Hainan’s duty free policy is working. Let’s look at how international businesses entering Hainan duty-free shops can increase their revenue. Also, let’s look at what is in store for foreign tourists.

New Policies Present New Opportunities

• The yearly duty-free shopping quota for Hainan visitors has been raised from RMB 30,000 to RMB 100,000 per person.
• The categories of duty-free items accessible for consumption increased from 38 to 45.
• The RMB 8,000 (US $1,255) duty-free limit for each item has been removed; and the purchase limit for cosmetic products has been increased from 12 to 30 items.

Hainan VS Korean Duty-Free Sales

South Korea’s duty-free market was the world’s largest in 2019, pre-COVID, at RMB 135.8 billion (US $21.3 billion). In 2020, foreigners made up 30% of Korean travel retail clients, with Chinese Daigou traders accounting for 94% of revenues.

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This changed when COVID-19 travel restrictions were implemented and supply chains became constricted, causing Korea to lose considerable market share. Duty-free sales in Korea fell by 38% between 2019 and 2020. At the same time, Hainan is on course to become the world’s largest duty-free market within the next two years.

Accomplishments & Progress Of Hainan’s Free Trade Port

In 2020, Hainan received 64.6 million tourists and earned RMB 87.3 billion (US $13.7 billion) in tourism revenue as a result of the pandemic. Tourist added value contributed to 7.3% of GDP, making China one of the finest locations for tourism recovery in the world. The tourism industry recovered significantly in the first quarter of 2021, with the number of tourists increasing by 168.1 %. Furthermore, total tourism revenue climbed 293.5% to RMB 42.1 billion (US $6.4 billion).

Development Brings Good News To Hainan

Tourism Resources That Are One-of-a-kind

• China’s only tropical island province
• Largest maritime area

Duty-free Upon Exit 

• One of the few provinces in China where tourists may buy duty-free without having to travel outside
• The world’s largest duty-free shop – prices are 15% to 35% lower than retail pricing.

The Highest Concentration Of Premium Hotels

• 78 world-renowned hotel management companies
• 94 international brand hotels

Visa-free Travel To 59 Countries 

• Citizens of 59 countries can enter Hainan without a visa.
• In 2019, there were around 470,000 visa-free arrivals (+33 % year on year).

Digital Tourism Is Trending In Hainan

Chinese tourists can now enjoy a new type of travel experience thanks to digital tourism.

Decentralization, sharing, and collaboration are online features of digital tourism, which correlate with the experiential attributes, sharing economy, and resource aggregation of Hainan’s tourism business. The Hainan Free Trade Port has offered new chances for the development of tourism in Hainan. Brands should actively participate in the new industrial chain of tourism ecology, which is based on digitization, networking, and intelligence.

Using the internet, digital economy, virtual reality, electronic tourism, and new intelligent features will have a positive impact on the major body of the Hainan cultural tourism market. It is sure to transform purchasing habits in the industry.

The Tourism Industry In Hainan & It’s Implications For Marketers And Brand Owners

Tourism is now the “backbone industry” of Hainan, which is reaching its peak in terms of development.

Hainan’s duty-free consumption has increased after the implementation of the new offshore duty-free policy. This year, offshore duty-free sales surpassed RMB 60 billion (US $9.41 billion).

According to the Hainan Province Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television, and Sports, the province received 81 million domestic and international tourists in 2021, a 25.5% rise over the previous year, gradually returning to the amount in 2019. Furthermore, offshore duty-free sales in Hainan will exceed RMB 50.5 billion in 2021. While achieving extraordinary success, Hainan’s duty-free retail business is expanding in an effort to create a “shopping paradise.”

International brands and Hainan duty-free shops will benefit from each other. More international brands entering Hainan’s duty-free stores will contribute to the policy’s gold content. This may also attract more local and foreign tourists eager to purchase high-value-added duty-free goods, hence increasing Hainan’s single-customer consumption overall.

Luxury Brands Facilitate Marketing And Promotion

According to data, online sales of luxury products across all key categories registered steady growth in 2021.

China is poised to become the world’s largest personal luxury market in the near future. In the current environment, Hainan is expected to cater to luxury goods consumption backflows and become a domestic luxury consumption destination.

Duty-free retailers in Hainan should focus on luxury product subcategories with higher growth potential, such as leatherware, apparel, and fashion, while continuously increasing brand quantity, and strengthening communication via marketing and other promotions.

Optimize Online Platforms And Build A Superior Shopping Experience

The total digitalization of China’s consumption market has already been done at a high level and is improving.

Although physical stores remain the key platforms for branding and sales conversion, many marketing activities and consumer operations have already moved online.

With the implementation of the policy of online additional shopping within 180 days of leaving Hainan Island and the ongoing improvement of Hainan’s general trade and cross-border e-commerce platforms, duty-free retailers should continuously optimize the online shopping system and encourage brand owners to interact with consumers.

They can do this by collaborating with KOLs to introduce social channels, and facilitate VR try-ons, live streaming, and other current popular technologies and channels. This is convenient while providing consumers with a unique online buying experience.

Foster Prosperity Of The Retail Industry

Duty-free shopping is tied to the tourism business, according to leading duty-free retail experiences in other countries and areas. South Korea, for example, has successfully combined duty-free retail with tourist attractions and Korean popular culture to create an amazing trip shopping experience for travelers.

A slew of internet-famous cities is sprouting up in China. As an example, consider Chengdu. It  was recognized as a pearl of fashion growing at the “speed of light” in the New Fashion Capital Index Report. It received the highest scores in five categories: “Fashion consumption strength,” “Fashion business potential,” “Fashion cultural appeal,” “Fashion original talent,” and “Fashion development strength.” Its transition from “pandas’ hometown” to “Chengmsterdam” drew attention both at home and abroad, and it significantly raised the enthusiasm for national tourism

Duty-free retailers and brand owners in Hainan can benefit from experiences in Chengdu and South Korea, as well as collaborate with Hainan’s cultural and tourism industries in digital marketing and promotion. They can explore city music, local foods, urban landscape, and science and technology facilities in Hainan, creating short videos and other online communication materials. This involves the use of images, immersion tactics, and novelty to stimulate dialogue among circles.

In Summary

While catering to the trends of luxury goods consumption upgrading, online consumption, and in-depth integration of shopping, cultural & tourism industry, Hainan’s duty-free retail industry is bound to see prosperous development and become a “golden highlight” of Hainan.

The post Hainan’s Rise As A Travel Retail Destination appeared first on Digital Crew.

Initially, almost all of Weimob’s revenue came from SaaS — because it thought it could be a CRM for WeChat retailers. It is referred to as a major 3rd party solution provider for WeChat.

In the first half of 2021, Weimob’s revenue and gross profit were 1.383 billion yuan and 766 million yuan, respectively, up 44.5% and 81.8% year on year.

It generates the majority of its revenue by serving targeted advertising to merchants on WeChat. Weimob offers some of the same solutions as Youzan, including all of the software packages for offline establishments, for example – hair salons.

You can open a mini program shop for your brand using Weimob’s Weimall function. It enables you to do a lot of things like membership management, all kinds of social promotions, and live streaming.

Do Not Confuse With Weidian

There is a third company called Weidian, which translates to “Mini Store” in Chinese. We thought we’d mention it because it’s so easy to confuse it with Youzan and Weimob.

Weidian also has a SaaS business that helps retailers sell on WeChat, and it was the first of the three to be formed. Weidian was also unique, in that it made it simple to sell not only your own items, but for other people as well. Remember that WeChat is where individuals have their close connections and friends, thus direct selling is a smart approach to use the existing social network.

Weidian completely overlooked WeChat’s use of offline QR codes and other methods to increase mini program acceptance and online engagement. To their credit, Youzan and Weimob were quick to offer group buying and other promotional services. Speaking of QR codes, The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) recently issued a guideline prohibiting the use of personal recipient QR codes for business services beginning March 1, 2022. That is unquestionably a setback.

Is Tencent Sitting idly by and just waiting for third party solution providers to grow?

You might be wondering if Tencent is just sitting back and watching as all these players try to establish businesses on the WeChat platform it so carefully built. No way, no how!

Tencent invested in 8% of Weimob and 7% of Youzan at roughly the same time. It already had shares in Weimob, so this was only adding to its holdings, but it had never owned shares in Youzan previously.

Apart from overhauling its own mini program solution, it also launched an easy-to-use, one-click store opening function in 2020. It also developed Xiao’e Pinpin, a group buying mini program, that also allows you to build up stores for individual WeChat groups you’re in.

In Summary

The main take away from this Ecommerce SaaS Evolution series is this – marketplace e-commerce platforms like Taobao, Tmall, JD, and Pinduoduo may not see much movement in their dominance for a time, but there are other platforms emerging in China e-commerce that are more ‘decentralised’. Or, as Chinese marketers refer to it, private traffic.

The leading companies, such as Youzan and Weimob, have essentially mimicked everything these platforms provide, such as social selling and gamification features. Furthermore, they allow you to combine it with everything else you do on WeChat. They also offer all of these solutions for connecting your offline and online presence. WeChat mini programs are all about driving internet traffic to offline stores and vice versa.

That is what WeChat excels at, and it represents a big opportunity if you ask us. You can also provide a plethora of additional services, as Shopify does.

Get in touch and get started with WeChat mini-programs, Youzan or Weimob right away.

The post E-Commerce Saas Evolution: The Weimob – Youzan Connection appeared first on Digital Crew.

Brands are now paying more attention to private-domain traffic, as they look to build direct communication channels with customers and engage them directly to drive repeat purchases.

Rising Cost Of Customer Acquisition Amid E-commerce Slowdown

The overall growth of China’s internet is moderating as the penetration rate peaks. In e-commerce, this is reflected by the slower increase in gross merchandise value for major e-commerce platforms. Meanwhile, brands find themselves paying higher fees to the platforms for marketing services to acquire traffic to their stores.

The Solution: Private Domain Traffic

Companies have turned to marketing strategies around “private-domain traffic” to build direct communication channels with customers and engage them directly to drive repeat repurchases.

Platforms enabling private domain traffic are the ones with free and user-friendly features that allow brands to build their own communities and communication channels with their users, and launch direct marketing campaigns. These platforms enable 2-way communication between brands and customers, facilitating engagement and efforts to drive repurchases,

WeChat has been a dominant source of private domain traffic, thanks to its large userbase, as well as its comprehensive ecosystem encompassing message, social, e-commerce and payment functions

How Perfect Diary Used Its Private Traffic

Home grown cosmetics brand Perfect Diary has been lauded for its sales and marketing strategy relying on private domain traffic. Private domain traffic is estimated to have contributed 15% of the brand sales.

Step 1: An invitation comes along with the shipment of perfect diary products. You can scan the QR code to follow its WeChat public account or add the personal account of one of its beauty advisors. A code at the end allows you to win random “red packet” money.

On its public account, Perfect Diary posts promotional messages and a QR Code allowing you to add the personal account of one of its sales staff. Whereas, through the personal account, the beauty advisor invites you to one of its promotional WeChat groups. You can gather more information about the product.

Step 2: Once in the WeChat Group, you will receive information on its products & promotional activities like live streaming events. With a simple click, one of the posts will lead you to its e-commerce platform, built as a WeChat mini program. You can purchase directly within its mini program. Instead of paying with Alipay, as you do on Tmall or Taobao, you can pay with Tencent’s WeChat Pay.

Need to strengthen the communication channels with your customers using private traffic. Digital Crew is a Chinese digital agency that can help you hit your private traffic goals. Get in touch with us today.

The post A Growing Focus On Private Domain Traffic in China appeared first on Digital Crew.

What is the definition of a WeChat official account?

In essence, a WeChat Official Account is a media and services platform incorporated in WeChat for businesses, the government, media, and even people to publish content, promote enterprises, and sell services. Read more about Official WeChat Accounts here.

WeChat Official Account Advantages

The most significant advantage of using WeChat official account ads is that no work is required in weeding out who to target — WeChat users have already made their preferences apparent when selecting which official accounts to follow. Once the system identifies which official accounts are the most suitable for your company’s WeChat advertising post to be planted in, your advertising messages will be exposed solely to individuals who are relevant and interested.

WeChat Official account ads work by inserting ad banners into content published by official accounts with over 5000 followers.

Types of WeChat Official Account Ads

While these advertisements may look similar to banners, they are referred to as “stickers” on the WeChat platform. WeChat Official Account ads are divided into four key types.

a) End of the Article Ads

Advertisement messages for businesses will be displayed in a small section between the articles on the WeChat official account and the comments section. The above example is a banner ad that directs customers to an e-commerce site to make a purchase.

b) In-text Ads

The click-through rate is higher when WeChat adverts are strategically positioned in the middle of a published article. As in-text ads are integrated into the content, they more likely to be spotted and clicked on.

c) KOL Mutual Cooperation Ads

KOL Mutual Cooperation ads allow both parties (the brand & the influencer) to choose their business partner. This means that businesses’ advertising messages are better tailored and integrated into articles produced by KOLs they know and trust.
Simultaneously, WeChat serves as a middleman for transactions and content filtering, reducing the danger of fraud or poor content quality.

d) Video Ads

A small ad snippet will be presented directly before video content (less than 5 minutes) that has been inserted into official account articles and will function similarly to commercials you’re used to seeing on YouTube.

WeChat may be the perfect online ad platform for your business. Are you ready to launch your WeChat ad campaign on WeChat? Then Digital Crew is your perfect WeChat advertising partner who has all the right tools to  increase your chances of success. Get in touch with us today

The post WeChat Ads Format – Official Account Advertising appeared first on Digital Crew.

The 80’s Segment

Chinese born in the 1980’s, known as 80 Hou, are famous to Westerners as the first generation born during the enforcement of China’s one-child policy. The 80 Hou is a generation of more than 200 million only children with common burdens and opportunities. Their thinking is formed by traditional Chinese culture and Confucian morals, but they began their careers in a nearly full-blown market guided by the rules of the WTO. Many of them are single-handedly responsible for providing financial assistance for their retired parents.  As the 80 Hou’s fulfil their responsibilities and accomplish their social goals, their unique perspective is sure to influence trends in the global economy.

The 90’s Segment

Chinese Millennials born after the 1990’s, have a direct influence on 50% of their family’s purchase decisions. This is because of the information they consume via the internet and despite their dependence on their parents for money. Some of those purchase decisions include houses, cars, and home appliances. 60% of the urban post-90’s youngsters have their own credit cards.

Millennials –  A Closer Look

400 million out of the total 1.4 billion people in China consist of millennials. Brands all over the world target the millennial population in most countries by ringing in elements through their brand communications that are familiar with the national cohort. Chinese millennials born between 1981 and 1996 make up 25% of China’s population with the highest purchasing power. Their spending is projected to increase by 11% in 2021. 90% of the Chinese millennials possess a smartphone along with a large appetite for luxury goods. Millennials were key contributors to the travel boom in 2017 that amounted to a total of $115 billion spent by Chinese visitors. The group born after 1990 upscaled their budget by 80% in 2018 for international travel.

The education sector saw one in three Chinese students that were paying full fee amounts. This generation is the first to have grown up in a time where social media apps like WeChat, Weibo, Xiaohongshu and social shopping are highly integrated into their lives. They are concerned about their social image which drives brands to move towards targeting their curated lifestyles. The impact of social media-related self-image creation, is set to increase exponentially over the next decade as millennials and Gen Zers are all set to influence generations of consumers.

The young Chinese adults have coined terms for the exclusive lifestyles they have devised for themselves. Chinese millennials are now saving up to live their life by investing in experiences like travelling, concerts, sporting events etc.

In Summary

China is undergoing a consumption revolution. The Chinese consumers’ purchasing behaviour has gotten more sophisticated, and they are considering more criteria when purchasing a product or a service. Brand awareness is growing in importance, and digital marketing & monitoring is beginning to play an increasingly essential role in acquiring these Chinese consumers. Get in touch with an expert to discuss the best approach for your business today.

The post The Chinese Demographic – First Understand, Then Acquire appeared first on Digital Crew.

Farmers have harnessed livestreaming over lentils this time to their advantage and have acquired some fans and of course another source of income! China’s GDP rose from an all-time low of 47.21 USD billion in 1962 to a whooping all time high of 11199.15 USD billion in 2016. Deng Xiaoping played a crucial role towards upheaving China’s economy but what keeps this growth momentum consistent is the cultural ideology of economic co-dependency that surpasses the ideologies and business cultures of the west.

China’s Live Streamers: What Is live streaming?

Live streaming bridges the gap between advertising and a reality TV show. Just as China sets the world pace in e-commerce, it’s doing the same for live streaming. More than 100 million viewers watch a live online video event every month, according to digital brand researcher L2. As an e-commerce tool, the typical live streaming format involves a celebrity demonstrating a product and answering questions from a digital audience. It takes place in real-time and usually on a smartphone, which accounts for some 95% of e-commerce activity in China. Live streaming has indeed become a powerful tool.

Yes, farmers livestreaming their work has become a hit in China – so much so that one of the country’s biggest ecommerce platforms has set up a special program to train them. Alibaba has announced that it’s planning a special poverty alleviation program for Taobao sellers in the countryside, including incubating 1,000 farmer livestreamers.

How has it reached the farmers?

Taobao introduced livestreaming on its app in 2016. Since then, it has seen an explosion of livestreamers selling everything, from the latest fashion brands to gourmet insect larvae. It has since become a new way for farmers in China’s poor rural areas to reach customers. In the last three years, around 100,000 livestreamers have promoted farm products on Taobao, according to the company.

Lets talk revenue from livestreaming

One livestreamer recently managed to sell 1 million kilos of oranges in just 13 days, according to reports, Chen Jiubei, who goes under the username Xiangxi Jiumei, streams herself on Taobao doing farm work, talking about her cured meat or eggs or just making meals in her humble countryside home.

So what draws people to peek into village life?

The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a widespread food safety incident in China. The scandal involved milk and infant formula along with other food materials and components being adulterated with melamine Of an estimated 300,000 victims in China, six babies died from kidney stones and other kidney damage and an estimated 54,000 babies were hospitalized. The Chinese have grown cautious of the food the produce they consume ever since, and this gave rise to a transparency and authenticity gap that livestreaming filled in.

Some people tune in to check where the product they’re buying comes from, with sellers reassuring them that farm products are grown in a natural way and in an area without pollution – something that is becoming increasingly important for Chinese shoppers.

Entertainment

Others tune in to be entertained or just because they miss the countryside life. In any case, farmers can up their sales significantly. And sometimes the farmers can even become web celebrities.

Two farmer brothers raising bamboo rats, a type of rodent that’s considered a delicacy in South China, have become meme-worthy after their vlog on Watermelon Video went viral.

The post China’s Live Streamers In Majority Are Surprisingly Farmers appeared first on Digital Crew.

The Alibaba Hema Store

The onset of Alibaba Hema stores have now added a new twist to the old Chinese joke that said ‘The Chinese people like to live near good public schools’ but now it’s replaced with ‘The Chinese people want to live close to the Hemas, because they can now get everything delivered to them very easily!’

The Chinese tech giant that is valued at $500 million plans to go after the offline world to establish its presence. The investments in physical retail stores has helped the company fulfil its ‘New Retail’ vision with Hema.

What Is Hema?

This video that is self-explanatary gives you a gist of what we tell you about Hema

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEbYNJZ9iJ4

The fresh food-focused supermarket offers customers the ability to shop in-store or on its app, see the origins of the products in the store, have food delivered for free or prepared for pickup within 30 minutes, and pay with facial recognition technology.

The name Hema stands for ‘Boxed/packaged freshness and liveliness”. The clever name choice happens to be its selling point even in the long run keeping in mind the ‘stale food’ stigma that inhibits online food purchase for most Chinese people. It promises ultra-fresh meat, veggies, fruit and sea food.

Where are they located?

There are over 65 Hema Xiansheng locations in China. Most are located in high-end shopping malls or mixed-used developments close to where Chinese people both work and live. Core to Hema’s model is that it offers free 30-minute grocery deliveries to a 3-kilometer radius.

How Does It Work?

In order to shop at Hema, you have to download the app, which logs all of your purchases, saves your preferences and delivery address, and allows you to pay with Alipay, Alibaba’s mobile payments provider. After shopping at Hema, you’ll have a personalized product page based on your preferences and purchases.

Unique Selling Point Of This Store

Freshness is a big deal in the Chinese culture. The two words for freshness in Mandarin, namely one for ‘crisp’ fruits and vegetables that is ‘新鲜’ and another for freshly butchered meat and fish that is  ‘鲜嫩’. That’s how particular the Chinese are about their groceries and Hema has managed to blur this line with convenience.

The most important attraction of the Hema store is its expansive live seafood section that is equal to a traditional outdoor supermarket and the best part? Customers can select their produce and also get it cooked on the spot to for customers to consume it. The in-dining option certainly reinforces a customer’s faith in quality produce.

In-Dining Section

In addition to its traditional grocery items, Hema has an expansive prepared foods section. It’s a little like a high-end food court, with enough space to seat 100 people. Because Hema stores are usually near office buildings, it’s a very popular lunch spot.

Customized Robot shopping

Thanks to Alibaba’s deep trove of data on consumers — the company had nearly 500 million active consumers on its platforms in 2017 — as well as the data collected by the Hema app, each Hema store is able to tailor its stock based on the spending habits of those who frequent the shop.

Product Information

All items in the store have a barcode that can be scanned in the app to provide information about a product’s origin, the company behind the product, cooking instructions, nutritional information, and pricing. Customers can even add a product to an online order to be delivered at another time

Fast Delivery?

The Key to changing consumers’ mindsets around online purchasing is Hema’s ultrafast delivery, which promises grocery deliveries in under 30 minutes for those living within 3 kilometers. Some stores offer 24-hour 30-minute delivery.

What is the aim of this store?

The supermarket offers around 3,000 different products in each store, while the Hema app has over 50,000 items. Prices are synchronized between online and offline via electronic shelf labels. The goal of the store, according to founder Hou Yi, is “to drive offline customers to shop online.” 85% of sales in China still happen offline.

The post Alibaba Reinforces Its New Retail By Hema appeared first on Digital Crew.

Reliance Retail and Alibaba are negotiating a partnership in the Indian retail segment. According to reports, the firms are pushing to build “a mega Indian retail joint venture” with an investment of “at least $5 billion” to mount a challenge against existing players, including Flipkart, and Amazon India.

Paytm has taken its steps ahead of other retailers to partner with Alibaba for the onset of its cloud business. The Indian digital payments firm has licensed the Chinese e-commerce giant’s technology for cloud infrastructure to provide AI tools to developers, start-ups and enterprises with CRM, campaign management and payment solutions.

A big challenge to Flipkart, Walmart & Amazon

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is reported to be in talks with Reliance Retail Ltd, the retail arm of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), to form an online retail joint venture to challenge the might of Flipkart and its US owner Walmart. The joint venture, if it goes through, will be the largest investment by Alibaba in an Indian company.

Alibaba operates two successful online retail marketplaces, Taobao and Tmall – with combined transaction volume of $478.6 billion in fiscal 2016 and expected turnover of over $900 billion by 2020. As of February 2018, Taobao had at least 580 million monthly active users, while Tmall had 500 million.

The Jack Ma-led Chinese group proposes to invest $5 billion to acquire a 50-per cent stake in the proposed mega Indian retail joint venture as it looks to enter the world’s fastest-growing economy, reports quoting sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Alibaba’s executive chairman Jack Ma had met Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani last month in Mumbai to discuss investing in Reliance Retail to create a, digital marketplace and expand Alibaba’s physical retail businesses in India, the report said.

The two are reported to have looked at options, including the creation of a large omnichannel retail entity through the proposed joint venture.

“Alibaba is willing to pick up a significant stake in Reliance Retail, preferably 50 per cent, which will require Alibaba to invest $5-6 billion,” the Livemint report quoted one source as saying. “It could also result in a strategic JV between Alibaba and Reliance Retail, with a smaller stake held by Alibaba.”

A combination of cash-rich Alibaba and Reliance Industries could pose a major challenge to Walmart in India, indicating that the battle for India’s booming e-commerce market could intensify further.

A stake in Reliance Retail will give Alibaba an edge over Walmart and Amazon as foreign entities are not allowed to hold inventory in India and can only operate as marketplaces.

Amazon is taking an indirect route — operating through local vendors — to avoid any complications and comply with the numerous conditions that it might have to follow under the multi-brand FDI norms.

Reliance to follow Paytm’s footsteps

“The deal is crucial for Alibaba, especially after RBI (Reserve Bank of India) directed Paytm (in which Alibaba holds 49 per cent) to stop on-boarding new customers because of the shareholding pattern of Paytm,” the report quoted another source. Reliance is looking at a similar model like Paytm — an e-commerce and digital wallet business — and such a model would benefit Alibaba.

The post Alibaba is looking at investing $5 billion in Reliance Retail To Surpass Flipkart & Amazon, India appeared first on Digital Crew.

The movie ‘Dying To Survive’ hit $451.1 million USD at the box office. After four days of successful previews, worth $48 million, the film was given a maximum push by exhibitors Releasing with 167,000 screenings, it raced off to a soaring $36.1 million, according to data from Ent Group. Later that week, it expanded to 187,000 sessions for $57.8 million, and was followed by $57.2 million from 193,000 screenings.

Why was it such a hit?

The movie highlighted a pressing issue about strict policies on cancer drug imports from India. It took into confidence a strong social issue and broke tradition with its comical take on illegal imports for a good cause.

Dying to survive tells the tale of a health supplements peddler, played by comedic actor Xu Zheng, who smuggles unapproved drugs from India to sell to leukaemia patients for more affordable prices. While Xu’s character initially goes into the trade purely for its lucrativeness, his motives begin to change and become more altruistic as he realizes the significance of his work and the lives he could save. The movie was inspired by a real-life incident in China. In 2015, a man called Lu Yong was charged for importing and selling a cheaper, “knockoff” version of Gleevec, a leukaemia medication. Lu himself suffered from leukaemia and began purchasing Gleevec tablets produced by an Indian pharmaceutical company for other patients who couldn’t afford the “real,” sanctioned drug. The indictment was later quashed after the patients that had benefited from Lu’s actions petitioned the court to lessen the sentence and release him.

How did a film that was based on a very touchy subject get the green light in China?

China’s censors rarely green-light mass releases of films on touchy subjects

But the key villain in Dying To Survive is the pharmaceutical industry, and the Communist Party apparently saw the propaganda value of a movie that portrays the government as responsive on the issue

The government announced earlier this year that it would lift tariffs on many cancer treatments, and the buzz around the film’s release has coincided with yet more changes

In late June, it was announced that dozens of previously-barred imported drugs had been added to national medical insurance

After the release of Dying To Survive rekindled the discussion, China’s drug administration said it also would remove hurdles to foreign generic drugs “to better satisfy the medication need of China’s patients”

Bai Feng, the original prosecutor in Lu’s case, told a government-run news portal after the film came out that Lu’s case helped change government thinking

“It promoted a transition in our concept of justice and the perception of how we enforce the law,” Bai said.

A Shift In China’s Movie Market Is A Sign Of Searing Government Reforms

The movie’s social realist themes also recall a hit Bollywood movie Dangal, a wrestling drama film, which dealt with issues of gender discrimination in sports that went on to become the highest-grossing Bollywood movie in China’s box office history. Critics have noted that the strong box office performances of movies like Dying To Survive and Dangal and the positive reception by movies such as Angels Wear White and Twenty-Two signals a change in China’s movie market, where more domestic movies are embracing the challenge of tackling difficult social issues.

The post Here’s How The Movie ‘Dying To Survive’ Moved Regulations On Cancer Drugs In China appeared first on Digital Crew.

China’s Economy – A Success Story

WeChat has brought about an immense impact on China’s GDP. The GDP has an interesting rise and fall pattern since the 19^th century but it has only been spiralling upwards ever since the economic reforms in 1978 that led to an economic awakening. China’s GDP rose from an all time low of 47.21 USD billion in 1962 to a whooping all time high of 11199.15 USD billion in 2016. Deng Xiaoping played a crucial role towards upheaving China’s economy but what keeps this growth momentum consistent is the cultural ideology of economic co-dependency that surpasses the ideologies and business cultures of the west.

WeChat the superhero

WeChat was launched in 2011 and accounted for 30.6% of China’s GDP in 2016 when it hit an all-time GDP high. WeChat boosted this economic co-dependency to levels that fuelled China’s economic growth rates in the manufacturing and services sector immensely.

Let us understand why WeChat got this popular in China

Now Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat are 4 different apps with uneven concentration in usage from different age groups with different interests that are segregated but scattered at the same time. WeChat on the other hand concentrates the age groups, their interests and fuses a common platform of interactive communication. With more than 898 million users, WeChat created 20.3 million jobs in China in 2017, benefitting the healthcare, transportation, logistics and education sectors the most. WeChat drove RMB 333.9 billion in traditional consumption covering travel, food, shopping, tourism and a range of other sectors that made the lives of 898 million Chinese WeChat users uber convenient.

WeChat employment in China

With an estimated 898 million monthly active users, WeChat has carved out opportunities for self-made entrepreneurs through KOL campaigns and mini programs. WeChat has granted its loyal users a huge amount of autonomy over the control they maintain with their following and the ads that are placed in their public blogs. WeChat KOLs talk to their followers about topics like fashion, beauty, sports, technology through their official accounts and post engaging content for their fans. Brands like L’Oréal, Chanel etc pay KOLs to reach out to their followers.

-WeChat KOLs like Rebecca’s fantasy world specialises in curating content for luxury brands generating 100K views per post!

-Lin Shao managed to amass 22 million WeChat fans through his content that helped him score a fortune totalling to millions of dollars from advertisements placed inside his blog!

WeChat mini programs are sub-applications that allow brands to provide exciting features like e-commerce, task management coupons etc. to their users

-Key Opinion Leaders such as Yu Xiaoge boasts of more than 1.5 million USD of monthly sales through her e-commerce mini-programs

-Tesla has a mini-program enabling users to locate charging stations, schedule a test-drive and share their experiences about driving a Tesla car

WeChat Business

WeChat business sales have skyrocketed thanks to features like WeChat official accounts, WeChat groups, WeChat moments, WeChat payments etc. They have simplified the shopping experience for customers through a more personalised reach that result in higher conversions. WeChat payments also made a huge lifestyle difference to the users in China.

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