Chinese Shopping Events: Tmall’s Influence On The Chinese Consumer Market

Chinese shopping events are not really ‘eventful’ anymore nowadays. The amount of times that online retailers advertise with special discounts goes beyond what we are used to. The chance that you encounter special discounts that are tied to a certain period is very large. Nevertheless, even in this huge forest of discounts, there are some trees that stand out.

One example is the “618 Mid-year Shopping Festival“, with retailers such as Tmall offering even bigger discounts than consumers are used to. The 618 Mid-year Shopping Festival is one of the biggest annual shopping events in China and it goes without saying that it has a huge impact on the market. Such was the case with imported drinking water.

Chinese tap water is not suitable for drinking. As a result, there are many brands offering bottled drinking water. Although the options are not limited, imported drinking water gained a huge market share in the past few years, especially during the 618 Mid-year Shopping festival. During the event this year, Tmall promoted a range of bottled water from varying European countries; with astounding success. The category increased by a whopping 4989.7% during this year’s event, with offerings such as Perrier, BLK, and Valais water. Perrier entered the Chinese market for the first time in 2017, but by 2019 it already saw an average annual growth rate of 800%. The brand has a market share of more than 45% in the imported water category nowadays. The event had, without doubt, a big influence on this.

It’s clear that Tmall has a huge impact on the Chinese consumer market in general. The support of Tmall during shopping events can boost your brand throughout the whole country; an influence that is almost frightening in the biggest e-commerce market in the world. There are varying factors Tmall takes into account to decide which brand receives their support. It’s almost impossible to understand all of these factors without the necessary experience in Chinese culture and language. Luckily WebshopinChina has obtained the knowledge to know where to start in this huge, but challenging market, so don’t hesitate to contact us for any questions!