An Advertiser’s Overview of China’s Digital Marketing & E-commerce Landscape: February 2014

25 February 2014 Prepared by Brent Cohen, Asia Media Services Ltd. 21

Source: eMarketer, Aug. 2013

Magna Global BRIC Report, 2014

US$41 bn

US$7.5 bn

US$13.8 bn

US$ 623 bn

US$ 4.6 bn

  Alibaba’s Taobao is the largest ecommerce company in the world, more than

twice the size of Amazon and eBay combined, with a catalog of 800

million products, and US$160 bn dollars in revenue in 2012.

  2013 Singles’ Day (November 11th) saw US$5.7 billion spent in one day on

Taobao and Tmall

–  With Xiaomi alone selling US$100 million worth of phones via Weixin promotion

  Alibaba’s payment system, Alipay, accounts for 50% of all e-payments and is

soon to reach a run-rate of a trillion dollars a year (PayPal is US$180 billion).

  JD.com, soon to IPO in the US, is the second-largest e-commerce company in

China and bases its strength on super-fast delivery through a proprietary

infrastructure and a mobile-based tracking system.

  However, they do not have an AUDIENCE platform like Alibaba’s Tmall, Tencent’s Weixin

(WeChat) or Sina’s Weibo

  E-commerce giants are training customers’ to use mobile for shopping

–  They enhanced the user experience, increased mobile promotions and launched mobile-special activities

on Singles’ Day (Double 11)

–  The Taobao app released mobile-user-only “red-envelopes” (cash coupons)

–  Jingdong, Yixun (51buy), Suning also released special coupon to mobile users

  China’s network coverage is maturing and more users of smartphones and tablets are starting to

use those devices for shopping with real implications for needed attribution modeling!

  Starting to see the use of IM platforms for e-commerce

–   WeChat 5.0 added payment function and teamed with Yixun.com to make WeChat shopping  possible.

–  Yixin (by NetEase and China Telecom), Alibaba’s Laiwang and other IMs tried to engage users by

offering free mobile data traffic

  Cooperation with teleco operators

–  Taobao and China Unicom released a joint “free mobile data traffic” plan

–  Followed by others such as Suning and Jingdong planning cooperation with telecos

  With mobile rates and cell phone prices falling, mobile internet and shopping has broadened to

tier-three and four cities as well as lower-income groups

 270 million active users as of Nov. 2013 and over 600 million registered with most in China.

  It boasts an incredible level of activity –  Over 10 million messages a minute were processed during the Chinese

New Years eve in 2014

  It has geolocation features.

  It has an integrated QR code system, allowing online-to-offline integration.

  It allows the customization of official accounts, through the setting of the menu and the definition of the user experience.

  It’s a formidable channel for content publishing, and therefore, for brand communication.

  A wide range of different products is sold on WeChat today, including items and services that people use everyday.

–  Elong & China Southern sell hotels and flights

–  Xiaomi has sold thousands of smartphones in a few minutes

–  Taxi booking service Didi Dache allows users to find and pay rides

 WeChat suits any sort of need, even for “offline” activities. As an example, in Beijing it has been integrated with vending machines.