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Alternative strategies needed in renewed Chinese markets

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.