces for users to buy and sell directly in apps.\u00a0Why in apps? <\/span><\/p>\n

Social media and privately owned apps are somewhat less regulated by the authorities, so many Chinese tend to value the advice of opinion leaders in social networks rather than on official\/public channels like TV.\u00a0This privileged status of online influencers recently changed as the Chinese government intensified the supervision of the booming live streaming industry in the country. <\/span><\/p>\n


\nSocial platforms integrate e-commerce<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As peers influence Chinese purchases, e-commerce is now integrated into social media to increase brands\u2019 conversion rates.\u00a0It is the case on Wechat, this messaging application has 846M active users among which 55% open the app more than 10 times a day! Used for personal purposes, WeChat users are open to brand content and 80% of them follow official accounts. <\/span>Wechat\u2019s impressive user base, along with China\u2019s word of mouth culture, leads Chinese social giants to develop e-commerce at a staggering rate.<\/p>\n

More than receiving information about brands, WeChat users can shop and pay in-app.\u00a0<\/span>It is a real engagement hub for brands where you can easily start a one on one communication with consumers, from providing coupons to ensuring an efficient customer service relationship pre & post purchase.<\/p>\n

WeChat recently announced the launch of <\/span>mini apps<\/span><\/a> inside WeChat for brands to sell on more customized platforms, without leaving the Tencent ecosystem and its user base. <\/span>Swarovski<\/span><\/a> is the first jewelry brand to have launched its mini app on WeChat. The brand developed a one-click solution for Mother’s Day, smoothly guiding users from KOL inspiring videos of their new collection to the checkout page where purchases could be made via WeChat Pay. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n


\nChinese e-commerce turns into entertainment<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Chinese social media platforms are turning into e-commerce platforms and vice versa.
\nE-commerce players Alibaba and Tencent, <\/span>but also cosmetic brands such as Mogujie.com and Jumei.com <\/span>are developing their own social\/live-streaming platforms inside their ecommerce ecosystems. <\/span>We all remember teleshopping as the purest form of commerce entertainment. Well, it is coming back online in China, with Alibaba, TaoBao, Tmall, JD or Jumei having their own e-commerce live streams, fashion shows, and celebrities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"chinese<\/p>\n

Here are some striking examples of Chinese e-commerce entertainment:<\/p>\n


\nTaobao cross-border shopping in VR<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Want to shop in New York but too busy working? No worries, Alibaba has a VR solution to teleport you right to your desired store. <\/span>For Single\u2019s Day, Macy\u2019s the American department store partnered with Alibaba to launch all VR experience for the Chinese market. <\/span>Alibaba sold 150,000 VR headsets a week before Single Day, for people to access and buy directly in Macy\u2019s New York store through the e-commerce platform TaoBao using their VR sets. <\/span><\/p>\n


\n“See now buy now” live fashion shows<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Experiences are for everyone. Tencent e-commerce platform Tmall launched a big shopping event that took shape over 8 hours live-stream concert and fashion show. <\/span>Over six million people tuned in to Tmall to watch, party, and buy real-time what they saw on the catwalk. 80 brands participated in this first edition. <\/span>With<\/span> 14,500 foreign brands currently on the Tmall Global platform many more interactive events are in the pipeline. <\/span><\/p>\n


\nLive streaming goes viral<\/strong><\/h3>\n

China now has more than 300 live-stream platforms, 46% of Chinese have used a live streaming application and internet celebrities have jumped in to host shows<\/span> on e-commerce live streaming<\/a> platforms. <\/span>E-commerce celebrities easily gather 100,000 viewers to their individual screen showrooms and the conversion rate is impressive: 32% for TaoBao Live and JD Live! <\/span><\/p>\n

However the Chinese government <\/span>recently<\/span><\/a> shut down 30,000 live streamer accounts in an attempt to erase violent and sexy content heavily available online.\u00a0<\/span>Many independent live streamers and small streaming platforms will soon disappear from the market as the government now request a license to operate.\u00a0Foreign live streamers are also impacted as they need to get a special authorization from the Ministry of Culture to distribute their content in China.\u00a0<\/span>That is why brands are now hiring famous, or e-commerce giants affiliated, live-streamers to help promote their products<\/span>. \u00a0<\/span>For instance Maybelline used a <\/span>live-stream platform to announce Chinese e-commerce celebrity <\/span>Angelababy<\/span><\/a> as its new ambassador. She sold over 100,000 lipsticks in 2 hours on that platform<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"angelbaby\"<\/p>\n

Now at the forefront of e-commerce, China is experimenting a lot, taking the risk to test and apply the latest innovations to e-commerce, one step ahead of government regulations. <\/span><\/p>\n

The convergence of social platforms & entertainment combined with e-commerce is growing rapidly, but it will only benefit e-commerce giants whose growth is ensured by the new laws implemented by the government, \u00a0preventing smaller local and foreign competitors from entering the market. <\/span><\/p>\n


\nHow will Chinese consumers react to these new regulations?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Will they continue to trust professional live streamers<\/span>, <\/span>or will this change in regulations affect the \u201cfreedom of speech\u201d currently so prevalent on these e-commerce platforms changing the dynamic to less engaging and fresh. <\/span><\/p>\n

More than a consumption trend, the Chinese live-streaming boom is also seen as a means of expression for many individuals tired of China\u2019s reserved culture and seeking social recognition and the new legislation might change the way live streaming is seen in the country. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China is today\u2019s e-commerce world leader. With a population of 1.4 billion among which 52% is connected to the internet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,247],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-trend-watch"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3390"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6254,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390\/revisions\/6254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}