Market updates

Ninety-one percent of prospective Chinese overseas students said they still plan to study abroad while 92 percent of existing overseas students plan to return to their schools abroad in the near future, according to the annual Report on Chinese Students’ Overseas Study.

Alibaba’s Taobao Live reveals it did $60B in GMV last year, putting its nose ahead of Kuaishou (~$58B). While it didn’t set a GMV target, it aims to help 2,000 channels and 200 merchants reach sales of CNY 100M this year.

According to a white paper from JD, a number of Chinese consumers are considering replacing their home appliances during the upcoming 5-day May Day Holiday (May 1-5).

AgencyChina’s Research & Strategy Manager, Michael Norris, was quoted in this piece on Douyin’s e-commerce push. Douyin has set the ambitious goal of tripling the amount it transacts through its platform this year.

Douyin continues to build-out its e-commerce capabilities by launching flagship stores for brand accounts. The feature, made available on March 29, includes a campaign banner, brand recommendations, vouchers, product recommendations, and offline store information.

China recently announced that sports are set to become a core part of school exams. 

China’s top population control authority may be moving toward loosening birth restrictions imposed under the country’s current two-child policy.

Chinese consumers spent about 821 billion yuan (US$127 billion) on shopping and dining during this year’s Spring Festival holiday, an increase from 2020 but still below the amount in 2019, which was over 1 trillion yuan, according to government data.

Data released by the JD Big Data Research Institute on Feb. 9 indicates, sales of prepared versions of Chinese New Year dinner must-haves are significantly higher than before. Sales of a one-person serving of the traditional delicacy Buddha Jumps over the Wall have increased four times. Some consumers have gone all out – sales of set meals of auspicious CNY dishes are up 3.5 times.

The top 30 Chinese mobile game publishers reported a surge in revenue last month thanks to their overseas market expansion. These game developers raked in over $2.3 billion in worldwide revenues in January, a surge of 47.3 percent year on year, according to Sensor Tower, a mobile app data analysis firm.