HOW TO:

CHINA MARKETING
WHITEPAPER
AGENDA

01
Introduction 3

02
Search Marketing 7

03
Social Media 10

04
WeChat Marketing 16

05
E-Commerce 19

06
B2B Marketing 21

07
Travel 23

08
Take aways 25
INTRODUCTION

As Germany‘s largest trading partner, many This whitepaper gives marketers

German companies have already been able to
establish themselves in China in recent years.
an insight into what is fundamen-
Today, however, „Made in Europe“ or - even tally important for customer com-
better - „Made in Germany“ is no longer suf- munication and digital marketing
ficient as a mark of quality alone. These days,
in the Chinese market. It outlines
the „bonus“ of being a foreign brand is no lon-
ger sufficient for the final purchase decision. the specifics of the digital land-
Anyone who wants to operate successfully in scape and culture, with a focus on
China needs knowledge of the country‘s mar- Search Marketing, Social Media,
ket and specific expertise as well as cultural
understanding as central success factors: both WeChat, B2B and E-commerce.
are often either not available or only insuffi- For western companies, the Chinese digital
ciently available in global marketing depart- landscape is a great challenge. Well-known
ments. On this basis, marketers must develop and popular services from Google (including
the right strategy for their business and im- YouTube and Google Analytics) as well as
plement it throughout the entire marketing Facebook or Instagram are blocked in Chi-
mix. Established marketing strategies from na. The market in China is dominated by big
other countries can therefore not be transfer- players like Alibaba and Tencent, who offer
red on a 1:1 basis. their own services and tools. These do not only
replace their Western counterparts, but often
A special focus lies on the digital area whose even outperform them technically. In fact,
services and tools dominate both private and they are simply better adapted to the Chinese
professional daily life in China. market.

China Facts & Figures

• Population of 1.4 billion
• Double digit economic growth
• Second largest economic power
after the USA
• Approx. 800 million Chinese use re-
gularly the Internet

3
CONSUMER
BEHAVIOUR

The average Internet user is younger, better forms makes the real difference. The Chinese
informed and wealthier. As a result, the de- market has a variety of online platforms that
mands of Chinese consumers are increasing, are used by consumers. The figure shows the
as they expect a consistent user experience main Chinese platforms grouped by category.
across all online and offline channels. The
multitude of online platforms makes it diffi-
cult for international companies to enter the
Chinese market. Maintaining one website is
seldom enough: combining essential plat-

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4
HOSTING
IN CHINA

China has a so-called „Great Firewall of Chi- The „Great Firewall of China“
na“ (GFW). This makes it difficult for foreign
companies without a registered business lo-
(GFW) makes it difficult for fo-
cation in China to host their website via a local reign companies without a regis-
hosting provider in order to enable Chinese tered office in China to offer their
users to use the website more quickly and
conveniently. This is because before hosting
website via a local hosting provi-
in China, a so-called „Internet Content Pro- der. Before hosting in China, an
vider“ (ICP) Filing for the website must be „Internet Content Provider“ (ICP)
applied for at the Chinese Ministry of Industry
and Information Technology (MIIT). All web-
Filing must be applied for.
sites that are hosted in China have such an
ICP Filing and have to display it in their footer
at the bottom of their website.

ICP Filing is also called ‚Bei ‚An‘ in Chinese In recent years, many international companies
and is a basic requirement for any website to have tried to work around the legal problem
be hosted in Mainland China. This registration by hosting in Hong Kong. Although Hong
enables the hosting purely for the dissemina- Kong is also located outside the firewall, it is
tion of information. For example, universities the logistically the closest possible hosting
or purely informative websites that provide option without an ICP registration. Hosting a
marketing information require ICP Filing. website in Hong Kong, which is very easy for
Whereas websites with a digital payment con- Western companies, is therefore an alternati-
nection require a so-called „commercial“ ICP ve solution and the accessibility of data there
license. This is called „ICP Zheng“ in Chinese is often faster and more convenient for users
and allows to sell goods and services directly from the Chinese „mainland“ than content
through the website. from Europe or the USA.

Applying for an ICP registration and hosting Many businesses which have been active in
your website in Mainland China ensures that the Chinese market for several years have de-
your website will load faster. Especially infor- veloped a Chinese language website, which is
mation-intensive or resource-intensive web- not hosted in China. This results in slower con-
sites will definitely benefit from hosting in tent, long loading times and sometimes even
China. Simultaneously, a faster loading speed unreachable image, video or text content.
and a stable website will generate more traf- Therefore, if you want to provide your Chinese
fic and a higher ranking in the search result target group with complete and country-spe-
pages of search engines such as Baidu, Sogou cific content, you must first create a solid
and 360. In addition, some Baidu properties basis for the website by hosting it in Mainland
such as Baidu Wenku or market specific dis- China.
tribution platforms such as 1688 from Alibaba
require an ICP registration.

5
With regard to the choice of a domain name users. However, both from the point of view of
or a domain ending, it is important to dis- users and search engine optimization (SEO),
tinguish between the technical perspective avoid hosting content for the Chinese market
and the user perspective. This has changed under other country TLD such as a .DE or .FR
in the last few years. For your understanding: domain. Also generic or sponsored TLDs such
search engines like Baidu are in Chinese as .INFO or .WEB should be avoided.
with completely Chinese interfaces, made by
Chinese for Chinese. Therefore, content that The graphic shows an example from the
is written in Chinese and hosted in China is Chinese Mercedes Benz domain www.merce-
prioritized. However, this does not necessari- des-benz.com.cn. The ICP Filing is identified
ly apply to the actual domain ending (TLD = by the registration location (first character)
Top-Level-Domain). The official country TLD and the following letters ICP. Web sites which
for China is .CN, although Baidu itself is ope- have such an ICP Filing are registered on a
rated under a .COM address. A .CN domain is server or a so-called Content Delivery Network
therefore a sign for the users, which ensures (CDN) on the Chinese mainland.
that this website is optimized for Chinese

Example of ICP Filing (Chinese

Mercedes Benz domain):

6
SEARCH
MARKETING

Of China‘s 800 million Internet users, over gine in China with a market share of 74.63%,
650 million regularly use search engines. In followed by Shenma with 13.52% and Sogou
Europe, it is unthinkable to develop a search with only 4.78%. Google‘s share is negligible at
marketing strategy and leave Google out in 2.03%.
the cold. But in Mainland China, the leading
global search engine is used far less than its The small market share of Google as a search
Chinese counterpart Baidu, which specializes engine is not surprising, since many search
in indexing Chinese content. Baidu is one of queries are blocked from the first attempt
the largest internet companies in China and is and Baidu probably simply gives better re-
considered the most important search en- sults when indexing Chinese content. For
example, if you try to type in a search term on
Baidu is one of the largest Inter- google.cn, you will be forwarded directly to
net companies in China and is the Google interface google.com.hk in Hong
Kong. Nevertheless, there are of course ways
valid with 74.63% market share as to work around the „Great Firewall of China“:
the most important search engine with a virtual private network (VPN) it is relati-
in China, followed by Shenma with vely easy to gain access to Google and Co. But
companies operating in China should focus
13.52 and Sogou with only 4.78%.
on the Chinese search engine Baidu and its
Google‘s share is negligibly small properties.
with only 2.03%.
An overview of the most important Baidu key
facts for a successful Search Engine Marketing
you will receive on the next page.

Baidu 74 ,6 3%
Shenma 13,52%
Sogou 4,78%
Haosou 3,16%
Google 2,03%

7
 Key Facts

Search Engine Cloud computing, mobile payment, travel

portals, maps, music and video search, online
Services encyclopaedias and advertising.

Language Baidu and its interfaces like Ads are only avai-
lable in High Chinese (or also: Mandarin), so it
Settings is very important to realize the whole marke-
ting process in cooperation with native spea-
kers.

Baidu Properties Baidu offers „vertical search engines“ similar

to Google Maps or Google Shopping. Among
the most important Baidu properties are
Baidu Baike, Wenku und Zhidao. Baike corre-
sponds to the German Wikipedia and is Chi-
na‘s largest online encyclopaedia. Wenku is a
document sharing platform. Private users as
well as companies publish detailed informa-
tion on specific topics online. Zhidao (literally
„knowledge“) provides a platform to ask ques-
tions and provide answers, similar to Quora.

Advertisement Ads are placed on the right side, but may also
appear in random order in the SERPs and are
(Baidu Ads) generally clearly recognizable as ads. In ad-
dition, there is the possibility to provide in-
formation about brands in the „Brand Zone“.
Setting up a Baidu account, is very complex
and time-consuming and is also only available
in High Chinese. Sometimes ads are so pro-
minently displayed in the search results that
the organic results (SEO) are displaced from
visibility. The use of Baidu Ads is even more
important than the use of Google Ads if you
want to ensure visibility in Baidu.

Search Engine Baidu uses its own crawler Baiduspider. Re-

levance, content, visual design and backlinks
Optimization (SEO) play an important role in the ranking of the
websites in the SERPs. Sites hosted otside the
country and the „Great Firewall“ often have
very long loading times, which has a high
impact on mobile internet use. A high-perfor-
mance hosting is therefore an essential requi-
rement in China. 8
SOGOU, SHENMA
& CO.

Sogou is one of the most important search Overview of the most import-
engines on the Chinese market. But regard-
less of the ranking position, Sogou plays a key ant search engines in China:
role in search marketing in China. It is crucial
that Sogou is originating from Tencent and
is used as the standard search engine on QQ
and WeChat (!) as a result.

Nevertheless, there is no general statement Baidu is the largest search engine in China
that Sogou is more important than other and the third largest in the world – making it
search engines. While the Chinese search the most relevant for SEO in China.
market is clearly dominated by Baidu like
the Western search market is dominated by
Google, there are several competitors for the
second place depending on the use and plat-
form. These include Shenma, a „mobile-first“
search engine from e-commerce giant Aliba-
ba. SO.com (Hoasou.com - Chinese for „good
search engine“) is the search engine of IT se-
In addition, in the B2B context, the search curity company „Qihoo 360”
engine Haosou (formerly known as 360) is
particularly important and roughly mirrors
the role of Bing in Germany.

As a search engine with powerful web ap-

plications, Sogou also indexes content from
WeChat.

Shenma is the first „mobile first“ search en-

gine in China. It has grown strongly and is
now #2 behind Baidu.

9
SOCIAL
MEDIA

As a marketing platform, social media is beco-

ming more important than ever in China and
is an integral part of day-to-day life. Due to the
high number of users, the Chinese social me-
dia market is very appealing. The social media
landscape is very diverse, complex and rapidly
changing.

Chinese social media platforms often have a

lot more functions and are used more inten-
sively due to the higher mobile affinity of the
Chinese. However, there are still certain simila-
rities to Western social media networks, such
as the intention of the user to exchange infor-
mation with other users and companies.

Influencer marketing is an important part of

marketing for large companies nowadays.
The industry is worth billions and continues
to grow. Unlike in other countries, opinion
leaders in China are not known as influencers,
but as KOLs - so-called key opinion leaders.
They have an even greater influence on buy-
ing behaviour than the influencers we are
familiar with.

In the following section you will find an over-

view of the most important social media
channels in China:

Overview of the most

important social media
channels:
WeChat: 620 Mio. user per day
TikTok: 200 Mio. user per day
Zhihu: 140 Mio. user per day
Toutiao: 120 Mio. user per day
Sina Weibo: 110 Mio. user per day
Red: 30 Mio. user per day

10
WeChat WeChat provides all functions of WhatsApp,
Facebook, Instagram and PayPal combined in
• All-in-one messaging app, provides one single channel and features more than 10
all functions of WhatsApp, Facebook, million third-party apps. Similar to Facebook,
Instagram and PayPal individuals and companies can create an ac-
• Ø active user/day: 620 Mio.
count on WeChat. In the B2B sector, WeChat
• Ø use/day: 70 min.
• Section: B2B, B2C, C2C is used essentially to build and strengthen
customer relationships. Especially the pay-
ment function is extremely popular and repla-
ces cash and credit cards (for more details see
chapter „WeChat“).

Sina Weibo Weibo is a microblogging platform and is a

combination of Facebook and Twitter. Weibo
• Microblogging platform is used to get and share information and com-
• Ø active user/day: 110 Mio. municate with other users. For companies
• Ø use/day: 10 min.
• Section: B2C, C2C
Weibo is a very important platform to promo-
te their public image. Weibo is also the most
popular platform for KOL Ads.

Douyin In Europe the short video app is known as

TikTok. Originally, Douyin is a Chinese video
• Video platform for music videos and portal for lip-syncing music videos and other
short video clips short video clips, which additionally offers so-
• Ø active user/day: 400 Mio.
• Ø use/day: 75 min
cial networking features. Douyin Marketing is
• Section: B2C especially interesting for B2C companies with
low-priced everyday products. TikTok is cur-
rently one of the fastest growing social media
services and is conquering the western mar-

Kuaishou Kuaishou is a Chinese short video app that

is structured similar to TikTok. With over 700
• Video platform for short videos million registered users, Kuaishou is the se-
• Ø active user/day: 195 Mio. cond largest short video app and the biggest
• Ø use/day: 45 min
• Section: B2C
competitor to TikTok. While TikTok mainly pro-
motes consumer goods and fashion products,
Kuaishou is especially known for marketing
services and gaming apps.

Red RED, also known as „little Red Book“, is a life-

style and fashion app. With around 85 million
• Lifestyle sharing platform monthly users, it is particularly interesting for
• Ø active user/day: 30 Mio. companies with a female target group. Besi-
• Section: B2C, C2C des livestream functions, products can also be
directly sold and marketed via an integrated
shop. Especially KOL Marketing is very effec-
tive and recommendable on RED. In figure 4
you can see the start page of the Nivea Brand
Account on RED.
11
VIDEO
PLATFORMS

Everyone who uses Chinese social media or Western video platforms are blo-
has looked at a Chinese website before knows
that Internet users in Mainland China are used
cked in China. Chinese video plat-
to visually moving content. Since YouTube is forms such as Youku or Tencent
a Google service and therefore blocked from Video has services similar to You-
the Chinese mainland, content on the popu-
Tube.
lar video platform from the USA cannot be
displayed or integrated on websites hosted
on the Chinese mainland. This is a challenge
for many international companies, especially nels, the linguistic localization of the videos
when implementing corporate videos on the needs to be considered. Even though most of
Chinese website. the Chinese population has learned English
at school, the Chinese are rather reluctant to
In China, the functions of YouTube are carried learn foreign languages. This means that it
out by platforms like Youku, iQiyi or Tencent would be best if videos in Chinese language
Videos. These Chinese video platforms offer were available to users. For many international
similar services to YouTube. Company videos companies, adding Chinese subtitles to their
can be uploaded, embedded and distribu- videos and using an English voice-over is suffi-
ted beyond the own website. On Youku and cient.
Co. you can also set up a company account,
but the requirements for a verified compa-
ny account are complex and restrictive. For
example, Tencent Videos only allows Chinese
companies to open a company profile.

Another special characteristic of a Chinese

video platform is the significantly increased
penetration with advertisements. Video plat-
forms such as Youku insert advertising which
may be off-topic or even from a competitor
before the start of a video clip. But there is a
workaround! If you pay an annual fee, no ad-
vertising will be displayed on your own videos
in Youku. But if you don‘t want to spend mo-
ney on it, then you should use Tencent Videos
to publish videos. Advertisements will be
shown there as well, but much less offensive
than on Youku. Furthermore, Tencent Videos
offers the advantage to implement the videos
in WeChat. This is not possible for videos on
Youku, because WeChat is provided by Ten-
cent and does not cooperate with the compe-
titor Alibaba.

In addition to the mere availability of video

content on your website or social media chan-

12
Youku Youku is the largest video sharing platform in
China and acts as a counterpart to YouTube.
• Video sharing platform Users can stream or download films and TV
• Ø active user/day: 40 Mio. shows on Youku. Especially companies can
• Ø active views/day: 800 Mio.
• Ø use/day: 65 min.
use Youku to reach their target group with
• Section: B2B, B2C, C2C video content, which is becoming more and
more popular with users, or Youku Ads.

Tencent Video Tencent Video is one of the most frequently

used video platforms in China. As the name
• Video streaming & sharing platform suggests, Tencent Video is part of the internet
• Ø user/day: 900 Mio. giant Tencent. In contrast to Youku, they also
• Section: B2B, B2C, C2C broadcast short films or TV clips. Furthermore,
Tencent offers numerous other advantages in
comparison to Youku. For example, only Ten-
cent Videos can be integrated into WeChat,
since both companies belong to Tencent.

iQiyi iQiyi, also known as Aiqiyi, is similar to the

American provider Netflix in many functions.
• Video streaming platform Besides movies and series there are music
• Ø user/day: 135 Mio. videos and other short videos uploaded from
• Ø user/month: 455 Mio.
private accounts.
• Section: B2B, B2C

Bilibili Bilibili is another video-sharing platform

that focuses on cartoons, comics and online
• Video sharing platform games in China. A big advantage of the plat-
• Ø user/day: 37 Mio. form is the comment subtitle function for
• Ø user/month: 128 Mio.
videos.
• Section: B2C

13
KEY-OPINION-
LEADER (KOL)

Influencer marketing has become an esta- offers the connection of e-shops while e-com-
blished part of the marketing mix for many merce platforms (e.g. Taobao) integrate social
Western companies in recent years. However, media functions such as live streaming. Using
what many companies do not realize is that this know-how, the integration of the various
the Chinese influencer market is much larger online channels and functions offers enor-
and of greater importance for the marketing mous potential for the market entry of foreign
of products in China. With around 650 mil- companies.
lion social media users that is no surprise at
all! Unlike in other countries, the stars of the
internet in China are not known as influen-
cers, but as KOLs - so-called Key Opinion Lea-
ders. They have even more influence on their
social media followers than the influencers we
know. That‘s why KOL marketing in China is
often the first and also the most effective way
to increase sales of certain products or raise
brand awareness.

Along with a high number of followers and

clicks, the high level of trust of the users is a
big bonus of KOL marketing. Statistics show
that 49% of Chinese consumers have made
a purchase decision based on KOL recom-
mendations. For younger generations the
percentage is even higher! In China there are
different types of KOLs. Unlike in Germany, the
influencer market is much bigger and more
complex. There is another group of influen-
cers besides KOLs, the so-called KOCs - Key
Opinion Consumers. The main difference
between KOLs and KOCs is that Key Opinion
Consumers do not declare themselves as in-
fluencers, but test and evaluate products and
services as „private individuals“.

The highly advanced integration of social

media, e-commerce and digital payment
providers enables influencers in China to have
a variety of opportunities to promote, evaluate
or sell products directly. WeChat, for example,

14
KOL
CATEGORIES

Celebrities Famous personalities such as actors, singers

or TV presenters. Cooperations with celebrities
• Price range: From 50,000 € are by far the most expensive.
• Reach: 1 Mio. impressions

Wanghong This is the name given to the shining Internet

stars of China. Translated into English langua-
• Price range: From 10,000 € ge those Influencers are called: “King Red”.
• Reach: 750,000 impressions The costs are about 20-40% lower compared
to celebrities.

Mid-tier They are well known in their industry and

have between 50,000 - 500,000 followers.
• Price range: From 5,000 €
• Reach: 500,000 impressions

Micro They usually serve a niche area of interests.

Perfect for more targeted campaigns or B2B.
• Price range: From 2,000 €
• Reach: 200,000 impressions

Blogger Also called key opinion consumers - they fre-

quently conduct product tests and share their
• Price range: From 1,000 € experiences with the community.
• Reach: 100,000 impressions

Long-tail They are often only at the beginning of their

career and create their own content.
• Price range: From 500 €
• Reach: 5,000 impressions

15
WECHAT
MARKETING

The lifestyle app „WeChat“ (Chinese „Wēixìn“) is quickly distributed by your followers, e.g. in
by Internet giant Tencent already has more their „moments“, and establishes trust with
than 1 billion daily users and is THE (digital) third parties. Official accounts can even integ-
centre of life for many Chinese people - espe- rate their own apps (mini programs). A We-
cially due to the strong mobile use. WeChat Chat profile is therefore more important than
offers different account types with indivi- a website for many Chinese companies. Espe-
dual menus, mini-program integrations and cially popular is the use of QR codes in online
games, e-commerce functions as well as pay- and offline marketing such as on flyers: this
ment services and therefore combines many is the easiest way to add new accounts/com-
functions of western platforms like Facebook, panies and friends, advertise campaigns, pay
WhatsApp, PayPal and Amazon in only one the taxi or even make a donation to a street
„all-in-one“ - App. musician.

It is this combination that opens up great Thanks to extensive controls during the ac-
opportunities for B2B and B2C companies, count registration process, WeChat avoids
because users don‘t need to leave WeChat fake accounts just like Facebook and therefo-
in order to contact and communicate with re ensures the professional use of the app. Af-
brands, find shops or products and can also ter the registration, users have access to free
pay directly - online AND offline! Easy-to-use chat services as well as telephone and video
sharing functions ensure that your content call functions.

Follow us on WeChat

On our new WeChat account, we regularly

post information and updates about China
Digital Marketing. Learn from us how to suc-
cessfully conduct digital marketing in China.

Simply scan the QR code, follow us and stay

informed about China Digital Marketing.

(Note: The QR code must be scanned within

the WeChat app)

16
WECHAT
FOR BUSINESS

For private and business use of WeChat, there used for WeChat Pay and WeChat Stores.
are different account types that allow for indi- Although companies can only post up to six
vidual authorization and marketing activities articles four times a month, these appear - in
via API interfaces. Each corporate account is contrast to subscription accounts - as „push
an „Official Account“, which is subdivided into notification“ in the follower‘s chat list. The fre-
different platform versions (China or Inter- quency is reduced, but the visibility is much
national), account types (subscription and higher!
service) and verification status (verified and
unverified). Service Accounts are therefore the prefer-
red choice for most companies with a larger
1. Subscription Accounts audience or customer database and are per-
fectly suited for customer service, as users can
These accounts focus on information and send messages directly to the account. In ad-
brand communication and are used like a dition, they offer significantly more data and
daily news feed. Only these types of accounts information for companies in the back office,
can be used by individuals like bloggers and such as the use of QR codes.
celebrities. They are well suited for companies
that wish to communicate with their custo- Furthermore, there are so-called „Enterprise
mers and publish content on a daily basis. Accounts“. These can be used primarily for
internal communication within companies, si-
2. Service Accounts milar to for example Slack. These accounts are
not publicly accessible. They can be extended
Service Accounts offer many functionalities by third-party APIs to include functions such
such as API integration, e-commerce and as video conferencing and content sharing.
CRM features. Verified accounts can also be

Features & Subscription Service

conditions Account Account

Number of messages 1x message per day 4x per month 1 to 6 articles each

Push notifications no yes

WeChat menu yes yes

QR codes yes yes

WeChat advertising yes yes

API / Pay / Store / E-Commerce no yes

17
WECHAT
ADVERTISEMENT

In addition to the setup of a WeChat account, cause certain industries and products are
the promotion of the new account is very not allowed to be marketed via WeChat. This
important in order to build up a new commu- includes for example media or the chemical
nity in China. You have already made the first industry.
successful step into the market with frequent
articles about your company and products In addition to the classic WeChat advertising
in Chinese, but what is an account without a options, there is of course also the possibility
community anyway? of working with KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders).

With WeChat Targeting you can reach your

target group in China. WeChat offers three dif-
ferent types of advertising:

1. Moments Advertising
The advertising is broadcast in the news feed
of private users. Video as well as image or text
formats are possible.

2. Official Account Advertising (Banner Ad-

vertising)
The advertisement is positioned in another of-
ficial WeChat account. There are two different
types of ads: in article ads and page bottom
ads. This means that the advertisement is
either displayed in the middle of the article or
at the end.

3. Mini Program Advertising

This advertising is broadcast within mini pro-
grames (mini games) in WeChat. You can use
bottom banner ads (advertising at the end of
the mini programe), incentive ads (mini game
videos) or pop-up ads. Fig. 3 shows how a
WeChat landing page can look like using the
example of a Coca Cola mini programe in the
mobile version.

In order for a company account to advertise

via WeChat, a so-called WeChat promotion
account must be applied for. You can do this
via the WeChat interface. Please make sure Fig.: Coca Cola Mini program - WeChat landingpage
you meet the requirements of WeChat, be-

18
E-
COMMERCE

Unlike in Europe, Amazon plays

hardly any role in China and with
a market share of 1% is far behind
the dominant B2C and B2B plat-
forms Tmall and JD.com.

The Alibaba platform Tmall dominates 53% of

the B2C and B2B market and is used by 97%
of online buyers. International companies
E-commerce is a gigantic market in China and brands often consider Tmall as a pure
and is developing rapidly. Due to its market „Amazon China“, but this comparison is very
size and innovation potential alone, China is inaccurate. 61% of Chinese consumers start
one of the most attractive e-commerce mar- their product search at Tmall, while only 39%
kets worldwide. of global consumers use Amazon for the same
purpose. Brands should rather see Tmall as a
Due to the increasing needs of Chinese con- search engine, discovery platform and e-com-
sumers for foreign products, the opportunities merce platform in one.
for international retailers. Especially products
„Made in Germany“ are popular.

Social Media & E-Commerce

In China today it is almost impossible to dis- streaming of a KOL, receive real-time feed-
tinguish between e-commerce and social back on products and then easily and imme-
media. This is clearly evident in the evolving diately complete the purchase via an e-com-
landscape of Key Opinion Leaders (KOL). A merce platform.
typical Chinese customer could follow the live

Inspiration from Inspiration from Offline

social media friends & family inspiration

Sharing on Purchase Research

social media

19
 Alibaba, Tmall Tmall.com is the largest B2C trading platform
in Asia, enabling companies to sell directly to
• Market share: 53 % millions of consumers across China. It is ope-
• active user/month: 610 Mio. rated by the Alibaba Group. Sales via Tmall is
• 97% of Chinese who shop online use
Tmall
the most effective way for foreign companies
to penetrate the Chinese market. Running a
Tmall.com storefront is similar to running your
own B2C website and offers autonomy from
design to delivery and logistics. Tmall Global
was created specifically for international retai-
lers. Here foreign companies can offer and sell
their goods without having their own repre-
sentative office in China, i.e. without having to
hold a Chinese business/trading licence.

JD.com JD.com ist die zweitgrößte Handelsplattform

und weist viele Ähnlichkeiten zu Amazon auf.
• Market share: 33 % Während anfangs nur Elektroprodukte über
• active user/month: 250 Mio. die Plattform verkauft wurden, gibt es heute
• 80% of Chinese who shop online use
JD.com
ähnlich wie auf Tmall ein sehr breites Pro-
dukt¬spektrum, wobei immer noch ein Groß-
teil des Umsatzes über Elektronik erzielt wird.
Deutschen Unternehmen, die von der chi¬ne-
sischen Kauflust profitieren wollen, bietet
JD.com drei verschiedene Vertriebsmodelle
über JD Worldwide, JD Marketplace und JD
Direct Sales.

Facts & Figures

237 Bil. € 20 % 86 %
was the turnover of on- of the total turnover in of all e-commerce
line trade in 2019 consumer goods was clients are between 16
generated in e-com- and 35 years old
merce platforms

20
B2B
MARKETING

company to analyse the potentially suitable

online marketplaces in China in detail. Depen-
ding on the industry, type of production and/
or sales and pricing strategy, different plat-
forms should be selected. For some western
B2B companies, niche marketplaces in China
may be particularly interesting, as they offer
an individual experience as well as a more
specific target group.

WeChat is used by over 90% of the

users - also in work communica-
tion - and thus replaces emails,
which are still very popular in this
China‘s economy is booming - the growing country.
middle class and the high demand for „Wes-
tern“ goods offer a great opportunity for
foreign companies. However, while brands In addition to the time-consuming analysis for
such as Volkswagen, Nike or Chanel are highly specialized B2B marketplaces, there are some
successful in the B2C sector, B2B companies more general B2B platforms, such as Global
often struggle to adapt their marketing stra- Sources. These platforms are not limited to
tegies to the Chinese market. selling products, but help to increase visibility
in for example Baidu and attract more qua-
It is important to analyse the basic cultural lified traffic to other important touchpoints,
and technical characteristics of the Chine- like the website. Some marketplaces allow
se market in advance and to take them into the establishment of a so-called Brand Store,
account in a locally adapted marketing and which gives users the opportunity to learn
sales strategy. Especially digital channels such more about the company and its products.
as WeChat and Baidu are of central import- Most of the time there is also the possibility
ance in the B2B market and are therefore to contact a representative of the company
important factors for sustainable business directly to discuss questions or details. These
success. brand stores and advertisements on B2B plat-
forms in China are the most important chan-
The digital landscape in China is much more nels to generate qualified leads and should
diversified and complex than the digital land- definitely be integrated into your digital mar-
scape in Europe, as has already been indica- keting strategy for China.
ted. This also applies to online B2B market-
places. In contrast to shopping platforms such
as Amazon, where you simply enter a search
term and make a purchase in the shortest
possible time, the research phase and the
purchase decision in B2B takes up significant-
ly more time and, above all, individual advice.
For this reason, it is necessary for each B2B

21
B2B COMMERCE
PLATFORMS

1688 1688 is a B2B specific sales platform operated

by Alibaba. Companies can register a shop
• Leading online B2B marketplace to sell products directly or to place advertise-
Alibaba ments. Additional to conventional advertising
• Ø user/month: 44 Mio.
options, such as banners or display ads, 1688
• Sections: All important sections
also offers integrated payment services (Ali-
pay) and support for logistics issues.

Global Sources Global Sources is a specific platform for B2B,

which offers a variety of advertising opportu-
• Online B2B marketplace nities in addition to the direct sale of products.
• Sections: electronic, automotiv and The special feature of Global Sources is the
motorcycle accessories and delivery,
craft and DIY products
cooperation with offline magazines and PR
institutions. It is also possible to advertise your
own products without having your own online
shop. This is especially suitable for companies
which have no standard products and need
qualitative leads for their sales team in China.

Made-in-China Made-in-China is a particularly well-known

platform for foreign companies in China. In
• Online B2B marketplace order to sell products, a membership on the
• Sections: Industrial products, machi- platform must be completed. As soon as a
ne industry
company has become part of the „communi-
ty“, it is also possible to place advertisements
directly. In addition to the classic advertising
formats, Made-in-China also offers participa-
tion in offline fairs for its members.

22
TRAVEL

China is the largest travel nation in the world China is the largest travel nation
with the highest per capita shopping budget:
more than 140 million Chinese tourists will
in the world with the highest per
travel abroad in 2018. The potential is huge, as capita shopping budget. Reach
only about 10% of all Chinese have a passport Chinese tourists before they come
to date - and the affluent middle class conti-
to Europe and guide them to your
nues to grow.
business.
According to Ctrip Travel, a leading Chinese
travel service provider, Germany is among the other platforms that inform the user about
top 5 most popular European destinations. flights, hotels, travel routes or even shopping
Especially for German shops and department opportunities in the destination country.
stores with comparatively low priced products With digital marketing measures you can
in the premium and luxury segment, this is a reach Chinese shopping tourists already in
huge potential to win new customers! China and draw their attention to your local
company. Offer Chinese tourists an optimal
However, the buying behaviour of Chinese shopping experience on site and win them
tourists differs significantly: the average Chi- over as advocates and repeat buyers through
nese spends about 3.9 hours per day on mo- post-sales measures!
bile apps. WeChat is clearly the leader with
more than 1.1 billion active monthly users.
For Chinese tourists, however, there are many

The most popular states

for Chinese tourists in
Germany:
Bavaria: 29,0%
Hessen: 19,4%
Baden-Württemberg: 4,9%
Nordrhein-Westfalen: 11,9%
Berlin: 10,5%
Source: German center for tourism 2015

23
TRAVEL
PLATFORMS

WeChat WeChat offers all functions of WhatsApp,

Facebook, Instagram and Paypal bundled in
• All-in-one messaging app one channel and has over 10 million third-par-
• Ø user/month: 1,08 Bil. ty apps. Among them is Tongcheng, a Chine-
• Ø use: 70 min.
• Section: B2B, B2C, C2C
se travel provider. So for the average Chinese
person it is not necessary to leave the WeChat
cosmos for a travel research. Many users book
hotels, flights and travel routes directly via the
app using WeChat Pay.

Ctrip Ctrip is the largest online travel portal in China

and is operated by Alibaba. In Germany Ctrip
• China’s biggest online travel agency is known as Trip.com and offers similar ser-
• Ø user/month: 150 Mio. vices as in China. The app allows the user to
• Section: B2C (possibly B2B)
search and book flights, train connections,
hotels and sightseeing. Chinese users can also
book travel routes and travel groups packages
and search for specific shops in a city.

Mafengwo Mafengwo also offers the possibility to plan

and book trips via the website or app. In ad-
• One-stop-shop solution for travel dition, Mafengwo offers detailed travel reports
informations that give the user an insight into the destina-
• Ø user/month: 100 Mio.
• Section: B2C, C2C
tion. For this reason, the Community Forum is
used particularly intensively. There users can
exchange experiences and ask questions.

Fliggy is another online travel agency ope-

Fliggy rated by Alibaba. The special feature of this
• Online travel agency platform is an integrated e-commerce shop.
• Ø user/month: 549 Mio. Millions of Chinese travelers use Fliggy to
• Section: B2C book flights and accommodation.

24
TAKE
AWAYS

The online channels are strongly intertwined in China.

Users exchange experiences in WeChat, research in Baidu and then buy from Tmall
or JD.

Tmall, WeChat & Baidu replace Amazon, Facebook & Google.

Online strategies must be adapted to the respective search engines and platforms.

98% of all Internet users in China use the smartphone.

Since the use of smartphones is particularly high, an optimized mobile version of the
website is therefore particularly important.

Professional Chinese (Mandarin) must be the central communi-

Native speakers should be used for content creation and all communication activi-
ties.

WeChat is the digital centre of life

Customer communication, advertising opportunities and e-commerce as well as
payment connections in WeChat can replace your website in China.

The Chinese consumer is more informed and wealthier

Make sure that you create an individual customer journey for the Chinese market
and serve important digital touch points.

Respect cultural rules, values and customs

From the polite bow instead of the familiar handshake to appropriate small-talk to-
pics and the popular business dinner.

25
Get in touch with us!

Do you have questions about our China Marketing products and services or do you want to get
basic information about digital optimization measures? Simply contact us in German, English
or Chinese - we will be happy to help you!

Your contact partner:

Nils Horstmann Minyi Huang

Managing Director Digital Marketing Specialist

Phone: +49 89 / 998271 801 Phone: +49 89 / 998271 800

Email: nh@eviom.com Email: minyi.huang@eviom.com

Imprint
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