Traditional collectibles have become a form of social currency among young people. From spiritual comfort to stylish accessories, livestreams and e-commerce have made these pieces more accessible. And people watch appraisal livestreams for whacky collectibles as an entertainment.

Zara's pop up in Shanghai's trendy Anfu Lu provides plenty of lessons on marketing and retail for brands in China

Douyin provides a platform for ordinary people to build small businesses. By creating unconventional and slightly whacky livestreams and videos, they've captivated young audiences and driven significant sales, despite their simple, rough-around-the-edges style.

Chinese movie theatres live-streamed the Olympics’ opening ceremony and events for the first time, filling up with young people captivated by the experience

Too many Chinese marketing strategies revolve around expensive KOLs and livestreamers, but brands are increasingly getting lower-cost cut through with clever and creative initiatives

Excessive and unsustainable marketing strategies by cashed-up Chinese brands may be coming to an end

Incorporating AI into marketing is now so accessible in China, with plenty of examples of brands using it to engage more with customers and ultimately increase sales - some of the most successful approaches are surprising

Livestreaming has been in the spotlight for this year’s Singles’ Day and continues to grow, but it is also evolving, with signs that further regulation could be on the cards

Elon Musk is looking to develop Twitter/X into a China-style superapp. Looking at the way China’s apps are evolving, he’s got plenty of examples to choose from, which should factor in China marketing strategies

Over the years, China has made the headlines for its cottage industry of fakes, from infant formula to condoms to fake zoo animals. This has left many with an impression that China is a nation of copycat producers. But in reality, China has been busy beavering away for years coming up with innovative ideas that change the way people live, consume and market.

If you're living in a developed country, there's a chance you may have seen a few robots since the pandemic began. In the US, labour shortages, coupled with robots being covid-free has driven the recent adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered robots for everything from coffee delivery to making fresh, hot pizzas and customised hamburgers in minutes from deep inside a vending machine.

Singles' Day grew again this year against all odds, with some interesting data indicating why

Rising nationalism has been attributed to the rise in Chinese brands, but in many categories imported goods still hold an enviable reputation

Magnum's brand has grown in China on the back of strong marketing campaigns every summer, yet "double standards" are likely to hit the brand this year

Chinese brands' strategies are markedly different from in the West, and if the success of Shein in the US is anything to go by, we should pay attention

Digital advertising has dominated media spend for some time in China. By 2019, brands were spending more than one and half times of their advertising budget on Alibaba platforms than they spent on television commercials. Once Covid hit, ad spending shifted further to online platforms, with digital ad revenue growing 23% last year in China, against an overall 15% fall in media spend in the 9-months to September.

In the midst of the biggest economic crisis that the world has faced since the Great Depression, Chinese consumers have again demonstrated how much they love to spend when there is a deal to be had. During the 18-days of the 618 shopping festival, consumers spent over a trillion RMB in gross merchandise value (GMV) across China’s ecommerce platforms. JD clocked 34% growth on last year’s event at ¥269.2 billion ($38 billion). Alibaba – who didn’t publish their sales in 2019 – had nothing to hide this year with a healthy ¥698.2 billion ($98.7 billion) – two and a half times what they shifted in the 11 days of their Singles’ Day record last November.

China's digital channels have been the talk of the town since COVID-19 burst onto the scene. Online platforms' already-healthy growth rates have switched up a gear, with livestreaming and its big brother, ecommerce, hogging much of the spotlight. Yet behind the big numbers, all isn't what it seems. In 2018, at least a third of internet traffic in China could be considered "abnormal", and still today, few online touch points escape the bot-bombardment, brushing and other fake numbers.