China Digital Digest Weekly: Exploring the Chinese Digital Landscape

Hi folks, we are back with our weekly edition of China’s Digital Digest, wherein we bring you weekly updates on China’s digital space. The report takes a quick glance at China’s complex and rapidly evolving social media landscape by providing updates on the latest happenings across the social media industry. Here are the major highlights of the report.

1. Pinduoduo Sees Sales Jump During Singles’ Day Promotion

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pinduoduo-says-chinese-consumers-show-093000701.html

Pinduoduo, the bargain e-commerce app operated by PDD Holdings, is enticing China’s cost-conscious consumers with steep price subsidies during this year’s Singles’ Day shopping festival, as it reported a year-on-year jump in sales in lower-tier cities in the first days of its promotion.

Within the first three days of its Singles’ Day promotion that began last week, the company saw sales in fourth and fifth-tier cities up 167 percent year on year, faster than the 113 percent growth seen for first-tier cities, according to data released by the company and cited widely by Chinese media. The company did not disclose the exact sales figures.

2. E-Commerce Rivals Shein And Temu Call A Truce In US Court Battle

https://www.reuters.com/legal/low-cost-e-commerce-rivals-shein-temu-shelve-us-court-cases-2023-10-27/

Fierce rivals Shein and PDD Holdings-owned Temu have applied to end their legal fights with each other in the US, documents show, marking a truce even as a global market share battle between the low-price online platforms heats up.

Joint declarations were filed to courts in Chicago and Boston by lawyers representing the companies and their subsidiaries, requesting that two legal cases be dismissed “without prejudice” by their judges. The filings did not contain details on why they had decided to drop their complaints or whether any settlement had been made. Neither firm immediately responded to a request for comment on the filings.

3. Alibaba Steps Up Singles’ Day Promotion With Live Streamers Enticing Shoppers

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alibaba-steps-singles-day-promotion-093000947.html

Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao and Tmall Group on Tuesday kicked off presales for its Singles’ Day promotion with a group of live streamers persuading consumers to buy from its platforms, a day after rival JD.com fired the first salvo in the world’s largest shopping festival.

Among the live streamers who helped launch the Alibaba e-commerce unit’s campaign via Taobao Live, a dozen of them – including top influencer Austin Li Jiaqi and actor-singer Allen Lin Yilun – each generated more than 100 million yuan (US$14 million) in total sales volume, according to data released by the company.

4. Temu Surpasses Quarterly GMV of $5 Billion, Potentially Exceeding Annual Targets

https://pandaily.com/temu-surpasses-quarterly-gmv-of-5-billion-potentially-exceeding-annual-targets/

In just one year since its launch, Temu, the cross-border e-commerce platform under Pinduoduo, has been growing at an astonishing pace.

Exclusive information obtained by Chinese tech media 36Kr reveals that Temu’s sales in the third quarter of this year exceeded $5 billion. Particularly noteworthy is September, during which, on the occasion of its first anniversary, Temu achieved a daily Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of up to $80 million. Earlier, it was also reported that Temu’s GMV in the first half of the year was almost $3 billion – this means that the sales in September alone were nearly on par with the entire first half of the year. At this rate, with the arrival of “Black Friday” and Christmas, Temu may exceed its annual GMV target of $15 billion.

5. Canada Bans China’s WeChat And Russia’s Kaspersky Apps On Government Devices

https://www.reuters.com/technology/canada-bans-wechat-kaspersky-applications-government-devices-statement-2023-10-30/

Canada has banned the Chinese messaging app WeChat and the Russian antivirus program Kaspersky on government-issued mobile devices due to privacy and security risks, but said government information had not been compromised.

The ban was announced after an assessment by Canada’s chief information officer that Tencent-owned WeChat and applications made by Moscow-based Kaspersky “present an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security,” the Treasury Board of Canada, which oversees public administration, said in a statement. Kaspersky said it was surprised and disappointed, and that the decision was made without warning or an opportunity for the firm to address the government’s concerns. WeChat hasn’t responded to requests for comment.

6. TikTok Publishes New eCommerce Marketing Starter Guide

https://www.tiktok.com/business/en-US/blog/tiktok-small-business-ecommerce-starter-guide-part-1

TikTok has published a new guide for eCommerce brands that are looking to get started in the app, with a full overview of the key steps to launching a TikTok ad campaign.

The guide first covers all the key steps for retailers to get started and includes references to other TikTok elements, like Spark Ads, to assist in your process. It then provides a step-by-step checklist of each required element, so you can easily cover off on each. Finally, the guide outlines what happens after you launch a campaign, and how you can further enhance your in-app presence.

Wrapping Up

The vast and diverse nature of the Chinese Social Media space makes it incredibly challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments taking place. However, China’s Digital Digest brings you all the latest updates from there to keep you abreast of all the evolving trends.

To delve deeper into the findings of the October report, click here.