China’s consumer recovery has been led by affluent consumers who weren’t adversely affected by the pandemic, apart some minor inconveniences around lockdown. Case in point – luxury goods. Luxury spending in China will grow 20%-30% this year, according to a report from Boston Consulting Group, but much of that growth is going to come from consumers in China’s 50 largest and richest cities.

Exporters get nervous when their country has diplomatic tension with China. However, the recent past has shown us that consumers aren’t tuned into the finger-pointing and tit-for-tat that occurs on the diplomatic stage. Goods from Korea, the United States and now Australia are faring just fine, even as these countries navigate bilateral diplomatic issues.

We all know video gets more engagement than text and images, but which platform is right for your brand in China? Emma Li from Jing Daily has done a deep-dive with a rationale for different video platforms in China. Which platforms are you on currently? Which platforms do you wish you were on?

China’s pandemic control measures are paying economic dividends – consumer demand is building as we enter the Double 11 Double 12 shopping season! Retail sales of consumer goods rose by 0.85 percent month on month in July, a moderate increase from 0.83 percent in June, maintaining a six-month streak of expansion after a contraction of 10.91 percent in January.

WeChat Mini Programs are still booming, both in number of users and engagement rates. WeChat Mini Program Monthly Active Users (MAUs) grew from 743 million to 829 million between June 2019 and June 2020, much faster than the overall WeChat users growth. Not only did the number of WeChat Mini Program users increase, but so did their engagement rate. The number of Mini Program each user is engaging with every month grew from 8.7 to 9.8 within a year. For more statistics check out the full article!

Alibaba and JD are masters of demand creation – they know what China’s online shoppers want and how best to give it to them. So it’s no surprise that Tmall is upgrading some of its luxury channels to better align with the tastes and preferences of China’s Gen Z consumers. So what’s in store for the upgrade? One example is innovative content marketing. For example, ahead of Chinese Valentine’s Day, Tmalls’ Luxury Pavilion launched an immersive pop-up feature. It took online shoppers on a journey into fantasy worlds represented by different brands, including Balenciaga, Valentino, Hugo Boss, AMI Paris, Hamilton, Coach and Yves Saint Laurent Beauté. Consumers could enter these virtual worlds to explore the brands and their newest products.

China will likely become the world’s largest economy in a few years and it is preparing itself for major shifts in international trade. Ahead of the 14th five-year plan, China’s policymakers have use the term “dual circulation” to describe how they see China’s economy interacting with others over the coming years. The phrase refers broadly to two circles of economic activity — internal and external — with greater emphasis than before on business at home. This means more emphasis on nurturing China’s consumers and consumption. We’ll bring you more explanations as the policy is fleshed out!

Paris men’s fashion week was entirely virtual this year, and Louis Vuitton didn’t show anything at all. Instead, the venerable French couture house put on a blockbuster show in Shanghai in August, featuring designer Virgil Abloh’s new menswear collection alongside older pieces that were already available in stores. It received 68 million viewers on Weibo, 18 million on Douyin, 8 million on Tencent, and millions more on other platforms. More importantly, Louis Vuitton shops in Shanghai, Taiwan, China, and Korea all had their biggest sales weekend in history following the show.