WeChat's Transformation of Chinese Society
Mass urban migration, the one-child policy and opening up to the world have all had an enormous impact in shaping modern China. WeChat has hit a sweet spot addressing some of the challenges that have resulted from the changes.
WeChat reunites families separated by the exodus to cities, connects and entertains lonely only children, and links the millions of Chinese who travel, study and migrate abroad every month. This is evident from the tens of billions of messages sent, and the 280 million minutes of video and voice calls made on the app every day. Yet WeChat's influence in transforming Chinese society spans far beyond its communication features.
China has some of the highest mobile Internet usage rates in the world. Remarkably, more than half of the time spent online on smartphones is on WeChat. In many cases, it has become the default way Chinese communicate, network and entertain themselves, and its increasingly changing the way they transact. With around 80% of users following a brand on WeChat, it has also become a formidable marketing tool. Businesses have been quick to adapt, with more than a fifth of Chinese companies having WeChat accounts. Just four years since WeChat launched, there are now over 6 million official company accounts.
With WeChat touching so many parts of urban Chinese' daily lives, Tencent has accumulated an enviable suite of insights into how Chinese consumers go about their day. The countless Chinese consumers who diarise their lives on WeChat's Moments provide Tencent the ability to track when the population is happy or sad, where they are going on holiday, and what pop culture is hot. It can tell what time they go for their daily walk. It can gauge consumer's interests by which WeChat articles they read. It can even dissect Chinese consumers' routines from morning to night.
Until last week, Tencent had been very guarded with this information. But not long after announcing that it was leveraging WeChat data to help JD.com compete with Alibaba on Single's Day, it released some fascinating insights into WeChat's 570 million users. We've translated this data and presented it in an infographic. It provides an intriguing view into Chinese consumers, particularly when combined with other insights. Click here to see it.
For our Australasian readers, China Skinny's Mark Tanner will be New Zealand and Australia early next month talking about WeChat and all things China. On Monday 9 November, he'll be in Auckland joining the esteemed line up at the China Business Summit. On 11 and 13 November, Mark will be in Sydney and Melbourne moderating the Australian Business Forum's China Digital Conference. It's the third year we've attended the event as it's always well organised, with excellent speakers and great attendees. Click here for more information. We hope to see you at one of the events.
Here are this week's news and highlights for China:
Chinese Consumers
Trust, Innovation Key for Brands in China
43% of Chinese consumers believe innovation is important and 41% think trustworthiness is when choosing brands - much higher than the global average according to McCann.
China Unveils Timetable for Pricing Reform
China will lift price controls from almost all goods and services by 2017.
Online - the Biggest Shop of All
If your distributor claims they have national coverage in China, they're probably not telling the truth. Almost all brick & mortar retailers are regionalised whereas Alibaba's platform reaches more consumers in China than the country's top-100 physical retailers combined.
From marriage markets, to virtual partners, to hiring fake lovers to meet the family, romance in China is nothing short of fascinating.
Internet, Mobiles & Social Media
WeChat Infographic: Who, Where, When & What
A look into the remarkable insights Tencent have about the everyday lives of Chinese consumers.
Huawei Overtakes Xiaomi to Top China’s Smartphone Market for First Time
Huawei's humble, R&D approach to deliver great devices for a fair price appears to have won favour with Chinese consumers, overtaking its flashy competitor Xiaomi to be the top selling smartphone brand in China in Q3 according to Canalys.
Food & Beverage
China's Food Imports: Hunger Games?
China was once self-sufficient for food, but with rising wealthy classes and just 9% of the world's arable land feeding 20% of its population, something had to give. In 2014, China imported $122 billion worth of agricultural products - more than the combined value of copper ore, motor vehicles, aircraft and pharmaceutical imports.
In-Depth: Organic Food in China
There's no shortage of food claiming to be organic in China, but even those with official certifications may not be what you think if you see the practices at their 'organic' farms.
McDonald's Shows First Signs of a Turnaround With Strong Q3 Earnings
McDonalds looks to have bounced back following the expired meat scandal in July last year. Q3 2014 sales dropped 22.7% following the negative publicity, but Q3 2015 saw comparable sales grow 26.8% from a year earlier. KFC's owner Yum expects
revenue from its 6,900 Chinese restaurants to decline this year
.
Chinese Tourists
Latest Chinese Travel Trend: “Foreign Destinations and Luxury Hotels”
Japan, Korea and the U.S. became the rising favourite destinations for Mainland Chinese following loosening visa regulations according to Qunar. Leisure travellers are choosing luxury hotels more and more.
Britain Lowers Price of Tourist Visas for Chinese to Aid Luxury Sector
Xi Jingping's visit to Britain has been greeted with lower two-year multiple-entry UK visa fees for Chinese, from £384 ($594) to £84 ($130). Whilst overseas visitors to Britain rose 5.2% last year and Chinese outbound tourism growth was strong, Chinese visitors to the UK fell by 7.6% to 185,000.
Luxury
Tiffany Unlocks Path to Chinese Consumers in Latest Campaign
Tiffany's key motif jewellery is available globally, but is clearly targeting Chinese women with Chinese language ads and videos. The "Unlock the Possibilities" campaign reinforces that their jewellery isn't just a "key to the heart," but also suitable for single, independent working women, reflecting the China market well.
How to Engage Consumers of Luxury Goods
75% of affluent Chinese consumers follow brands online. About eight out of nine want to be contacted by brands after they purchase from those brands according to AGS.That's the Skinny for the week!
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