LATEST CHINA MARKETING AND CONSUMERS INSIGHTS

WeChat VS Weixin, an Essential Guide for Marketers

If you’re marketing to Chinese consumers and you’re still treating WeChat vs Weixin as the same platform, you’re leaving opportunity — and potentially revenue — on the table. On the surface, they look identical. But behind the scenes? They operate as two separate ecosystems, built for different audiences, governed by different laws, and offering very […]

February 19, 2026

Store Mini Program: WeChat Virtual Business Card

In 2025, “Store Mini Program (门店小程序)” and the “WeChat Virtual Business Card” (企业微信对外名片) have become the twin engines of WeChat-native retail: one closes the transaction loop from discovery to checkout; the other standardizes identity and follow-up across private-domain touchpoints.  WeChat’s own 2025 Open Class underscored this shift. WeChat Shop (微信小店) GMV in 2024 grew 1.92× […]

January 22, 2026
Inside the Alibaba Ecosystem and the Alibaba Zoo: What Tech Companies Need to Know

Inside the Alibaba Ecosystem and the Alibaba Zoo: What Tech Companies Need to Know

Alibaba Group is far more than China’s leading e-commerce company. In 2025, it stands as a sprawling digital ecosystem that touches nearly every aspect of consumer and enterprise life. From online marketplaces to fintech, logistics, cloud computing, and AI research, Alibaba has established an interconnected network that drives trade, technology, and services worldwide. This vast […]

October 26, 2025
What is China’s Digital Transformation?

What is China’s Digital Transformation?

China’s digital transformation involves rapidly adopting advanced technologies like AI, 5G, IoT, and big data to modernize its economy and society. This includes integrating these technologies into traditional industries to create efficient and innovative business models. The transformation focuses on building digital infrastructure, enhancing services, and fostering tech-driven innovation across sectors like finance, healthcare, and […]

March 25, 2025
Lessons from China’s Digital Transformation for Global Brands

Lessons from China’s Digital Transformation for Global Brands

Companies everywhere are looking to China for digital transformation lessons. It is now common knowledge that companies need digital transformation in order to cut costs and run efficiently in the modern age. It involves streamlining processes and the adoption of new technologies. But why China specifically? By this year, China’s digital transformation sector is expected […]

November 15, 2024
How Chinese Companies are Creating Engaging and Social Gaming Experiences in 2023

How Chinese Companies are Creating Engaging and Social Gaming Experiences in 2023

In the fast-changing digital world, China leads the way in combining gaming and social media. The importance of being adaptable to digital innovation, especially given the context of Chinese consumers has been foreseen from experts in the industry. It’s not just in China, the global gamification market is set to grow over USD 34 million […]

November 17, 2023

What are WeChat Mini Programs?

WeChat mini programs achieved over 450 million daily active users in 2021. Their cloud-based ecosystem now comprises more than 3 million of these mini programs. In-person order taking and paper menus could become a thing of the past as more restaurants switch to user-friendly QR codes. Provincial governments are using mini programs to manage the […]

October 20, 2022

A Brief Introduction to WeChat Pay

WeChat Pay is an in-app payment feature that allows all WeChat users to pay for transactions quickly on their mobile phones. It’s fully optimised for online and offline businesses and it is expected to offer more opportunities in the near future. WeChat Pay can be used in 49 countries and regions around the world, and […]

October 13, 2022

A Beginner’s Guide to WeChat for Real World Use Today

WeChat is one of the most powerful digital platforms in the world, yet most first-time users misunderstand what it actually does. People often download it because a friend, supplier, or client asked them to. They open the app expecting a simple messaging tool and quickly realize the environment feels different. WeChat operates as a digital […]

November 9, 2019

A Comprehensive Overview: Douban

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 […]

April 6, 2017
miaopai

Miaopai Introduction: The 3 Basics of Getting Started

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 […]

March 16, 2017

A Comprehensive Overview: Yizhibo

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 […]

March 10, 2017