Overview of the Chinese cosmetics market

China’s cosmetics performance in the global stage 

According to Euromonitor, China’s cosmetics market occupies 12.7% of the global cosmetics market, becoming the second-largest market after the US.

Data source: Euromonitor, Top 10 cosmetics markets globally

Even after several years of market expansion, the market still seems to have a fine potential for growth in the future. According to Euromonitor, the CAGR of the Chinese cosmetics market is the highest in the world.

Data source: Euromonitor, Top 10 cosmetics market ranked by CAGR

Based on data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the yearly growing pace is remaining at about 10% since 2013 and the total retail sales reached 299.2 billion RMB in total. Hence, investing in such a large and consistent growing market can bring high revenue to the company.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics, Total cosmetics retail sales in China

Chinese domestic cosmetics brands are prospering

Cosmetics comprise a wide range of products like skincare, makeup and perfume. In the Chinese cosmetics market, skincare products are the main consumption force, and makeup products increased its market share year by year. Skincare products consistently accounted for over 50% of the Chinese cosmetics market. On top of this, makeup products have been continuously increasing since 2014.

Data source: Euromonitor, Cosmetics market distribution by category

Seven of the ten top cosmetics brands in China sare Chinese domestic cosmetics brands. The attention rate of Perfect Diary is far higher than other brands, meaning that a lot of cosmetics fans in China follow Perfect Diary.

Data source: QuestMobile New Media, Which Chinese domestic makeup brands are the most popular

Among the top 100 most popular cosmetics brands in China, 37% are Chinese domestic makeup brands.

Data source: QuestMobile New Media, Regional Distribution of top popular 100 brands

There are two cosmetics categories where Chinese domestic cosmetics brands have a strong position. These categories are essential skincare related products and eye make-up. Essential skincare products like hand cream, mask and cleanser have high daily consumption. Chinese domestic cosmetics brands could use price advantage to compete, through controlling the supply chain to lower cost. Besides, unique design helps Chinese domestic makeup brands make eyeshadow and eyebrow pencil hot products.

Data source: QuestMobile New Media Database, Origin of brands dominating China’s cosmetics market by product category

The rise of Chinese domestic makeup brands is correlated with sales promotions. According to Askci, 2 of the top 5 sales brands were Chinese domestic cosmetics brands during 618 shopping festival in 2020. Perfect Diary and Florasis ranked first and fourth respectively.

Data source: Askci, Cosmetics brands sold most during 618 shopping festival

Chinese cosmetics consumers portrait

According to data on Tmall and Taobao, consumers under 30 years old place most of cosmetics orders. Most of them are post-90 or even post-00. Students aged 18–22 made up over 25%, but their market share has decreased.

Data source: Tmall & Taobao, Chinese cosmetics consumers distribution by age

However, the share of consumers over 30 years old has an overall increase. This increase might because people aged over 30 gradually build and wake up the awareness of using skincare and makeup. Therefore, the demand for cosmetics among them goes up.

What Chinese domestic cosmetics brands consumers purchase most

According to the skincare top sales, Pechoin harvested 1,733 million RMB in sales, ranking first, followed by Chando and WIS, with 1,653 and 1,515 million RMB respectively.  

Data source: Tmall & Taobao, Top Chinese skincare brands

In the makeup market, top brands are different from top skincare brands, although some makeup brands provide cosmetics products. Perfect Diary maintained its performance and ranked first, with 2,762 million sales.

Data source: Tmall & Taobao, Top Chinese makeup brands

What makes Chinese domestic cosmetics brands different

Compared to foreign cosmetics brands, Chinese brands seem to put their eggs in more baskets. Their marketing efforts are spread through much more variety of activity and spread across many more platforms.

Creating a KOL marketing feedback cycle with short video apps, live-streams and KOLs

The rise of most Chinese domestic cosmetics brands attributes to social seeding through KOL marketing and cooperations. This feeds a feedback cycle where consumers give feedback on open platforms, where brands can then apply to their product development.

Data source: QuestMobile, Online marketing mode

Leverage traffic of multi-channel, post content in different forms

Traffic in multi-channel is other boost for the development of Chinese domestic cosmetics brands. It is common to market on Douyin, Kuaishou, Weibo, Wechat and Red, but each social platform has its own marketing strategy. On Douyin and Kuaishou, where people post short videos, brands cooperated with KOL to post makeup try-on, makeup tutorial and unbox testing. On Weibo, brands normally implement celebrity endorsement. On Wechat official account, brands post deep introduction of products. On Red, brands and KOLs post products-related tutorial.

Data source: QuestMobile, Online marketing in different forms

Launch cross-over products in big e-commerce promotion

Co-branding is more a strategy to get hold of targeted audiences who have complex behaviors. Through cooperating, brands can find a connection between consumers and brands. For example, Chando’s cooperation with Bilibili is a new try for its marketing strategy. As a place attracts most young generation, Bilibili provides a platform for Chando to increase consumers base.

Source: Chando, Chando X Bilibili

Unique marketing strategies for each Chinese domestic cosmetics brand

Perfect Diary, a textbook case for private traffic

Perfect Diary, established in 2016, is one of the young Chinese domestic brands. It targets 20-35 year old women, which is a high spending power group. In March 2017, it opened an online store on Taobao and Tmall. Half a year later, Perfect Diary opened on Red, WeChat store and hosted three Pop-up stores in Shanghai. In 2018, It established a Douyin and JD store. On January 19^th, 2019, it owned the first offline experience store in Guangzhou and expanded to 40 offline stores now.  

Behind Perfect Diary’s bold IP collaborations

IP cooperation is becoming a popular marketing method for domestic Chinese brands. Perfect Dairy cooperated with lots of IPs to launch new products. The most popular IP cooperation is with the Discovery channel.

Source: Tmall, Perfect Diary X Discovery

The history of Perfect Diary’s IP cooperation consists of three stages. In the first stage, Perfect Diary started to explore the market and launched fashion week related products. It reached celebrities, who have high credibility and cultivate the trust in the market. In the second stage which is the explosive phase, Perfect Diary cooperated with cross-over IP and KOLs to promote a single product. In this stage, it cooperated with makeup KOLs and reached to the followers, which increase the influencing power of brand. In the third stage where the brand continuously grew, it cooperated with mass and trendy IP. This cooperation helps to expand customers group, including people make-up beginners. 

Perfect Diary implements private traffic to build brand-owned traffic pool

Perfect Diary builds private traffic in two ways and uses two virtual BA (Beauty Advisor) to manage different types of consumers. Xiaowanzi (小完子) is in charge of consumers, who purchase online and joined through a lucky money card. Xiaomeizi (小美子) maintains the consumers who attracted from offline pop-stores or give aways. The source of customers is different, which requires two virtual BA to communicate customers in different tactics.  

Data source: Maoshihu, Process to reach Xiaowanzi

Florasis redefines the oriental cosmetics

Florasis’ sales performance is rising

Florasis was founded in March 2017 and opened its Tmall flagship store in August 2018. Although the sales for 2018 were only 43.19 million RMB, Florasis’ sales reached 1.1 billion RMB in 2019, rising nearly 25-fold. 

Florasis also presents an excellent in its first Double Eleven promotion. According to Mktindex, Florasis gained 220 million RMB sales and ranked fifth among the top 10 Chinese cosmetics brands that gained most sales.

Distinctly Asian makeup

As a chinoiserie cosmetics representative, the idea behind Florasis brand is ‘the Oriental makeup, using flowers to nourish the makeup look’. It includes everything from product ingredients to package design. Product ingredients highlight to use nature grasses and flower, and nourish the skin mildly. Package design and product name also filled with chinoiserie. For example, Florasis’s carved lipstick replicates the ancient Chinese carving technique and carved flowers on the lipstick, creating a precedent for the three-dimensional texture lipstick in China.

Source: Taobao, Florasis’s classical relievo

Pregnant woman friendly

Florasis gives people a safe and harm-free impression. It emphasizes that its products contain zero alcohol, zero-hormones and contains no harmful ingredients. An actor (Jiani Zhang) in Story of Yanxi Palace, which is a popular Chinese drama, recommended Florasis’ CC cushion. Zhang posted her using experience as a pregnant woman on Red, which drew most followers’ attention and discussion.

Source: Red, Jiani Zhang promoted Florasis’ product

Picking right KOL and spokesman

According to Baidu Index, the spokesman’s effect can be observed. On 3^rd March 2019, search word ‘花西子’ peaked because Justin Lee promoted Florasis’ loose powder. Another peak on 18^th May 2019 is because Florasis announce Jingyi Ju as spokesman. Jingyi and Florasis is a perfect match, because Jingyi owns high traffic and was known as the oriental beauty.

Data source: Baidu index, What increase the search of ‘Florasis’

Little Dream Garden, a black horse in the body care market

Targets ingredient-oriented consumers

Little Dream Garden is a Chinese cosmetic, focusing on developing body care products. It targets customers who care about the ingredients. Therefore, it emphasizes the ingredient and efficacy, naming product by main ingredient, such as Shea Butter body scrub and Ceramide body lotion.

Source: Taobao, Shea Butter body scrub

Posts testing video to build trust

Little Dream Garden leverages KOLs and KOCs to post product testing videos on Red, guiding users to join in the discussion. The opinion of KOL and KOC can increase trust rate and prompt consumers to buy the products.

Source: Red, Products testing video

How WIS involves celebrities on Weibo

WIS is a Chinese domestic skincare brand, created in 2011. It aims to provide scientific and effective products. It does not have any offline store so far. The brand targets consumers aged 18 -35 who have the strong social ability. For brand positioning, low-price capture lots of post-90 and post-00’s interest.

Source: Wechat, WIS products

Weibo is WIS’ social marketing asset

The popularity of WIS results from social marketing on Weibo. For example, a member of Happy family, Weijia Lee, recommended its product on Weibo, which attracted more than 240 million readers and brought around ten thousand followers for WIS. At the same time, celebrities, such as Jiu He and Na Xie, reposted the Weibo and reinforce the marketing effect.

Source: Weibo, Weijia Lee promoted WIS

What can brands learn from the success of Chinese domestic cosmetics brands

Although foreign cosmetics brands represented more than half of the cosmetic market in China, the rise of Chinese cosmetics cannot be overlooked. In fact, they can provide a learning opportunity on how to effectively appeal to Chinese consumers.

• Listen to the customers

Under short video App + Live Broadcast + KOL marketing mode, brands not only promote their products but also listen to the feedback from customers. Upgrading products according to the feedback is an important strategy to maintain brands’ sales performance.

• Pick the right brands for collaborations

Most Chinese domestic cosmetics brands implement cooperation with brands in different fields, celebrities and etc. to launch limited products. This campaign can bring the brands more consumers, strengthen brand image and increase brand volume.

• Promote in an appropriate form

Chinese cosmetics brands promote their products in different forms according to the character of a product. A testing video will gain more trust for a product that emphasizes its harmless ingredients. 

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History of Marie Dalgar

In December 2006, Marie Dalgar ((玛丽黛佳) created its first grafted mascara, which completely overturned traditional view on mascara. It achieved an amazing sales performance: Marie Dalgar claimed that they sell one mascara every 15 seconds. In May 2008, the Chinese cosmetics brand formally established Shanghai Feiyang Cosmetics Co., Ltd., the marketing center. The brand has followed the rapid development path based in Shanghai and expanding to the whole country. In the same year, it launched its official website, providing consumers with a comprehensive information platform. 

In January 2010, Marie Dalgar opened its’ international factory in Shanghai Fengxian Industrial Park, covering an area of ​​20 acres, which is the largest mascara production base in Asia. Besides, it won the “China Cosmetics Annual Best Single Product Award” at the 2010 China Cosmetics Industry Conference.

In March 2011, Marie Dalgar won the 2010 “Best Makeup Brand” and “Best Single Product” awards in China’s cosmetics industry. In the same year, the brand joined hands with the well-known fashion women’s website Kimiss, and organized makeup contest with international brands such as Armani, Bobbi Brown, and MAC.

Currently, Marie Dalgar is one of the most promising cosmetics brands in the Chinese market.

Marie Dalgar’s brand concept

As the brand claims, besides the perfect effects, makeup is also an artistic master piece. It enhances confidence and it is a factor for different life expression. Marie Dalgar represents the spirit of modern woman’s personality and the attitude of women in this era.

Focusing on young consumers

From the user portrait, Marie Dalgar’s target group is 18-24 year old college students, and 25-35 young white-collar workers in China who have just started work.  Brand has a strong focus on young consumers and builds products that are easy for them to use on different occasions. The youthful brand naturally attracts young consumers through its product innovation and engaging cross-over marketing in the ‘new retail’ environment. Having its own research and development centers and manufacturing bases allows Marie Dalgar to innovate and meet changing demands quickly.

Data Source: NetVoices, 2018 Top Cosmetic Brands in China Report, Marie Dalgar’s consumers by age

Marie Dalgar’s marketing strategies

The domestic brand embraces the “New Retail” concept, taking a unique approach to increase the consumer experience and build brand awareness. On top of this, it has been a pioneer in collaborations.

Cooperating with third parties for campaigns

Co-branding is a key marketing strategy. These collaborations are through co-branding, such as collaboration with KFC and Heineken, and through collaboration with social media platforms like Douyin.

Co-branding rather than embassadors

Every year, Marie Dalgar holds Crossover Art Project. The brand invites artists to express themselves by using its make-up products. For example, fashion photographer Paco Peregrin chose the theme ‘Facing’ in 2015. The following year, photographer Damien Dufresne opted for ‘Through your eyes’ . For its products packaging, the brand also calls on artists, like the young Chinese artist JINLE, invited to celebrate the year of the pig. Out of a limited edition run of 3,000 units, Marie Dalgar sold 1,000 units within 10 minutes. The campaign reached 62 million consumers online, with a total of 50 million engagements.

Source: Marie Dalgar, Wechat, Year of the pig campaign 

Cooperation with KFC

The young makeup brand decided to take advantage of the expanding retail ecosystem by cooperating with third parties for special campaigns. Marie Dalgar outsourced sales efforts and found other ways to use partners’ e-commerce platforms in China. In 2017 Marie Dalgar cooperated with KFC on campaigns and advertising, pulling in traffic from KFC’s huge consumer base.

Source: Chinessima, Marie Dalgar’s cooperation campaign with KFC

Marie Dalgar and KFC created the “Pink is Cool” theme cross-border lipstick gift box. “Pink” and the shared target audience became the basis of this cross-industry cooperation. Marie Dalgar used this collaborative lipstick to create a cool makeup look, and attracted the attention of makeup consumers through the sharing on the Weitao platform. KFC used stores and offline resources to create a cross-border offline theme store to promote this cooperation. The campaign helped the brand win 1.4 million visits on Tmall’s official store and make over RMB 12 million in sales. Most of visits were from selling limited edition gift sets, which included both KFC coupons and lipsticks.

Cooperation with TikTok

In April 2018, Marie Dalgar and TikTok jointly launched challenge event. Being the first collaboration of its kind in the beauty industry, the video challenge had a maximum number of participants of 75,000. The event and related advertisements reached approximately 288 million people.

Cooperation with CCTV

Marie Dalgar partnered with the CCTV documentary series “National Treasure” for a limited-edition lipstick. It helped to build a well-earned reputation among consumers for championing Chinese heritage. Collaborations don’t even need to be in the realm of high culture as long as it will reach the masses in popular spaces.

Cooperation with Heineken

Marie Dalgar teamed up with brewing giant Heineken and Tmall in 2019 to release a “forgiveness” gift box. The gift box was released on Tmall’s “Fans Day” to coincide with the European Champions’ League soccer final, which Heineken sponsors. The hook: soccer lovers could give their partners a gift box to beg “forgiveness” and apologize for ignoring them while watching the final. “Wearing a green cap” in Chinese means “to cheat on your loved one”–in this case, with soccer. Two boxes were offered in “his” and “hers” editions. One box featured green lipsticks and green tea flavors, while the other contained limited-edition Champions’ League bottles of Heineken.

Marie Dalgar uses AR to attract customers

Marie Dalgar and Ali jointly launched the “unmanned color vending machine” and the beauty unmanned store “TO GO “ combined with the platform’s big data to reach more potential consumers.  Marie Dalgar’s “TO GO” store features an augmented reality (AR) mirror to link offline consumers’ experience with their online purchase. This application of AI in beauty  boosted both offline and online sales.

Source: Chinessima, Marie Dalgar’s “TO GO” store in Shanghai

WeChat and Tmall are key platforms for brand’s retail and marketing

Marie Dalgar established the “Playing Color Academy” on WeChat. They use this mini-program to make more customers to reach offline channels. On top of this, Marie Dalgar uses WeChat database for analysis of user portraits and then send it to product development department.

Marie Dalgar actively uses Tmall and gained popularity among its users. In 2018 its rating there was even higher than such cosmetic giants as Armani, Estee Lauder and YSL. Besides, brand’s live streaming on Double Eleven was equally astonishing, with a total of nearly 100 live broadcasts for 300 hours and 1.3 million views. 

Data Source: NetVoices, 2018 Top Cosmetic Brands in China Report, Make-up brands rating among e-commerce users in China

Marie Dalgar is one of the leading cosmetic brands in China

Marie Dalgar is one of the fast-growing brands in the make-up market in China. Such foreign cosmetics brands in China as YSL, Dior and MAC are on the top of ranking.

Data Source: Kantar, Top-5 fast-growing make-up brands in China

Innovative products push Marie Dalgar’s sales in China

In its early stages, Marie Dalgar attracted attention thanks to its “grafting” mascara, especially adapted to the relatively short and sparse eyelashes of Asian people. “It lengthens eyelashes by 300% and increases their density by 700%”, according to Jumeili.

Marie Dalgar’s Innovative products:

• The world’s first grafted mascara
• The first micro-vibration electric mascara in China
• The first domestically baked eyeshadow and blush
• The first mascara with retractable brush in China
• The first vibrating mascara in China
• The first domestic mascara with adjustable thickness and variable extension brush

Pioneering projects:

• The first domestic mascara with 360° rotating brush
• The first custom-made DIY eye shadow in China

Marie Dalgar was the number one domestic makeup brand during the 2018 Double Eleven festival

On Double 11 shopping festival in 2018, Marie Dalgar’s online flagship store was on the Tmall’s Top Beauty brands list. Its mascara also was in TOP 3 hot single products. The daily turnover of offline shopping mall channel stores increased by 414% year-on-year during 11.11 festival. Marie Dalgar participated in Tmall Double Eleven many times, and won the “New Retail Outstanding Contribution Award” from Tmall. The relationship between Marie Dalgar and Tmall are complementary.

Marie Dalgar expands to the Asian market

All of these steps helped to make Marie Dalgar one of the best-selling local brands and advanced the company onto the global stage. It became the first Chinese brand to sell its products in Sephora stores outside of China.

Expansion to Singapore

At the end of 2018, the brand entered Singapore via Sephora. To Mary Dalgar’s CEO, Chen Haijun (陈海军), Southeast Asia is only a preamble before Europe and the United States. “Worldwide markets will represent 20% of the brand business within 5 years”, he said.

Because of it’s strong innovation power, and collaborations to expand it’s consumer base, Marie Dalgar is one Chinese brand that is worth learning from.

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The development of vitamins and health supplement market in China

The market size of healthcare products in China is growing

Large market size of healthcare products represents the high potential in China.

According to iimedia, the market size of healthcare products in China, maintained around a 10% YOY growth rate between 2013 and 2019. This  which is similar to the US growth rate in 1970’s. China’s healthcare market size reached ¥222.7 billion in 2019, which makes China the second largest market for healthcare products, just after the U.S.A.

Data source: iimedia, Market Size of Healthcare Products in China

The market segment of healthcare product was occupied most by dietary supplement with more than half of the market in 2019.

Data source: chyxx (中国产业信息院), Market Segment of Healthcare Products in China

The health supplements industry in China developed along with the improvement of Chinese people’s living standards and health awareness

Most Chinese considered a healthy lifestyle to include physical and mental health. A healthy lifestyle should be without physical illness and with positive mental health, good social life etc.

Many Chinese see health supplements as a part of a healthy life. Hence, health supplements, such as vitamins and fish oil, are an important choice for health-conscious Chinese consumers. In a survey conducted by iimedia, 48.6% of the participants choose health supplements as their first choice to improve their health condition.

Price distribution of health supplements ranges from RMB 50 to over RMB 300. Most consumers buy health supplements for under 150 RMB on Taobao and Tmall. Customers’ price preference means high-end products are popular among a small group.

Data source: Taosj (淘数据), Price Distribution of Health Supplements in Chinaby Sales Volume

China’s demand for vitamins is continuously growing

Vitamin market in China is expanding, as vitamin products are becoming widely used in China. An increase in market size can be expected under COVID-19 impact.

Data source: iimedia, ‘Size of Vitamin Market in China

Vitamin E is the most popular vitamin in China, followed by vitamin C

Vitamin E is the most popular vitamin in China, making up 36% of the market. Followed by vitamin C, which takes 30%. The popularity of vitamin E is is partly due to the fact that Chinese believe it can prevent cancer. Chinese’ vitamins preference is different from other countries, such as USA, where vitamin D is very popular.

Data source: chyxx (中国产业信息院), Market Share of Vitamin Market in China by Vitamin Types

Skin care is the #1 concern among Chinese vitamin consumers

Vitamins which target skin health have large market potential in China. From information by DXY (丁香医生), 40% of the survey participants regard skin problems as a bothering health problem.    

Data source: DXY (丁香医生), Top Health Problems Chinese Concern

Skin problems, as the biggest health problem plaguing Chinese people, have led to an increased demand for vitamins, as some vitamins are beneficial to skin health. Vitamin A, C and E can help skin maintain a youthful state, prevent pigmentation, freckles and wrinkles. Thus, they are popular in vitamin market in China. For example, Gold Partner (黄金搭档) sold over 90,000 monthly vitamin C chewing tablets, which is #1 vitamins product for skin problems on Tmall. Considering the apparent concern for skin health, it is also no surprise that China’s skincare market is booming.

Millennials are the target market

Chinese millennials are the target group in vitamin and health supplement market in China, as post-90s gradually become the main force of vitamin consumption. According to Baidu Index, age of people who searched “vitamin” on Baidu distributed mostly in aged 20-29 years old.

Data source: Baidu Index, Age Distribution of people Searching ’Vitamin’

In one survey about post-90s’ health products consumption, top three health-related health-related products purchased are health supplements and vitamins (38%), nutrients dense fruits (27%) and traditional Chinese medicine (25%).

Source: Analysys (易观), Top Health-related Products Purchased by Chinese post-90s

Consumer Analysis in vitamins and health supplements market in China

Core drivers of purchasing vitamin and health supplements

Function, product quality, brand and price are four main drivers of purchasing, according to an analysis, which aims to research what factors effect most when Chinese consider buying vitamin and health supplement.

Data source: iimedia, Main Drivers of Buying Vitamins and Health Supplements

Most customers’ positive perceptions are related to functions. On Weibo or Zhihu, Chinese consumers mentions the function of relieving fatigue and skin whitening ect., when talking about vitamins health supplement.

Data Source: Sample of Weibo & Zhihu Posts, netizens opinions in the Vitamin and Health Supplement Market in China

Core obstacles of purchasing vitamins and health supplements

There is a large gap between China and developed countries in per capita consumption of health supplements. In 2019, per capita expenditure spent on health supplement was only $18 on vitamins and health supplements, while in America, that was $148, eight times higher than in China. However, the market is now growing fast as COVID-19 stimulated the consumption in China.   

Data source: chyxx (中国产业信息院), Expenditure on Health Supplements by Country

Factors, such as Price, product effect and reputation, will stop potential customers from purchasing vitamins and health supplement. Most complaints of health supplements result from effect. Consumers gave negative comments when the high price does not match the value. In addition, the reputation of health supplement in China is damaged by media. Most Chinese customers are bombarded with negative information of health supplement, which to some extent embedded a negative image of vitamins and health supplements in Chinese.    

Data Source: Sample of Weibo & Zhihu Posts, Obstacles for Entering Vitamin and Health Supplement Market in China

Other obstacles, such as the size of tablets and taste, also potentially stop people from purchasing vitamin and health supplements. Although Centrum (善存)’s multivitamin products have high popularity online, Chinese customers complain the design of bottle and the size of tablets on RED (小红书).   

Source: Sample of Weibo & Xiaohongshu Posts,, Comment about Centrum (善存)

Market Competition in China’s vitamin and health supplement market

Vitamins and health supplements from Australia and U.S.A are the most popular in China.

2018’s customs data by CBNDATA, shows that Australia and U.S.A are top two import countries of the vitamin and health supplement market in China. Australia and U.S.A account for 22.3% and 20.4% of VDS imports to China respectively. Their brands quickly seized China’s health supplements market share by cross-border and social e-commerce.

Source: CBNDATA , Customs data, Top 5 Imported Countries in Vitamin and Health Supplement Market in China

Besides Chinese brands, Australian brands, such as products from Swisse and Cenovis, are the most popular on China’s online market. By-Health (汤臣倍健) ranked #1 in May 2020, followed by Swisse (#2) and Centrum (#7).

 Data Source: Taosj (淘数据), ‘Top health supplements brands on Taobao & Tmall

Most vitamin and health supplement brands leverage online and offline campaign to build brand image and promote

How brands build youthful image through cooperating with celebrities?

Many health supplements brands aim to build a youthful brand image by using young KOLs and actors as spokespersons. For example, By-health rebuilt its brand image by endorsing young celebrities, Xukun Cai (蔡徐坤) to attract young consumers and associate with younger personalities. In order to shape the young image, By-health cooperated with Transformers and released cross-over products on Tmall.

Source: Tmall, Youthful Image of By-health

Cenovis is trying to raise brand awareness and attract more young consumers through endorsing Chengyu Hua (华晨宇) who is a singer with high-traffic in mainland China.

Source: Cenovis’s endorsement with Chengyu Hua

Centrum changed brand’s perceptions into young, funny and approachable by cooperating with Joker Xue (薛之谦, a famous Chinese singer and actor). Centrum worked with Joker Xue to film videos ads on Tencent.

Source: Tencent, Centrum filmed videos ads on Tencent

Offline marketing activities to reach Chinese vitamin and health supplement consumers

Many brands use offline marketing activities, such as sport events and pop-up stores, to interact with consumers in vitamin market in China.

By-Health built a museum which can use AI and hologram technology to educate about nutrition science and provide health examinations. These activities help visitors understand health situation and sell By-Health’s products.

Source, By-Health, By-Health’s Science and Technology Museum

Swisse built a immersive urban oasis pop-stores in malls during 618 promotion, where Chinese customer can see its healthy and natural brand image vividly. In addition, Swisse cooperated with The Color Run (Color run: Five-kilometer paint race), the sport event attract most young generation in China.

Source: Swisse, Australia-themed pop-up shops (Left) & Swisse X The color run (Right)

In order to expand target population, Centrum launched a carnival to interact closely with children and sponsored a child-parent TV program.  

Source: centrum, Centrum carnival & TV Program

Covid-19 stimulation: How Covid-19 stimulated the sales of vitamins and health supplements

Chinese consumers are more interested in vitamin and health supplements as COVID-19 increased their health awareness

The health supplements industry in China developed along with the improvement of Chinese people’s living standards and health awareness. Chinese netizens showed more interest in improving their immunity during the coronavirus outbreak in January 2020. Demand for vitamins and health supplements that can enhance their immunity became strong during COVID-19.

Source: Baidu Index, Search Trend of ‘Strengthen the Immune System’

Chinese people showed strong demand for  vitamins and health supplements that can enhance their immunity. Accordingly, health supplements that could improve immunity got more sales.

More Chinese consumers have showed purchase intention for vitamin and health supplements since the epidemic increased their health awareness.

Data Source: BCG (Boston Consulting Group), ‘What Chinese will Buy Most in The Post-COVID-19’

Brands seize the opportunity to increase sales revenue during the most serious period of COVID-19

The biggest price drop of health supplements was in February, as many brands decreased online price to have more consumers during the most serious period of COVID-19. However, many consumers were focused more on personal protection and disinfection products.

Data source: CHUANCAI securities, SOOCHOW securities, Changes in Price of health supplements in China during COVID-19

Then, the sales revenue of health supplements greatly increased from March along with people’s health awareness further improved.

Data Source: Taosj (淘数据), E-commerce Sales of Vitamins and Health Supplements

For example, the health related products of BY-HEALTH (汤臣倍健) and Swisse had significantly increased their online sales.

Data source: Taosj (淘数据), Sales of By-Health & Swisse during COVID-19

What can we learn about the vitamin and health supplement market in China

• Physical and mental health are both important for Chinese people

Many Chinese people are eager to have both physical and mental health. Therefore, in addition to promoting physical health, how to help consumers relieve mental pressure is also an important sales point for all health-related brands in the Chinese market.

• People under 30 are the key customers for many brands

Many health supplements brands aim to build a youthful brand image to reach out more young consumers in China. They frequently used young KOLs and actors as spokespersons. At the same time, Baidu index analysis shows young Chinese consumers have the most interest in vitamins and health supplements.

• Skin health is a top concern of Chinese vitamin consumers

More and more Chinese people are bothered by skin imperfections. Because of Chinese beauty standards, skin whitening is an important driver for Chinese women to take vitamins. Therefore, some health supplements launched products targeting skin problems and received positive feedback.   

• COVID-19 stimulated consumption in the vitamin market in China

The COVID-19 outbreak brought great attention to physical health, Chinese people showed strong demands on vitamins and health supplements to enhance immunity.

See our full report on China’s vitamin and health supplement market

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Chinese KOLs and Western influencers earning potential

Top 5 highest paid influencers in the west

Influencers typically advertise products on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and other platforms. Businesses pay a large amount of money to them with a lot of followers to promote their products. If the  followers appear to match the company’s target customers, it will pay more.

Here are the five highest paid Western influencers

1. Kylie Jenner: $1 million per sponsored Instagram post.
2. Ariana Grande: a little less than $1 million per sponsored Instagram post.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo: $ 975,000 per sponsored Instagram post.
4. Kim Kardashian-West: $ 910,000 per sponsored Instagram post.
5. Selena Gomez: $ 900,000 per sponsored Instagram post.

Influencer is becoming the fastest growing channel for brand marketing. Based on a Tomson study, western businesses earn $6.50 for each dollar spent on influencer with the top 13% earning more than $20, which is a significant return.

The two Chinese KOLs with the strongest sales power

Compared to the hundreds of thousand dollar instagram posts of western influencers, Chinese KOLs can make over a million RMB in sales revenue a minute during live-streams. On October 21^st 2018, Li Jiaqi averaged around 1.77 milllion RMB (around 250 thousand USD) sales revenue a minute during a six hour twelve minute live-stream. Coming in second, Weiya averaged 1.64 million RMB (around 234 thousand USD) revenue a minute on the same day.

Chinese KOLs are relatively more active on live broadcasts platforms, like Tiktok and Taobao live broadcast. Li Jiaqi（李佳琦） and Weiya（薇娅） are the most representative KOLs in China with strong sales power. Li Jiaqi is the “No.1 Lipstick sales ” who sold 15,000 lipsticks in 5 minutes; Weiya is the “the most powerful promoter” that made a record of over 267 million products in a single (2 hours) live broadcast.

On October 20th, on the eve of the Double 11 pre-sale, Li Jiaqi once surpassed Weiya on the hottest Chinese KOLs ranking list（巅峰榜）. In the end, Weiya ranked the top of the hottest ranking list with 550 million live broadcasts traffic.

Source: Baijiahao, the hottest Chinese KOL ranking list

Li Jiaqi Live Data on 21^st October 2018

Li Jiaqi started the live broadcast at 20:14 on October 20^th and finished at 01:36 on the 21^st. The name of the live broadcast room was “miss the start of 21^st, you will regret the whole year”. From start to finish, the cumulative number of viewers reached 31.78 million. Among them, Li Jiaqi sold a total of 39 types of products, sales volume of 1.527 million, sales revenue reached 660.7 million RMB.

Source: Zhigua Data, Li Jiaqi live data

Weiya Live Data on 21^st October 2018

Wei Ya started the live broadcast at 20:00 on 20^th, 14 minutes earlier than Li Jiaqi, and finished at 02:43 on the 21st. During this period, the cumulative number of viewers reached 38.11 million, a total of 242,000 new fans, a total of 57 types of products were sold, sales volume was 976,000, and sales revenue was 661.2 million RMB.

Source: Zhigua Data, Weiya live data

Their live broadcasts on the day of Double 11 in 2018 proved their incredible sales power. Wei Ya achieved more than 267 million volume sales a day. Li Jiaqi sold 15,000 orders in 5 minutes, which defeated the record created by Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba.

Chinese KOLs like Li Jiaqi and Weiya can feed dozens of factories in China. As Wei Ya said, no matter how much money she made, she would never stop working. If she stopped her live broadcasts, many factories might be closed. Other than advertising income, they also have commission. Weiya can make 2,370,000 RMB income for one live broadcast, and Li Jiaqi can make 3,150,000 RMB for one live broadcast.

Comparison between top western influencers and Chinese KOLs

In contrast to Chinese KOLs livestreaming, western influencers them promote products by well-produced and creative videos posted on Youtube, Instagram and other social media platforms. The quality of those videos can compare with MTV in Hollywood and even comparable to the quality of film production.

Jeffree Star vs. Li Jiaqi

Jeffree Star is a male, born in 1986. His father died when he was 6 years old. His mother is a professional model and has a profound influence on his aesthetic and preferences in a subtle way. He started to wear makeup when he was 12 years old, tried women’s clothing after attending high school, and finally showed himself as a “female image”. Initially, Jeffree Star was active as a model and singer, and was favored by Lady Gaga’s mentor, Akon. Akon boasted that he would become Gaga No.2. However, it did not come true. Later, Jeffree Star was famous for his creative makeup display on YouTube.

Source: WWD, Jeffree Star cremation palette

Four of the five highest paid western influencers are celebrities. Jeffree Star can make a good comparison with the Chinese KOL, Li Jiaqi, as they both are just influencers not celebrities.

Both Chinese KOL, Li Jiaqi and Western KOL, Jeffree Star focus on makeup. KOLs in China have more restrictions than in western countries. Before Li Jiaqi, most of makeup promotors were female KOLs in China. Li Jiaqi always tries lipsticks directly on his lips to better show the real colors, which was very bold for a male KOL in China. However, this is nothing compared to what Jeffree Star has going on.

Annual Income: Li Jiaqi (140 million US ) vs. Jeffree Star (100 million US dollars)

The profit model between these two make-up enthusiasts is quite different. Li Jiaqi’s team earns 1 billion RMB advertising revenue per year. Jeffree owns his personal brand “Jeffree Star Cosmetics” and make 100 million US dollars per year. He is no longer just a KOL but also a famous brand entrepreneur. Based on the data, Li Jiaqi’s team create more revenue than Jeffree Star’s cosmetics company.

Source: Shangyexinzhi, Jeffree Star Cosmetics

Business Model: Li Jiaqi (marketing team) vs. Jeffree Star (vertical business line)

Vertical business line, vertical e-commerce brand is a profit model that many western KOLs are adopting. They start from becoming influencers, then accumulating fans, doing a lot of traffic, and finally forming an independent vertical brand. This is a very different business environment between the KOLs in United States and KOLs in China. Some Chinese KOLs are trying to adopt the same business model. However, many of them were facing quality problems and failed. Vertical business line can also make profits for KOLs in China but following the example of Li Jiaqi might be more suitable in the Chinese market. Li Jiaqi’s team plays a role of a marketer but not involved into production.

Learn more about KOL marketing in China

China Paradigms podcast on how to leverage Chinese KOLs in marketing

This article Chinese KOLs vs. Western Influencers: How does an instagram post compare to a minute of livestreaming? is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research China.

Steal the Spotlight

Their reality show ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ has already reached the 18^th season. It has built a powerful platform for the Kardashians to stay relevant in the public and communicate with the audiences.

The story of the Kardashians started from a reality show

Basically, the reality show ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ made the Kardashians. Kim Kardashian, the most well-known sister, deserves the credit. Before the reality show, she ran into a PR mess when an intimate video of her and an ex-boyfriend spread across the internet like wildfire. Kim Kardashians saw her Despite the rapid success in the western world, the Kardashian’s fame was slow to catch on in China until recently.

Arousing viral discussion

The traffic economy is an economy based on digital platforms. Content creators and consumers realize the effective flow of information and generate economic benefits within the platform. In the digital era, traffic is not only driven by offline presence or advertising, but also in-time blooming information exchange online.

The Kardashian’s fame as officially hit China

Trending topics in the China are fast-changing. But the Kardashian are good at maintaining their presence by creating new dramas and the ‘magic’ of the Kardashians in China also worked. In the latest season of ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’, the scene of the fight between the sisters went viral on Weibo. The topic climbed to the 2^nd of the Hot Search List in Weibo on March 28, with 200 million views and 27,000 discussions. Back to the last season, the dramatic break up between Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson also raised a hot discussion, generating 130 million views and 12,000 discussions on Weibo.

Source: Weibo, Hot topics in terms of ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’

How to mimic the Kardashian success in a Chinese way?

In China, vlog is a powerful tool

In fact, it is unrealistic and cost-inefficient for individuals or even brands to create a reality show to approach the public. To reach the Chinese market, Vlogs is a good alternative. Vlog is a video-blog, a casual, conversational video posted on social media, many Chinese KOLs use vlogs to reach their audience. According Bilibili, the most popular video platform for vlog in China, vlog has still seen a growing trend. One successful example of applying vlog to marketing could be the OPPO R17 campaign ‘Discover the beauty of the night’. The brand invited some famous vloggers to create short vlog with OPPO R17 about cities such as Tokyo, New York and Hong Kong and capture the beauty of night. The Weibo topic relating to that has already reached 620 million views.

Source: Biliob Index, the popular index of ‘vlog’

Stay Active in Social Media

Taking a picture and uploading it online may seem easy and mindless, but each of the Kardashian sisters gained a lot of reward that comes from a single post. With a mix of brand deals and sponsored ads, the Kardashians make money by just name dropping products and brands in their social media posts. It is estimated that Kim Kardashian makes about $500,000 per Instagram post, Kourtney and Khloe about $250,000 and the Jenners about $400,000 each, although some sources say Kylie Jenner earns up to $1 million per post.

From the reality show to social media, the Kardashians always find the best way to communicate with their audiences. The population targeted by a brand’s communication on social networks determines the content to publish. Moreover, interactive content and videos are particularly appreciated in the Chinese market. The Kardashians understand what their audience enjoys, and tailor their posts in such a way to maintain that connection. They share their lives as mothers and celebrities.

Additionally, they give their fans sneak previews of the new release of their brands. Through Instagram and Snapchat, followers are effectively given a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at life in the spotlight. The constantly updated in social media. It feels like ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ but in an unscripted, unedited, and intimate format. The result turns out well. Take Kylie Jenner for example, she is constantly active on her Instagram stories has more than 400 million daily active users. Moreover, they used social media to interact with the audiences. Kim Kardashian regularly engages with her followers and gives them insight into her world, like asking her followers for fashion advice in a tweet.

Presence of the Kardashians in China

Kim was the first one in her family spotted the value of the Chinese market and leveraged the social media trends in China. She joined several trending Chinese platforms and which at the end turned out impactful.  On October 27, Kim Kardashian opened her official account on Xiaohongshu (小红书, also known as Little Red Book or RED). Now she has more than 220,000 followers. On the social commerce platform, Kim balances the sales content with personal content her Chinese audiencescrave. The most engaging content of her Xiaohongshu account is about her family and her regular fashion. In Xiaohongshu, she interacted with her followers in the Chinese way. In her latest post about the launch of KKW fragrance, she said ‘Happy new year’ in Chinese.

Source: Xiaohongshu, the most engaging posts in Kim’s official account

However, Kim Kardashian’s traffic on Xiaohongshu is nothing compared to her Instagram following. So how can she start to gain momentum in China?

Kim collaborated with a Chinese influencer to expand her audience

To amplify the brand effect and present the product advantages in a more efficient way, Kim Kardashian leveraged the impactful e-commerce channel. In the Double 11 event of 2019, Kim joined the livestream collaborating with Viya (薇娅), a livestreaming expert in Taobao/Tmall. Even though the influence of Kim Kardashian is strong globally, her livestreaming index in Tmall didn’t tell the same story. The views of Viya’s livestream reached 10 million while the views of Kim’s livestream are less than 15,000. Nevertheless, the livestream worked in terms of boosting sales. At the end, 6,000 fragrances were sold within 30 seconds. Before the livestream, the total sales of the KKW fragrance were only 52. This livestream also raises a hot discussion in Weibo. To conclude, the collaboration enabled Kim Kardashian to win both sales and attention in the Chinese market.

Source: Taobao, Double 11 livestream of Kim Kardashian and Viya

What could be next – Short Video Platform

In order to be digitally active, accessing the vitality of the social media platform and keeping up with the trends in China is crucial. In the Chinese market, the structure of social media is changing fast. From 2017 to 2018, the usage of short video platforms soared by 6.2%. The trend remains upwards till now: the short video market in China soars on traffic growth especially that the Coronavirus crisis boosting the at-home economy. It is changing the monopolized BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) structure in the market. There is no doubt that the short video platforming is leading the new social media trends in China.

Data Source: QuestMobile TRUTH, the proportion of usage duration of App, by platform

Construct favorable public image – the Chinese way

The Kardashians in China are controversial figures since it started with the PR mess of Kim Kardashian. However, Chinese customers respect her as fashion and beauty figures in general and the Kardashians brand gained endorsement among them.

How the Kardashians level up their public image?

In the US, the Kardashians have made philanthropic moves which impress the local audience. On one episode of ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’, focused on Khloe Kardashian and Kim Kardashian’s mission to raise awareness about the issue of homelessness. The Kardashians influence did work. Kim Kardashian stated that the episode inspired over $1 million worth of donations to the Alexandria House, a shelter for women and single mothers in LA. They also leveraged their presence on other famous platform to do goods. Both Kylie and Kim completed the donation to specific issues on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’. If philanthropy can turn someone’s image around in the US, what works in China?

Source: The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian donated

The Chinese audience is strict

Because of the unique and fragmented characters of the Chinese web, information and trends in China evolve at far higher speeds than anywhere else in the world either positively or negatively. Consequently, maintaining a favorable public image is crucial for your voice in this market. It applies for both celebrities and brands. In 2020, Chinese celebrities have tremendous pressure to maintain a clean, positive image. The tolerance of Chinese netizens is low. In the Chinese digital world, you might be admired by the public on minute, then suddenly be criticized by everyone the next.

The leading Chinese KOL Zhang Dayi (张大奕) was involved in a scandal. It went viral among the Chinese netzines. The topic #Zhang Dayi is a mistress# (#张大奕小三#) raised 780,000 discussion and gained 450 million views. Some of the netizens posted proposals to block Zhang Dayi. The company Ruhan, highly linked to Zhang Dayi, has been at stake due to the scandal. The stock price plummeted, with a maximum drop of 10% and the market value has evaporated by approximately $22 million (approximately RMB 150 million). The man involved in the mistress scandal is Jiang Fan, president of Taobao, Tmall, Alimama Business Group, was removed from the partners of Alibaba.

Thus, a proper brand position and a favorable brand image would be compulsory in order to enter the Chinese market.

Source: Baidu Index, Chinese Netizen search frequency of Zhang Dayi

Fan conversion

As famous figures or signs, their public image can be further exploited and converted properly into business. The Kardashians have become fashion and cultural icons and have infused their brand into everything they do. Each sister has taken their success and translated it into the means of businesses, lifestyle apps, brand deals and etc.

How the Kardashians achieve their success in business

Some of the Kardashian sisters have already found their own brands ranging from cosmetics to clothing. Their marketing strategies are highly consistent: using its own social media platform to promote products and inviting the big-name celebrity to post on social media. Among all the sisters, Kylie Jenner is most successful one in business: her brand ‘Kylie cosmetics’ is already worth $1.2 billion.

As fashion icon, the Kardashians also jump out of the industry to talk to their audiences. Take Kim Kardashian for example, she launched a video game ‘Kim Kardashian: Hollywood’ which is available on IOS and Android for free. It reached 1 million download and 5 million revenue by April 2020.

Can someone mimic the success of the Kardashians in China

While Kardashians’s following clearly shows some differences between western and Chinese consumers, it also highlights the power of influencer marketing in both cultures. Chinese consumers highly reward those who reach out using their culture and language. Kim Kardashian first used Weibo in English and got little traction, then she hopped on Xiaohongshu and used some Chinese, and got more traction. Then she did a livestream just for Chinese on 11.11 2019, and her fame in China hit a new high.

The global success of the Kardashians is not an accident. In the era of digitalization, colossal attention and traffic keep the money-spinning franchise running. However, attention and traffic would not maintain forever. It is crucial to find the right touchpoint to stay active online. The Kardashians successfully spot the growing social media trends in China and replicated their online impact to the Chinese market. Empirical evidences prove that favorable public image matters in China.

Negative image can destroy a public figure for a long-term period. Company in the Chinese market should be careful of building its image and stay consistent in the future. Famous figures like the Kardashians made a great amount of money by just posting pictures in the social media. The Chinese market also provides great opportunity of leverage the famous figures, which help companies exposed in the public and achieve success quickly. All in all, the Kardashians marketing tactics over the years are worthy of praise and provides useful guidelines even for marketing players in China.

Author: Dongni He

Partner with a Kardashian-like KOL in China

Learn how to do influencer marketing in China with daxue talks

This article Apply the Kardashians marketing tactics in China is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research China.

Rap music penetrates China under a western influence

The first rap singers in China spoke English because many believed that the Chinese language and its tones don’t fit the genre. One of the first Chinese DJs to rap at the time, DJ V-Nutz (Gary Wang), explained in 2007: “I would say that we don’t have a Chinese style yet. If you really want me to say, what is Chinese style, I would say it’s young. Local kids really enjoy western things right now. Then maybe after 10 or 15 years, maybe they can have their own style.” At that time, certain aspects of the hip-hop culture were making their ways onto Chinese billboards and charts, but not on the airwaves.

Source: VICE, Gary wang partying at ‘The Shelter’ a hip-hop club in a Beijing bomb shelter

The beginning of rap music in China

In 2003, the multinational Beijing hip-hop group Yin Ts’ang was the first mainland Chinese hip-hop group to release an album to critical acclaim. The group was made up of global nomads: two Americans, a Chinese Canadian, and a Beijinger. The diversity of the group – which is considered one of the pioneers of Chinese rap music – reflects Western influence in the beginning of China’s rap music.

Source: The New York Times, The rap group Yin Ts’ang

Yin Ts’ang’s first hit was ‘In Beijing’ (Zai Beijing), from the group’s 2003 debut album, ‘Serve the People.’ The title melts a traditional melody played on the violin against a hip-hop beat. The song, whose Chinese lyrics explore the hidden corners and great deals of the Chinese capital, took the underground music scene by storm, eventually finding its way into karaoke rooms, the internet, and even the playlist of a radio station in Beijing.

The group defends its lyrics in Chinese, which awaken the Chinese urban youth. “Before that, kids listened to hip-hop in English, but maybe less than 1 percent could actually begin to understand”, said Zhong Cheng, a member of the Yin Ts’ang.

Rap music hits Sichuan

2006 saw the rise of another famous rap group from Chengdu called Big Zoo, with several mixtapes and freestyle releases. The group won several domestic awards before fading away in 2011. With its verses in Sichuan dialect, the group is commonly regarded as the one who led the development of the rap of Chengdu, and more importantly, the birth of a new urban subculture in Southwest China.

In the late 2000s, hip-hop venues are flourishing in China, and 2009 saw hip-hop being broadcasted for the first time by the China Central Television for the annual Chinese Lunar New Year Gala.

If the 2010s distinguishes China’s rap as a new genre of music, making Chinese rap at that time is still a profitless and often subversive activity. Thus, it is only in 2017 that Chinese hip-hop scene will burst with a dedicated TV program.

The reality TV show ‘The Rap of China’ has catalyzed the rise of hip-hop in China since 2017, exploring the new potential market to achieve monetization

The underground and metallic decor of ‘The Rap of China’

“Do you have freestyle?” the sentence of Kris Wu, one of the judges of the TV show ‘The Rap of China’ (Zhongguo you xiha, or Zhongguo xin shuochang) went viral on Chinese social networks. The show consists of detecting new talents in Chinese rap, many of them previously underground, via a freestyle contest. Before the start of the 2019 season, the hashtag #TheRapOfChina reached 8.7 billion tags on Weibo across more than 44.23 million users discussing the show.

Through this TV show, iQYI (the Chinese video platform behind the show) explores the potential market of Chinese rap deeper by realizing the monetization of the rap industry. On top of Mainland China and Taiwan, the show is widely distributed to other Asian territories, bringing Chinese hip-hop culture to a broader audience. The show is such a hit among the young generation that it plays a big role in the trends of lifestyle and entertainment consumption in young people.

Since 2017, ten years after Gary Wang’s prediction about the future of the Chinese rappers, the buzzword ‘rap’ peaks according to the Chinese show’s episodes. Surprisingly, Chinese youth use the word ‘rap’ much more than its Chinese counterparts ‘嘻哈’ (xiha, meaning hip-hop) or 说唱 (shuochang meaning rap). The word ‘freestyle has no equivalent in Chinese, and many of the show’s participants mix Chinese and English in their verses.

Source: Baidu Index, the buzzword ‘rap’ peaks according to the Chinese show’s episodes

The Rap of China’s audience brings together Chinese Generation Z

Watching the program, the characteristics of Chinese rap immediately hit the viewer. The show is aimed at young Chinese urban culture, with an industrial and underground design, as illustrated in the image above. Chains, cans of paint, toolboxes, and other construction materials are part of the show’s decor, reflecting the rapid urbanization of China experienced by Chinese youth. The dark atmosphere immerses the viewer in the ambience of underground hip-hop clubs, often located in shelters and basements of major Chinese cities.

The audience brings together the Chinese generation post 95s and 00s. According to Baidu Index, around 70% of the Chinese people who search for ‘rap’ on the Chinese internet are under 30 years old. More surprisingly, females account for 55.8% of the total searches.

Source: Baidu index, daxue consulting analysis, age and gender distribution of rap fans in China

As for geographical distribution, rap consumers are mainly balanced between first- and second-tier cities, Beijing being the number one and Chongqing the 8^th. The keen interest for rap among people from Chengdu city and the Sichuan province near Chongqing city is linked to the emergence of a new kind of rap, called ‘trap’ that shakes western China.

Data source: Baidu index, daxue consulting analysis Geographical distribution of rap fans in China

‘The Rap of China’ highlights Chinese-youth market potential

But what strikes the viewer at the very first glance is the ability of the show to be overcrowded with advertisement messages. The 2019’s season host the financial application 有钱花 (you qian hua, have money to spend) as the main sponsor of the show. The logo of the application appears everywhere, at the top of the show’s logo, at the bottom right corner, and in the decor of the show. The show even features promotional rap clips that highlight the brands’ products. Thus, marketing promotion is at the heart of the competition since participants must compete in promotional clips.

Brands sponsoring the most-watched show among Chinese youth reflect the market potential for brands targeting young Chinese. Thus, outside of the main sponsor, spirits brands such as Absolut Vodka and 江 小白 (Jiangxiaobai), a Baijiu brand from southwest China, are highlighted. A brand of shampoo, Clear by Unilever, appears regularly. Pepsi is also very visible during the show, as is War Horse 我马 (Wo Ma), a Thai Chinese energy drink brand. The American chewing gum brand, Extra, in Chinese 益 达 (Yi Da) and a brand of sanitary pads, are presented through rap clips during the show.

The brands sponsoring the 2019 season of ‘The Rap of China’ reflect the lifestyle of the new Chinese generation.

Rap as a route to gen-z marketing

With all these brands popping up during the show, one can wonder about Chinese young generation’s market potential. Gen Z, or the post-95 generation, includes nearly 170 million people in China. Even though many are not part of the workforce, it doesn’t keep them from spending money. Thus, 70% of them receive at least 3,000 yuan (USD420) in pocket money, while 21% are getting more than 10,000 yuan per month.

Moreover, according to Mckinsey’s China consumer report 2020, “young, free-spending consumers in lower-tier cities are today’s growth engine.” This critical set of consumers is unaffected by slowing growth and rising cost of living that affects top-tier cities in China.

In China, the target consumer does not just start at twenty-somethings with full-time jobs in the office. Many in their late-teens already have cash on hand even if they don’t have a fixed income. And advertisers on ‘The Rap of China’ know this.

Exploring Western China’s largest cities of rappers

As ‘The Rap of China’ displays, hip-hop music incorporates street fashion and internet culture, which is embraced, learned, and made by the young Chinese generation. The demographics analysis of the keyword ‘rap’ on Baidu display East provinces as the epicenter of the trend. However, in the west, we also see Sichuan province being hit by the phenomenon. A new hip-hop revolution called trap occurs in Chongqing and Chengdu, the two largest cities of the west. Trap music is a subgenre of hip-hop, characterized by the significant use of tuned kick drums and bass, and an often-dark ambience and lyrical content.

Meet Chengdu’s hottest rappers: Xie di, Higher brothers, Ty.

In Chengdu, Sichuan province, hip-hop is even hotter than its infamously spicy cuisine. Here lies the Higher Brothers, China’s hottest hip-hop export. This band of four friends is the first to make it internationally with their DIY lyrics, recording, and production. Their ‘Made in China’ clip on YouTube is the most viewed among Chinese hip-hop videos, almost hitting 20 million views.

Source: 88rising’s YouTube channel, Higher Brothers’ clip ‘Made in China’

Like Big Zoo’s former rap, they melt Sichuan dialect, Mandarin and English in their lyrics. But they never do it on purpose, mainly focusing on the meaning of the words in each of these languages, and how it sounds. If no one knows why trap takes off in Chengdu, the Sichuanese dialect could be the reason. This twangy local dialect is said to lend more naturally to the musical style than Mandarin, China’s official language.

The legendary Chengdu City Rap House is the heart of Chengdu’s rap. It’s one of the most influential hip-hop labels in China, best-known for nurturing the success of the Higher Brothers. The collective gathers other super-famous rappers from Chengdu, like Ty. and Boss Shady (Xie Di).

Chengdu’s rappers are up against strict censorship

The latter has known a burst of popularity in 2014 by bringing Chengdu’s rap to a Chinese talent TV show called ‘The Voice of China.’ In 2018, the rapper released a dialect-heavy track called ‘Fuck Off Foreigners’ (Gua laowai). The song’s harsh lyrics towards foreigners got him banned from performing in China for an entire year. But Shady is not letting censorship get him down, announcing its partnership with Ty. to build a new record label.

Ty., Chengdu’s most successful solo rapper domestically, also experienced the throes of censorship through his breakout track ‘Hooked on drugs’ (Hai yao shang le yin), in 2014. The rapper appears then in ‘The Rap of China’ with a more commercial-friendly rap featuring other artists, including Boss Shady. A longtime friend of the Higher Brothers, he is also featured in some of their newly released tracks.

Source: VICE, YouTube, Ty. (left) and Boss Shady (right)

But a new unpleasant rivalry is coming from another neighboring western city, whose rappers have built their popularity on the back of the success of ‘The Rap of China.’

Chongqing, the Atlanta of China

This city is Chongqing, China’s third-largest city, and home to 31 million people. The commonly nicknamed ‘fog city’ or ‘bridge city’ is often compared to Atlanta, Georgia the birthplace of trap music in the United States.

Here lies the GOSH music label, gathering the most influential rappers of Chongqing, with well-known names across China, such as GAI, Bridge, and Wudu Montana. These three rappers all appear in the wildly popular reality show ‘The Rap of China’, with GAI winning the first season, in 2017.

However, GAI’s first burst of popularity came in 2015, along with the release of ‘Gangster,’ a controversial track in which the rapper claims to be a gangster. The track has soon been banned on the multiple Chinese video websites, people questioning the fact that this song could instigate criminal activities.

How a matcha-shop-owner-gone-rapper popularized Chongqing’s rap music

Popularizing rap using Chongqing dialect with similar dialects, GOSH label is maximizing its influence over the southwest region. The first rapper to sing about the fog city is Wudu Montana (Wudu literally meaning ‘fog city’ in Chinese), a matcha tea shop owner. Just like the Yin Ts’ang crew, his first hits told about his daily life growing up in the vast city, and its development since the 90’s. It is this street culture that he tries to transmit in his sounds. According to him, “Chongqing has changed a lot, things that were once small are now big.”

Source: VICE, YouTube, Wudu Montana (left) and Gai (right) on stage

Another rapper, whose name also resonates with the city and its many bridges, has recently become the Chongqing’s new rising star. Bridge is perhaps Chongqing’s rapper whose look is the most explosive. Dreadlocks and large bubble glasses are the hallmarks of this energetic rapper. According to him, trap allows people to express things with beats, just like the Chinese poets did in the old days.

Bridge during his participation for the season 2 of ‘The Rap of China’

Chongqing’s rap is more aggressive than Chengdu’s. This is reflected in what those rapper call ‘attitude.’ If people tend to compare Chengdu and Chongqing’s rap, we see that these rappers have their own shining characteristics, whether they come from Chongqing or Sichuan.           

Chinese rap is going outside of China

That being said about ‘The Rap of China,’ Chengdu, and Chongqing’s rap, we are obviously currently witnessing the rise of the Chinese rap music. But what about globally?  Is there any opportunity for Chinese rap to catch foreign audiences, while foreign streaming music and video platforms are blocked in China?

88rising, a multimedia company and music label for Asian rap in the US

A New-York based company launch in 2015 made its top priority to raise the profile of Asian hip-hop in the United States. Its name is 88rising (the 8 is the luckiest number in the Chinese culture), an Asian-focused record label and media company. The company, which only features 3 to 4 Asian artists at a time, focus on exporting Eastern culture to the West, one viral hit at a time. Among the featured artists, the Higher Brothers’ crew represents the Chinese branch.

Since the Higher Brothers signed in 2016 under 88rising’s banner, the Chengdu’s rap group completed two US tours in front of sold-out crowds. The first move of 88rising to translate the Higher Brothers hype in the United States came with the viral YouTube video ‘Rappers React to Higher Brothers’, where famous US rap artists reacted very positively to their ‘Made in China’ hit. Since then, the crew released its long-awaited new album, ‘Five Stars’ still under the 88rising label.

Source: Higher Brother’s Facebook page announcing their participation at 88rising’s music festival in Los Angeles, 2019

Much of the power of 88rising is due to the fact that it operates more like a PR agency than a record label. Miyashiro, 88rising’s CEO, estimates that only 30% of the company is dedicated to full-time music. In comparison, the other 70% is split between video production, business development, and fostering direct relationships with streaming music and video platforms, their digital playground.

But in China, relationship with Spotify’s teams are not enough, with most foreign streaming platforms blocked and replaced by local equivalent. This explains why 88rising decided to break the Chinese walls by employing a dozen full-time staff in Shanghai.

In 2019, Higher Brothers won the award for hip-hop artist NetEase’s label of the years, 88rising taking the award for Chinese music streaming of the year at the same event.

Could censorship be the glass ceiling of the rise of China’s rap music?

Ironically, one month after receiving these awards, several 88rising tracks were pulled from NetEase, ostensibly for lyrical content failing outside the requirements of Chinese censors. Even the wildly popular reality show ‘The Rap of China’ fall under the state broadcast administration regulations, which prohibited depictions of the hip-hop culture, including tattoos and obscene lyrics. Making rap about drugs, sex, violence, and politics is out of the question.

The beginnings of hip-hop – including trap music – in China were primarily influenced by western culture. Western lyrics often include violence and anti-system verses, a path that Chinese rappers tried at their expense.

Even with censorship, however, the success of rap in China among the young Chinese generation is real. By moving west towards Chengdu, Chinese rap has only proven its uniqueness: it is incisive, technical, and requires great dexterity to mix Chinese dialects, Mandarin, and English. It focuses on the style and character of the rapper, verses from Chinese rappers appearing in the process of building a full-fledged character, with coolness and attitude at its center.

Author: Maxime Bennehard

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This article Feeling the beats of the Chinese rap culture is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research China.

Find here Daxue Talks episode 66. Our guest Miro Li discusses what omnichannel marketing strategies brands could use in the renewed Chinese markets, such as private traffic, as well as how KOLs and brands are evolving to adapt to consumers’ needs during and after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Full transcript below:

How have KOL’s changed the way they interact with the audience during and after the outbreak?

I think KOL’s do more live streaming to talk to the audience directly. KOL’s like to show more sympathy in the content related to the COVID-19, and sometimes they will remind their followers to be cautious, to stay safe, to stay healthy. Show more sympathy let’s them to have a closer relationship with their followers.

They also share more products that are related to the current situation, for example products that you will need to use at home, like instant food or some DIY food or home electronics. So, they will share some products that are related to the current situation instead of products that you don’t need under this circumstance. At the end, they are trying to have a closer relationship with their followers.

Talking about your business, what were the main requests from clients during and after the outbreak?

Main requests are about how to digitalize. For example, we have some clients that are pure offline and are the retailers. During this time, how should they digitalize in a short time? They need to setup online shops and transform their sales persons to be the online sales who does the live streaming, and to set up the WeChat groups to manage the private traffic. I think this is the most request from the clients during this time.

Also when we are doing the marketing, the brands would ask you, how to combine the hot topics with the content? Definitely, we need to adjust the content direction during this time. So, how to show our sympathy as a brand, how to show our social responsibility, and what we need to do for content management? Also, how to plan an omni-channel strategy in the future in the long term and how to connect the online and offline are also what clients would always request during this outbreak.

What are your tips for brands on how to plan an omnichannel strategy working in the renewed Chinese market?

I think first you need to connect your online and your offline, so you have online shops, you have offline shops. For example, if you have a membership system, you need to combine your online and offline membership system into one system so that when customers shop online, they can get points and then when they go to the offline shops, they can also use these points to redeem any rewards. So, you have to connect it together and you have to have an integrated strategy. For example, you can use your online data, like online shops on TMall, to do a better offline promotion and then when customers come to offline shops, you can [redirect] these offline customers to online and let them become your private traffic. So for example you can add them to you WeChat group and can ask them to become a customer of your mini program so that they will become your private traffic. I think this will become the future of retail.

Also, you have to understand the different platforms for e-commerce and marketing in order to choose the right platform, the right channel. According to your brand positioning and also after the analysis of your competitors, learn each platforms’ algorithm and policy to follow the latest trends of each platform so that you can choose the best, the most suitable channel for your brand.

Before, many brands online have only had shops on Tmall, for example, but now they realize it’s not enough since TMall is popular traffic, and some brands want to start to manage their own private traffic. So, they start to set up WeChat shops and manage their WeChat group as well as doing a WeChat live streaming. So this is what I think: they are evolving, they are realizing that an omni-channel strategy is becoming more and more important. Many brands also start to realize that when you do this, you can’t really see results in the short term, because building word-of-mouth takes time, but it will definitely benefit you in long term. This is why brands need to be patient when doing this, and this is definitely the future of retail.

Any questions? We will find an expert to answer them. Drop your questions in the comments or send us an email – dx@daxueconsulting.com.

This article Daxue Talks transcript #66: Renewed Chinese markets — alternative strategies needed? is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research China.

Our guest Miro Li, founder of a niche social media marketing consultancy in China, tells us how KOLs and brands are evolving to adapt to consumers’ needs during and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Find out what omni-channel marketing strategies brands could use in the renewed Chinese markets.

Jump to the questions:

• 1:54: Talking about your business, what were the main requests from clients during and after the outbreak?
• 0:38: How have KOLs changed the way they interact with the audience during and after the outbreak?
• 3:21: What are your tips for brands on how to plan an omni-channel strategy working in the renewed Chinese markets?

Daxue Talks is a show powered by daxue consulting, a china-based strategic market research company founded in 2010! With Daxue Talks, you will stay up to date with all the latest business updates in China.

This article Daxue Talks 66: New strategies to operate successfully in renewed Chinese markets is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research China.

Find here Daxue Talks episode 64. In this interview, our guest Miro Li tells us what brands and KOLs are doing differently on Bilibili in response to COVID-19.

Full transcript below:

What kind of KOL’s gain popularity during the coronavirus outbreak?

We see many KOL’s like vloggers post vlogs and share their daily life. We know that BiliBili is a platform that’s focused on ACG content, animation, comics and games. So actually, a lot of KOL’s on BiliBili are like gaming KOL’s; they livestream the whole process of their play online game or mobile game. Gaming live streaming is actually becoming more popular and gaming KOL’s are also becoming more popular on BiliBili.

A lot of people are taking online courses on BiliBili or like to watch educational videos on this platform. There is actually a very popular hashtag on BiliBili called #Studywithme, where the users live stream their whole process of studying. So when I do this live streaming, I don’t really talk, I just quietly sit here and I’m just studying or I’m just reading a book. So, this is what students watch on BiliBili when they are trying to study. They would open a study live streaming room and they would watch other people – it’s like your virtual companion when you’re studying and it makes you feel less alone. Therefore, the study live streaming KOL’s are also becoming more popular, which is very unique for BiliBili’s path work.

How have brands’ behaviors on BiliBili changed during the coronavirus?

I think brands have started to do more live streaming and they started to push more videos here on BiliBili during the coronavirus because live streaming is a very good way to connect with your followers. Previously I just shared Xiaomi had a 72-hour, non-stop live streaming, and McDonalds may have a 24-hour non-stop live streaming on BiliBili. Brands have started to have offline events to online and to live stream this whole event like Xiaomi with their own press conference on Bilibili. Actually many brands are starting to explore some new online channels, and they are starting to set up on BiliBili because during this time people actually spend more time online, especially on entertainment apps. Apps like Red, Douyin or BiliBili actually have more views. Before, brands have focused more on big platforms like WeChat and Weibo, but now they’ve started to focus more on niche platforms like BiliBili or Red. They are starting to have more content on BiliBili and setting up their own official account or work with KOL’s to push their brands and products.

What are your suggestions to brands that currently want to launch campaigns on BiliBili?

First you need to understand the GenZ(ers) because they are your target customers. The users of BiliBili mostly are Gen Z so you need to speak their language. If you only post too formal or too official content, it’s not really useful. Same with some hot selling content, it’s not very useful on BiliBili. So you have to understand this group of content and you need to speak their language. Also, you need to be creative because BiliBili’s users are actually very strict on the content quality. If you can’t provide value or useful information to them, even though it’s an ad, they are actually willing to watch it.

Learn to be creative and to present your brands or products in a creative way; learn to provide more value instead of just hard selling thing to your customers. If you want to launch campaigns on BiliBili, you need to really choose the local KOL’s, the suitable KOL’s because BiliBili users are more familiar with the deep rooted, local BiliBili KOL’s. Therefore, you have to really select and understand which KOL is more localised. [Those KOLs] actually know how to communicate with their audience, so you need to choose the suitable KOL’s. Also, because we know bullet screen is a very unique function to this platform, in Chinese it’s called dan’m, brands can actually learn how to use bullet screen function to communicate with your customers or to advertise. These are what brands can explore on the pathway.

Any questions? We will find an expert to answer them. Drop your questions in the comments or send us an email – dx@daxueconsulting.com.

This article Daxue Talks transcript #64: What are brands and KOLs doing differently on Bilibili during COVID-19? is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research China.

In this episode of Daxue Talks, Miro Li, an expert in marketing foreign brands on niche Chinese platforms, discusses how KOLs and the Chinese lifestyle sharing platform Xiaohongshu (Red) have adapted to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Jump to the questions:

• 0:38: How have KOLs changed the way they interact with the audience during and after the outbreak?
• 0:50: How has COVID-19 affected users’ behavior on Xiaohongshu?
• 2:30: What topics are hot on Xiaohongshu during COVID-19?
• 4:25: What kind of KOLs gained popularity during the coronavirus outbreak?

Daxue Talks is a show powered by daxue consulting, a china-based strategic market research company founded in 2010! With Daxue Talks, you will stay up to date with all the latest business updates in China.

This article Daxue Talks 61: KOLs’ and users’ behavior on Xiaohongshu during and after the coronavirus outbreak is the first one to appear on Daxue Consulting - Market Research China.