Right now, international entry luxury brands in China are facing competition from all sides. They are not as classic and desired as high-end luxury brands and now they are also facing the growing popularity of Chinese bag brands.

Chinese bag brand Warm Studio is regarded as one of their strong competitors. The brand is often used as a case study for international entry luxury brands to learn how to engage with young Chinese consumers.

In the video, we introduce the brand, our review of one of its products, and some of the reasons why Warm Studio has become so popular.

The post How Is Chinese Bag Brand Warm Studio’s Popularity Surpassing International Entry Luxury Brands? appeared first on China Marketing Insights.

Selling beauty samples is a trendy and popular business in China. We don’t get beauty samples easily and on most occasions, customers need to purchase a brands’ normal-size products before getting them. Because of this, beauty sample stores are becoming a trendy business in China. Last week, I visited the sample store HARMAY (话梅), one of the most well-known sample stores among Chinese consumers. I was so surprised by the long line waiting in front of the small store.

Learn more about sample stores HARMAY, Haydon, and The Colorist here: Beauty Product Samples and Travel Sizes are a Hot Commodity in China

HARMAY currently has 5 stores in China, and they are in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu (成都) and Hong Kong. A lot of consumers post about the store on Xiaohongshu and Bilibili. A recent round of financing has left HARMAY valued at around 5 billion RMB.

So what did I think? Was it worth waiting in the long line? Was I satisfied with the samples I bought? What did I overhear other customers saying? Will I go for a second visit? Do sample stores like HARMAY have a promising future? Check out our video to find out!

Mentioned Articles and Videos:

A Literal Hole in the Wall – Bear Claw Coffee Goes Viral on Chinese Social Media

Multi-Brand Beauty Retailer The Colorist – Better Than Sephora?

The post Popular Chinese Sample Store HARMAY Not Worth the Long Line appeared first on China Marketing Insights.

Founded in 2019, CHOCDAY is still a young baby, yet it managed to become the TOP 1 dark chocolate brand on Tmall and ranks NO.7 on the whole chocolate category.

Before I bought its products, I read the comment area and found many customers were saying it was way too bitter that they couldn’t stand it. All of CHOCDAY’s chocolate is sugar free, so how does it actually taste?

Watch our video to find out more about this new Chinese brand and its marketing strategy!

The post No.1 Dark Chocolate Brand on Tmall? Good or Not? appeared first on China Marketing Insights.

If you’ve browsed Douyin recently or frequently watch livestreaming, you have likely seen advertisements for a domestic underwear brand Ubras. On this year’s Double 11, Ubras also ranked TOP1 on the underwear category.

What’s special about Ubras is that its bras are one-size-fits-all. It is fair to say the brand started a revolution in the underwear industry in China. Following Ubras, many brands start producing one-size-fits-all underwear.

In the video we include:

• My review of Ubras bestselling bra
• Ubras’ innovation in the underwear industry
• How does Ubras create an efficient supply chain
• The brand’s ecommerce livestreaming strategy
• The brand’s social media marketing strategy

Watch the video to view more details!

The post Unboxing video of Chinese TOP1 Underwear brand: Ubras appeared first on China Marketing Insights.

• Chinese facial recognition
• Xinba’s selling fake bird’s nest scandal
• What’s holding back Chinese SaaS companies?

Watch the video to find out more details! This is just a clip, find the full video here.

The post Is Chinese Facial Recognition Tech Naughty or Nice? appeared first on China Marketing Insights.

The name of Li Ziqi (李子柒) shows up frequently on social media. She is a Chinese food and country-life blogger and entrepreneur. Her videos are about creating food and handicraft preparation by using basic ingredients and traditional Chinese techniques.

She has 27M followers on Weibo, and she also has a whopping 13M followers on YouTube which is quite impressive for a Chinese influencer. She is doing a great job sharing traditional Chinese culture with an international audience.

Like many influencers in China, she not only collaborates with brands, but she has also launched her own brand. I enjoy her content and the food she makes always looks delicious, so I decided to purchase some of the products on her Tmall store and test them out. And well…watch the video to find out what I think!

The post I Love Chinese Food Influencer Li Ziqi’s Videos, But Her Food Brand…Not So Much appeared first on China Marketing Insights.

Colorkey is a very young domestic beauty brand. In its first year, it achieved over 200M RMB in sales. It only used 6 months to become a TOP5 domestic beauty brand on Tmall.

Its star product is its lip gloss, which costs around 59 RMB, making it very affordable for students or people who just start their career.

Check out our video to see how this young brand managed to become the TOP1 lipstick brand on Tmall and what we think of its products.

The post Colorkey, the NO.1 Chinese Brand on the Lipstick Category on Tmall appeared first on China Marketing Insights.

In China, there are two types of instant food that consumers have gone crazy for these past two years. One is Luoshifen (螺狮粉), which to be honest, if you try it for the first time, you may be overwhelmed by the sour taste. But then you will get addicted to it.

The second type is our main character today: Zi Hai Guo (自嗨锅). It is so convenient that you don’t even need hot water, you just pour cold water into the bottom of the pot and place the container with the noodles, veggies and sauce on top and it will heat up and cook itself!

Zi Hai Guo has got so many flavours and it is perfect to have if you are eating alone, if you just come back from work and don’t have time to cook or if you just want some night snacks! It’s getting so popular that you can see it everywhere on social media.

Zi Hai Guo created a whole new product category and become so popular that after people started copying their design, consumers referred to their competitors as zi hai guo because they thought that was the type of product, not a brand’s name.

Recently Zi Hai Guo has even started to expand beyond China, sponsoring the recent popular Korean Netflex romantic drama “Psycho But It’s OK”.

Watch the video to find out more about this interesting food and how the company !

The post Self-Heating Instant Noodles?! See Why Zi Hai Guo (自嗨锅) is so popular in China！ appeared first on China Marketing Insights.

In China, a kind of toy is emerging and it is grabbing young people’s attention so well: blind box.

You know how this feels when you order something online and it is delivered, you know exactly what it is inside the parcel and you still get so excited about it. And for blind box, things are even more exciting. You know that’s a toy you like, but you never know which toy in the collection you will get.

Pop Mart is a very successful blind box brand in China. Although other brands are using the blind box tactic now, Pop Mart was one of the first brands to become extremely successful using this tactic so the term “blind box” has become almost synonymous with Pop Mart. On 2019’s Double 11, it surpassed Disney and Lego, ranking TOP 1 in the toy category. It is so fun to do this unboxing video, hope it can bring joy to you as well!

Check out the video and find out the brand and its brilliant marketing strategy. Maybe you will like to get one in the future after watching it

The post The Chinese Toy Brand Surpassing Disney and Lego? Meet Pop Mart! appeared first on China Marketing Insights.

Chinese name: 花西子

Founded: 2017

Hero products: Setting powder and carved lipsticks and powders

Price: 49 -229 RMB

About Florasis:

Out of all the C-beauty brands we follow, Florasis has the most well-defined brand and target audience. Florasis fully embodies the guochao or China Wave trend. Every aspect of its brand, from products, to packaging, to brand ambassadors, to marketing content reflects ancient Chinese culture.

Florasis is very thoughtful and calculated, not running after the latest trends and idols (when it does work with idols it chooses them very carefully), not trying to constantly churn out new products, and not aiming to please everyone and bring in tons of traffic, but to cultivate a loyal customer base of true fans.

The brand was founded in 2017, and in 2018, its sales figures reaches was 43.1M RMB. It really took off in 2019 with 1.1 billion RMB in sales.

Very careful when selecting ambassadors:

Unlike other brands that work with numerous ambassadors, Florasis is very careful when selecting who can represent the brand. So far, it has worked with only 3 ambassadors: top live streamer Austin Li (李佳琦), actress Ju Jingyi (鞠婧祎) and supermodel Du Juan (杜鹃).

Each of them has a purpose:

Austin drives traffic and can give the product quality and colors credibility. He has also worked with the brand behind the scenes on product and branding development as well as marketing strategy.

Ju became an ambassador in May 2019. This was around the same time that she starred in a popular costume drama. Ju is also well-known for her ancient Chinese characteristics. Her style is in line with Florasis’ brand image. The powder featured in the Weibo announcement achieved 120M RMB sales in November 2019.

Florasis’ current ambassador is model and actress Du Juan. Du is very low-key when it comes to social media presence. She doesn’t have a Weibo account, yet every time she attends fashion shows or is featured in magazines, she often attracts lots of buzz. People often relate her to eastern vintage beauty. 

Product Development:

Florasis’ products are a work of art. Many of its lipsticks, eyeshadows, and powders are etched with beautiful traditional Chinese designs. The outer packaging is gorgeous as well, often featuring the brand’s signature dark green color.

Because Florasis puts so much time and effort into each product, the frequency of its new product launches is much lower than many other domestic beauty brands who are constantly churning out new products.

The brand likes to involve its loyal customers involved in the design process. It often develops its product 60-70% of the way and then lets the consumers in its private traffic groups make the final decisions. 

The brand also holds offline events for loyal customers to have them test out products and get to know each other and the brand.

The post Introducing Florasis: Learn about this popular C-Beauty Brand and Its Gorgeous Products appeared first on China Marketing Insights.