The spread of Covid-19 earlier in the year caused lockdowns across China, causing people to turn to e-commerce for purchasing everything from daily necessities to clothes and luxury items. However, even as offline retail has opened back up, the acceleration of China’s digital transformation has not slowed, resulting in lasting changes across consumer behaviour, new trends and interests, and purchasing behaviour. In order to adapt to these changes, brands will need to not only provide online sales channels, but also provide positive digital experiences.
The sales data shows that despite the outbreak, e-commerce has continued to grow steadily. Examples of the top categories that have experienced growth on Tmall and Taobao include:
One of the most significant trends that has arisen over the Covid-19 period and continues to be significant in e-commerce is live streaming. In fact, the number of people using online live streaming related services exceeded 560 million people in March. When it comes to live streaming, there are two main types that brands can utilise:
Livestream timing can affect the number of viewers, as an example, 7pm or 8pm during the week is usually the best.
Since China’s digital and e-commerce landscape is extremely fast-changing, new regulations and platform policies are being constantly updated. As a result, brands need to stay up to date on the situation in China, since it could be very different just six months in the future. Examples include changing cross-border e-commerce and live streaming regulations or changing policies when it comes to platforms allowing direct links to other social or e-commerce platforms.
Read more about the previous sessions below:
Session 1 – Why and how to sell to China
Session 2 – Building Brand Credibility Online in China
Session 3 – How to emotionally engage with Chinese consumers
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