Five ways online retailers can target Chinese Millennials

A growing number of Aussie businesses are looking to crack into the Chinese market in order to take advantage of the demand for Australian made products.

China has a population of around 1.3 billion people and thanks to celebrations such as Singles’ Day, many Australian businesses are reaping the rewards.

This Singles’ Day just gone saw Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba process around $7 billion sales within the first 90 minutes of the national shopping event.

For Australian beauty subscription service Bellabox, jumping onboard Singles’ Day led to a massive 200% lift in sales.

“We’re really happy with how it has gone,” founder Sarah Hamilton told SmartCompany the day after Singles’ Day.

“We’ve done a lot of work targeting influencers in China as it is a marketing method that has worked well for us in Australia.

“We have 20 posts from different influencers in October, including a number of posts before Singles’ Day.”

But how can other businesses target Chinese shoppers, particularly the younger, internet-savvy generation?

Marketing expert Ellen Hou told AdAge there is a “critical values shift” between Chinese Millennials and their parents, and businesses need to respond accordingly.

“Their purpose in life is different than the former generation, they really want to make this moment interesting and happy rather than living for the future and for others,” Hou said.

“The implication for brands is, how to make the brand be alive in this moment?”

Here are Hou’s top five tips for targeting Chinese Millennials:

1. Keep it light-hearted

2. If you reference traditional Chinese culture, make it playful

3. Reassess what resonates with a younger Chinese audience

4. Focus on carefully curated collections, rather than many different products

5. Draw heavily on popular culture.