Three cute animals are connecting China’s young urban professionals at a mental health level, seeing them go viral and merchandised by big brands

Health has long been one of the most important trends in China. Horrific smog in 2013 drove China-based researchers to conclude that Beijing's pollution made the city almost "uninhabitable for human beings." The soupy air was an unmistakable reminder of the importance of staying healthy. This, coupled with numerous food scandals, more sedentary lifestyles and the lasting Chinese tradition of being proactive about health, brought health further to the fore. That year, health was the number one concern for wealthy Chinese, mirroring findings across many consumer groups in China.

There are some staggering numbers highlighting the tough life for kids in China, all contributing to lowering fertility rates

Here's how and why bricks-and-mortar retail experiences can surpass the experience consumers get shopping on a smartphone

Besides Covid, the three terms that cemented themselves in the Chinese vernacular last year were PPE (个人防护), lockdowns (隔离) and livestreaming (直播). Over this time, there have been few articles talking about marketing in China that didn’t praise the wonders of livestreaming. The buzz around livestreaming has been infectious for both consumers and brands, with 30,000 new Taobao Live accounts opened by merchants in February 2020 alone.

Not long after the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, Chairman Mao declared motherhood to be a patriot duty to build manpower. Whilst there was no official policy, government propaganda rallied couples to reproduce. It condemned contraceptives and even banned the import of some. By the 1960s the average Chinese woman had six children.

Despite increasing geopolitical tensions, rising nationalism and Covid fears, imports of consumer goods grew 8.2% in China last year. Sales of domestic goods contracted 3.9%. Chinese consumers' historic pursuit for beauty helped see imported cosmetics as one of the biggest drivers of this growth, with their value rising over 30% according to China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) figures published last week.The strong growth in cosmetics imports further reinforces the attractiveness of foreign skincare brands, and is well timed to coincide with the launch of the China Skinny Skincare Tracker.

Happy 2021. With China being the only major country to grow its GDP in 2020, economists the world over have been dialling up their forecasts of China's relative might in the years ahead. The Chinese economy is now expected to be larger than the US by 2028, presenting enormous opportunities for everything from milk to Maseratis.

Both China's elderly and its millennials and gen-z consumer segments are among some of the most lucrative segments globally, this will help you understand them.

China’s ballooning endearing popular is the last frontier of growth for budding brands hoping to tap into China’s enormous population. China’s over-60 market is likely to double in size from 240 million in 2017 to 486 million by 2050.

Something quite remarkable happened in 2018. After hundreds of millions of dollars of investments, and over a dozen years of disappointing attempts from Amazon, eBay, and Walmart, a company little-known outside of China – Pinduoduo (PDD) – finally managed to crack Alibaba and JDs’ ecommerce duopoly in China.

The telltale sign that China had contained the coronavirus was when children were allowed back to school. It began out west as early as mid-March as schools in Xinjiang started opening their doors again. It was a little longer before schools in China’s wealthy coastal cities were operating again – in April, one Beijing mother whose child had been at home for almost three months noted a popular sentiment in her WeChat mums group was “if the scientists don’t hurry up and develop a vaccine, the mothers will!” Thankfully, by May, most schools across China had welcomed students back, albeit with reduced class sizes, shortened lessons, staggered arrival times and the looming presence of thermal scanners.

Localizing, creating social buzz and targeting Generation Z. Here is a look at what it takes to launch a successful brand partnership on the China market.

Although China may have the second highest GDP of any country, when divided among its 1.4 billion citizens, it ranks down at number 65, just under Mexico and below the global average according to IMF 2019 estimates.

China Internet Infographic

$200 million. That's what China's fastest growing and second-most popular ecommerce platform Pinduoduo (PDD) invested in appliance and electronics retailer Gome last week.

Every crisis drives the need for creative solutions to solve newfound issues. COVID-19 has provided many examples where businesses have been forced to re-think their go-to-market strategy. The most agile businesses, who have done what they can to look after their employees and customers, are likely to come out ahead when this is all over.

Analysis of three additional buzz words that are commonly used in Chinese product marketing approach and that they mean for brands.