It's a lot cheaper to retain a customer than acquire a new one, so the old adage says. Many marketers in China don't seem to have got that memo, with marketing plans based around increasingly expensive livestreams and KOLs for sales, with limited initiatives to retain those customers once they've transacted.We track many loyalty initiatives at China Skinny, but one of the most exciting we've seen lately is from Chinese EV brand, Nio. Car sales have been one of the brightest categories in China's retail sphere, last month growing 17% year-on-year. As we noted in July, Beijing has been strategic in putting its weight behind car sales - it takes a lot of packaged goods or shoe sales to match that of a single car in making retail sales look rosy.

It wasn't long ago when every marketer in China was talking about ecommerce. Alibaba and JD battled it out for supremacy, and then another challenger, Pinduoduo, came from nowhere, and it became a three-horse race.Whilst the traditional ecommerce platforms still dominate online sales in China, the new world of livestreaming, KOLs and social commerce has dominated marketing forums over the past few years.

Chinese sportswear brand ERKE was on the brink of collapse, but a well timed and executed CSR initiative has turned its fortunes around

Happy Niu Year! For our readers who had a break, we hope it was great.Digital platforms have long been more advanced and deeply entrenched in Chinese lives than anywhere. Back in 2017, for every dollar that American consumers spent on mobile payments, Chinese consumers shelled out $250. China's ecommerce market is the largest and most dynamic in the world. 22% of consumers globally are likely to buy groceries online, whereas 59% of Chinese do. While livestreaming is barely visible in most markets, 388 million Chinese viewed it in December, with more than two-thirds making a purchase.

Search data from Trip.com (Ctrip) indicates how little Chinese travellers are paying attention to overseas destinations at present. While domestic tourist is close to where it was by traveller numbers in both hotels and on airplanes, it is likely to be some time before international tourism returns back to where it was pre-covid.

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.

China Internet Infographic

Isn’t it amazing what a coronavirus outbreak can do to online usage habits. The infographic below illustrates how China's online millions (netizens) have altered their behaviour, with most of the country being homebound over the past few weeks. In the three weeks from Jan 14, online usage grew over 20% to 6.11 billion hours – over 6 hours per Chinese online.

Last April in the third-tier city of Nanchang, a man wanted for "economic crimes" was arrested from a crowd of 60,000 getting down to Cantopop legend Jacky Cheung. The 31-year old man had been pin-pointed from the sea of people walking into the stadium using facial recognition.

In October 2015, China announced plans that it would be abolishing its one-child policy the following year, in hope of rebalancing its top-heavy population which is expected to see 500 million folk aged over 60 by 2050. The announcement, coupled with the earlier one-child policy changes, had brands selling everything from infant formula to educational toys readjusting their sales forecasts north. Even Disney invested an additional $800 million in the construction of the Shanghai Disney Resort to add extra capacity to account for the fertility spike.

Many brands are aware of how China’s innovations around New Retail, digital and mobile payments are fundamentally changing the way consumers research and buy products. Yet, what is often overlooked is how they are altering the format and even the type of product they buy.

If you’re already exporting to China, we’re guessing you’re probably also selling to a host of other countries – markets like Dubai and the other six emirates could be on the list. In the UAE, there’s a good chance you’ve engaged some localisation for the country – culturally sensitive and resonant branding & communications, legal & regulatory allowances, logistics & distribution, and possibly even some new product development and packaging. In China, it’s probable that you’ve also localised the mix. But how local is your localisation?

Back in 2012 scouring content for the Skinny, it seemed almost every week there was another article praising KFC’s success in China. It was the Western pin-up brand; finding the much sought-after balance that tempted the masses with its alluring foreignness, but localised its offerings just enough to appeal to Chinese tastes – with the menu sporting old favourites like congee.

Health has been one of the core themes in China’s consumer landscape over the past few years. Anyone who understands Chinese consumers’ approach to health will appreciate the unity based on the opposing and complementary relations of the yin and yang. A pillar of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) beliefs, the yin and yang need to be in harmony – when one aspect is deficient, the other is in excess.

When a Chinese consumer makes a decision – from picking a bottle of water, to choosing which country will best educate their child – the influence of KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) can be dramatic. A feature of Chinese thought since the days of Chairman Mao, the KOL economy is set to boom; 2016’s value of ¥53 billion ($7.8 billion) is estimated to near double to ¥102 billion ($15.1 billion) next year. To bring some perspective, that is three times the forecasted value of China’s newspaper and magazine advertising in 2018.

Last week Alibaba hosted their first conference outside of China – Gateway 17 in Detroit. China Skinny was there.

If you’re looking for trends in the Chinese consumer market, the tourism industry should be your first stop. Whether it’s trading-up in food & beverage or the health & fitness craze seizing the domestic market, China Skinny sees China’s affluent international travellers particularly influential in shaping these trends back home.

Any news covering Intellectual Property and China is typically fraught with stories about IP-theft and trademark violations. It can cover anything from fake milk powder, to Alibaba being ousted from the prestigious International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC), to a man named Wang who bought 1 million RMB worth of fakes on Singles’ Day.