What We Can Learn from the Rise of Sports in China
Over the past few years, one of the fastest growing trends in China has been sports and fitness. This has led to the growth of sporting products and services, as well as consequential purchases spanning categories as diverse as vitamins and tourism. The trend is being driven by both the Government who realises the health, social, economic and patriotic benefits of sports participation, and consumers who appreciate the upside in health, and are often seeking more from life.
China's tech giants have been flirting with the craze for some time, but of late, more are utilising their pools of cash and the ever-increasing capabilities of their apps and algorithms to take things up a notch.
Last week Ctrip announced that they would be subsidising skiing-related activities by ¥100 million ($14.5 million). This follows Beijing's push leading up to the 2022 Winter Olympics and undoubtedly user data is pointing to a spike in skiing-relating traveller activity.
In late-November the current cool kid on China's tech block, ByteDance, announced a partnership with the NBA. This will see the league take advantage of China's short video craze by offering bite-sized content on its Douyin, Toutiao and Xigua platforms. Unlike previous content deals between Chinese tech giants and the NBA, the content will be much more personalised to users' needs, served directly to them using ByteDance's clever AI algorithms.
The most interesting recent initiative in China’s sports world was last week's announcement that Alibaba is offering a 'Money Ball' approach to individual sports. Just as professional teams use reams of data to maximise performance, Alibaba is hoping to use analytics to help individuals improve their performance, change the way sports events are managed and - obviously - influencing the related goods and services they buy.
There is unlikely to be another company globally who is better placed to serve and profit from athletes than Alibaba. Alibaba will be able to leverage its far-reaching data sources and customer connection across many of its platforms. These include Tmall and Taobao to sell sporting accessories and nutrition, Fliggy for sports event travel, AliHealth for aching joints and everything else that can go wrong in training, Focus Media for targeted sports-related advertising to users, its New Retail stores and partners such as Intersport, Ele.me for delivery of sports-related stuff for training and events, Youku for paid sports-related content and tipping, the list goes on...
One of the key takeouts from each of the tech giant's initiatives is the extra user data that they'll glean, allowing them to better personalise to individual's needs and behaviours. A survey this month by China Skinny found sport and fitness is the category consumers most seek personalisation - with 44.8% of respondents finding it appealing. Brands should take note of the rise of sports and related categories, and how fans and athletes are participating in the digitally-integrated China. These realities should be integrated into many China marketing strategies - something China Skinny can assist with.
Here are this week's news and highlights for China:
Sport
Billionaire Jack Ma Adopts ‘Moneyball’ Approach to China Sports: Just as professional sports teams have used reams of data to maximize performance, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma is turning to analytics to get the most out of users and change the way athletic events are managed and how people shop for gear. The service kicks off by targeting marathon runners, with e-sports, football and basketball expected to follow.
Ctrip to Offer ¥100 million ($14.5 million) Skiing Subsidies Ahead of Winter Olympics: Ctrip is spending $14.5 million on subsidies in hope of cementing its position as the ski-hub for China. The move is part of the company’s “300-million-user skiing project”, in line with Beijing’s winter sports initiative ahead of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. The company predicts that by the end of 2019, two million users will have registered for skiing activities and it will have more than 700 skiing venue partners.
NBA Partners with ByteDance to Increase Chinese Presence Through Digital Content: NBA has signed a multi-year contract will allow fans in China to see short-form NBA content on Douyin, Toutiao and Xigua video platforms. ByteDance plans to leverage its AI to push customizable content to fans based on their preference and content they like to view throughout the regular season and through the NBA Finals.
Chinese Consumers
The Huawei Arrest Fuelled Another Online Surge of Outraged Patriotism in China: When Canada confirmed it had arrested Meng Wanzhou, CFO at Huawei and the daughter of its founder, online patriotism and worry immediately surged in China. Quotes like "The disgusting United States, it is time to unite… we need to get united and face the outside [force] together. Let’s support Huawei, support JD, support domestic products. Come on, Chinese compatriots," were flooding Chinese social media. The trade war has just got a lot more personal for many Chinese.
Weibo’s Online Slang: 10 Chinese ‘Tribes’ & ‘Clans’ to Know: A large part of China's online slang culture is the categorization of people into ‘tribes’ or ‘clans’, many which represent a bigger trend in China’s transforming society and digital culture. They include: Dītóuzú: “The Bowed Head Clan”; Yuèguāngzú: “The Moonlight Clan”; Kùkōuzú: “The Cool Carl”; Kěnlǎozú: “The Leech Tribe”; Hènjiàzú: “The Hate-to-get-married Tribe”; Shǎnhūnzú: “The Flash Marriage Group”; Fènnù Qīngnián): “The Angry Youth”; Biāotídǎng: “The Clickbait Club”; Jiànpánxiá: “The Keyboard Warriors” and Xīhāzú: “The Hip Hop Clan”. On the subject, the unofficial ‘character of the year’ is qiou, a creative combination of ‘dirt-poor’ and ‘ugly,’ used by many self-mocking folk online.
Chinese Buck Trends of Consumers Leeriness of the Sharing Economy: 58% of US and UK consumers said the risks of using sharing services outweighed the benefits whereas Chinese consumers were much more enthusiastic with 68% saying the benefits outweigh the risks according to Lloyd’s of London research.
Small and Tech Savvy Firms in China are Shaking Up the Personal Care Sector: Brands like Pechoin, Marie Dalgar, Three Squirrels and One Leaf are taking advantage of lower barriers to entry offered by digital to win notable market share in China. Major changes to the retail sector, an increase in consumers' desire for lifestyle, health and wellness products, and a willingness to pay a premium for them have also contributed to the brands' successes.
Digital China
The Complete China Cross Border Ecommerce List: The new cross border ecommerce list following the new 2019 laws. The 63 new items are highlighted including pet food, seafood and some new wine and beer varieties, jewellery, flash lights, staplers, oral hygiene products, vitamins, adult dipers, Wellington boots, ski boots and roller skates. Surprising to see shark fins as one of the new additions to the list given the campaigns against it over recent years.
Almost Half of Apps in China Lack Privacy Policy, Collect Excess Data, Report Says: 59 out of 100 Chinese apps are considered to overly retain information about the phone user's location, a China Consumers Association study has found. 28% of these platforms collect excessive information about contacts, 23% store data related to the user's identity and 22% take advantage of that person's phone numbers. 47% of the apps did not have proper terms of privacy, while 34% of them had no privacy policies at all.
Alibaba to Open First Ecommerce Trade Hub in Europe: Alibaba continues its gradual global roll out signing an MOU with the Belgium government to create a trade hub that will help companies in the country to sell products abroad. The agreement follows similar eWTP initiatives in Malaysia and Rwanda.
Macy's Ends Tmall Store in Second China Strategy Shift of 2018: Macy’s is shutting its Tmall store and will now ship to Chinese consumers directly from its US website which will have increased functionality. The retailer has been criticized for not bringing anything unique or compelling to China, rather making "an opportunistic play designed to generate a bit of incremental revenue. As such, the offer was never properly optimized or invested in.”
When AI is the Product: The Rise of AI-Based Consumer Apps: Interesting view into the new era of AI consumer-based apps spreading around the world, starting from China. The best-known example is Douyin/TikTok which uses AI algorithms decide which videos to show users, rather than making recommendation for users to tap/click like Facebook's news feed, Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube. Other examples include Soul which uses AI and anonymity as the cornerstones for facilitating relationships based on complementary personalities, interests, and values; and LingoChamp, providing affordable education.
Food & Beverage
What are the Latest Trends for Chinese Wine Consumers: Chinese consumers prefer white wines with slight sweetness and moderate acidity, as well as red wines with medium to lower acidity and tannin levels, plus some sweetness according to the Beijing University of Agriculture following research into consumers with little wine drinking experience. Health concerns prevent them from buying dessert wines, with the only exception being Ice Wines, although these are usually bought for gifts. Female consumers are more tolerant of wines with higher sweetness, while male consumers are more tolerant of bitterness and tannins.
Entertainment
No Blood, No Gambling: Four Ways Games are Changed for China: Game developers need often need to change their games to launch in China. Examples include removing blood - usually replaced with things like green puffs of smoke or crude oil-type stuff for shoot-em-up-games. Skulls or skeletons, sexual and gambling content, and revealing clothes are also banned.
That’s the Skinny for the week! See previous newsletters here. Contact China Skinny for marketing strategy, research and digital advice and implementation.
