​Overseas Beauty Brands Missing Branding Opportunities in China

Recently, L2, a famous digital intelligence company, has released a new report about one of China’s major social media platforms: WeChat. According to the report, WeChat has been growing explosively and offers an essential branding opportunity in China. However, overseas beauty brands haven’t fully capitalised the convenience and opportunities of customer engagement that WeChat offers.

L2’s report, Beauty China: WeChat, shows that WeChat offers key opportunities for brand loyalty programmes, commerce channels, virtual wallets and media platforms.

WeChat now boasts 1.1 billion accounts worldwide and nearly 700 million active monthly users, and this is seeing a growth rate of 39% year-on-year. 96% of L2's Index Beauty list of brands are present on WeChat, according to the report.

L2, though, suggests beauty players are not making the most of this major branding opportunity, particularly when it comes to the customer service and e-commerce opportunities offered by the platform.

"Less than a third of brands offer in-app Live Chat or a geolocal store locator; only 20% of beauty brands host a WeChat Store or offer in-app payments," the report states.

Opportunity

Among all the advantages WeChat offers to facilitate customer engagement, brand loyalty programme stands out, especially for beauty industry. According to the report, 59% of brands support in-app loyalty programmes on WeChat, with the figure rising to 80% when considering domestic Chinese brands only.

Clinique and L'Oreal are the two key western brands singled out by the report for offering a strong, well-connected loyalty programme on the platform, linking through to their other digital outlets (including brand apps and eCommerce stores) to offer maximum connectivity.

Problem and Solutions

Currently, a major barrier for brands looking to make a splash on the platform is the low level of visibility most posts on the site reach: the average beauty brand post garners just 8,000 views and 50 likes, the report reveals.

That said, some companies are performing much better than others: 72% of Mary Kay's posts enjoyed over 50,000 views on the platform between May and June last year, compared to just 12% of posts from Olay.

L2 notes that despite the hurdles, beauty brands should keep making strides to develop their presence on the WeChat, which it tips to become an increasingly dominant branding and ecommerce force for beauty in China.

Many beauty retailers perform pretty well in China’s eCommerce arena. Feelunique, one of the largest online beauty retailers in Europe, has adopted a localised e-marketing and branding approach to establish its online presence in China. As the solutions and services provider for Feelunique, Azoya has assembled a dedicated social media team to engage with Feelunique’s customers. The operation is well designed and goal-oriented. In less than 6 months’ operation, Feelunique has garnered 40, 000 followers across the social media platforms.

To know more about Feelunique’s social media operation, check here!