Our blog: China’s technology, consumer and new retail insights

Online video-sharing platforms shaped the way we consume videos since more than 15 years now. Viewers use these platforms to watch news and entertainment, express opinions or buy what they see. Even though YouTube and Youku are similar, Youku does a better job catering to brands’ needs. Differences between YouTube and Youku About YouTube YouTube […]

In her controversial commentary, fashion critic Suzy Menkes once questioned the professionalism and contributions of fashion bloggers in the era of smartphones and social media. Menkes, however, was being exceptionally encouraging when it came to Chinese fashion bloggers, where before the digital age there was little possibility of learning about opinions from China. To fashion […]

With more than 889 million monthly active users and 200 million of them linking their WeChat account to bank cards, there’s no doubt that WeChat is a major player in Chinese social media and e-commerce. WeChat Pay has made the platform more than just an instant messaging app. WeChat users buy movie tickets, book restaurants […]

Douban is an interest-based social networking platform. It’s seen as a combination of Goodreads, IMDb, Blogger, Facebook, Pandora, Spotify, Ello and Fancy.com. So what is Douban like? How do people use it? Read on. 1. User and Content Characteristics Douban has over 60 million registered users and 150 million unregistered frequent visitors.  Most of them […]

Most marketers will have heard that Pinterest has joined Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram on the list of sites blocked in China. While Pinterest has never been as popular in China as domestic social media giants like WeChat and Weibo, it has been a useful tool for luxury brands marketing to Chinese consumers. The importance of […]

WeChat officially launched its Mini Program platform in January this year and in March, Tencent added tons of new functions to it. The new functions are meant to strengthen the mini program platform and expand its applications. On March 27th, WeChat announced the first six new functions. 1. Individual developers can register and create their […]

WeChat and Line are both global leaders among instant messaging apps. Compared with other apps of the same type, like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, WeChat and Line are much more similar in terms of functions and features. However, WeChat has been outperforming Line in many aspects. For example, regarding active users, according to the latest […]

Miaopai (秒拍) is a short video sharing and live streaming platform in China, first launched in 2011 by Yixia Technology (一下科技). It’s China’s answer to Vine. In 2013, Miaopai and Weibo established a strategic partnership that greatly increased Miaopai’s exposure and popularity and made it the official short video provider of Weibo. When users upload […]

Live streaming witnessed unprecedented growth in 2016 with a remarkable increase in platforms and users. It’s become one of the most popular trends in Chinese social media and a huge boost for e-commerce. Although there are many live streaming platforms, Yizhibo achieved outstanding performance in a short time largely due to its partnership with Sina […]

Weibo and WeChat are the two largest social networking platforms in China. They both exert significant influence in Chinese society and play an indispensable role in modern life. Weibo provides microblogging services that are the equivalent of Facebook and Twitter combined. By September, 2016, the number of monthly active users on Weibo had already reached […]

Some companies have resorted to exploiting the use of fake accounts on Chinese social media, in an attempt to promote products, establish a good brand reputation, deal with public relations crises, or even to outsell competitive rival brands. It is not uncommon for companies to hire online public relations or marketing agencies to create fake […]

Tencent officially launched WeChat Mini Programs on January 9th, 2017. It’s a significant milestone for WeChat and a turning point for mobile operating systems. Industry insiders even predict that WeChat could one day rival iOS and Android to become another major mobile operating system. So what do you need to know about WeChat mini programs? […]