Top 10 China Marketing Trends for 2021

China Marketing Trends 2021 – Are you ready for 2021?

Despite COVID-19’s effect across sectors, the show must go on as global brands embrace the new normal. In this post, the LIMPID team has curated a list of the top 10 China marketing trends for 2021 to help you recalibrate your online marketing strategies.

China Marketing Trends 2021: Livestream is still an emerging concept and will grow more

Livestream selling will become indispensable next year as eCommerce continuously grow alongside social commerce. According to ChoZan Mega Report 2020, the market size of live streaming eCommerce doubled in 2020, and due to COVID-19, people have become accustomed to this selling practice. Whether brands and customers alike, this will be part of the new normal in 2021 and it’s just starting to grow. Taobao and JD.com are already supporting live streaming features, including short video app like Douyin.

Cross-promotions for increased collaboration

Collaborating with a brand in a different sector will likely be more present in 2021. Cross promotions aren’t a new concept as global brands are already working with local brands to stay relevant to Chinese customers. That said, expect that regardless of the sector, brands will adopt cross-promotions as a way to diversify the marketing campaigns.

Watch out for the KOL bubble and invest in grooming your own

Working with Key Opinion Leaders is expensive as companies pay for the influencer’s reach and community. However, brands should watch out for the KOL bubble as more creators, despite the large numbers they attract, some of them are believed to use fake metrics. If you’re planning to reach out to millennials and Gen-Z, you’d rather build and groom your own KOLs who will only promote your brand exclusively.

‘Guochao’ concept will be prevalent next year

Guochao means going local. Brands will look for ways to stay relevant to customers by taking advantage of this concept. That said, to achieve the objectives, brands will collaborate with local brands, especially if they are targeting those demographics such as millennials and Generation Z who have a strong sense of national pride.

Brands to capitalize on artificial intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence will spur more improvements in the eCommerce industry as brands will take advantage of speech recognition, chatbots, and other data-driven offline and online store experience. China plans to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030, and the future has already begun as delivery drones, facial recognition, and other emerging models are shaping marketing trends as well. The use of machine learning and deep learning technology will also affect the way social media platforms operate, thus giving brands more ways to diversify brand strategies through data-driven, and cloud-based applications, and the aid of artificial intelligence.

Luxury brands on selfie-worthy campaigns and strategies

Brands should consider their offline strategies such as in-store experience and concepts that will prompt customers to appreciate them by taking photos. If businesses target young people, then they can invest in developing their brick-and-mortar shops as well. This is applicable to luxury brands. As Reuter said, “Now more than ever, everything needs to be selfie-worthy.”

Brands will explore tier 3 cities

Brands will explore tier cities with their marketing activities because of the potential of the market in these emerging places. The Tier 3 areas comprise of suburbs but with millions of residents. Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities have been in the spotlight for most marketers, but this time, with consumers getting immerse with eCommerce, the growth in rural areas is evident. According to a 2019 survey, female shoppers in tier 3 cities and below spend more than the consumers in Tier 1 and Tier 1 cities on Singles Day.

Social media and eCommerce will look the same

Expect that most social media platforms like WeChat, Douyin, Weibo, and Red will support eCommerce features and more functionalities will be added. Meanwhile, eCommerce platforms like Taobao are also incorporating social media functionalities like live streaming through Weitao and Taobao Live.

Video content will continuously grow

Video content remains king in the next few years as platforms in China will constantly roll out features that will also be advantageous for KOLs and brands. That said, brands and KOLs will have to explore different channels to reach out to a wide range of audiences such as Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou, and Bilibili, aside from the conventional and ubiquitous channels like WeChat and Weibo.

Nothing beats amazing content on all channels

No matter how equipped brands are with the tools and platforms, nothing beats amazing content for the audience. The combination of videos, digital campaigns, copywriting, and other cross-promotional channels will push brands to keep up with the metrics.