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. Amazon Woos Chinese Suppliers for New Discount-Shopping Plan
Ecommerce major Amazon is planning to launch a dedicated section for low-priced fashion and lifestyle products on its website in the US, in a bid to fight off competition from Chinese ecommerce companies Temu and Shein.
The US ecommerce giant told Chinese merchants in an invite-only meeting that this new online budget marketplace will feature non-branded fashion items, household goods and daily necessities, which will ship directly to consumers from warehouses on the mainland in nine to 11 days. First reported by online tech publication The Information, that plan has already made a splash within China’s cross-border e-commerce community, where heated discussions centered around joining this marketplace and related Amazon policies. This program, however, is only open to select sellers.
2. Shein Filed For London IPO In Early June, Sources Say
Shein confidentially filed papers with Britain’s markets regulator in early June, two sources said, kicking off the process for a potential London listing by the online fast-fashion retailer later in the year.
The China-founded company, which was valued at US$66 billion in a fundraising round last year, began to explore a listing on the London Stock Exchange early this year, Reuters reported in May, citing sources. Shein’s original plan to list in New York came unstuck following opposition from US lawmakers. It is not immediately clear when Shein, known for its US$5 tops and US$10 dresses, plans to launch the initial public offering (IPO).
3. Chinese AI Startups Confront Challenges As OpenAI Ends API Services in China
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) companies are moving swiftly to attract users of OpenAI's technology, following reports the U.S. firm plans to restrict access in China and other countries to its application programming interface (API), a platform that allows developers of other products to integrate its AI models.
ChatGPT maker OpenAI is planning to block access to technology used to build AI products for entities in China and some other countries, as reported by the Chinese state-owned newspaper Securities Times. ChatGPT is not available in mainland China but many Chinese startups have been able to access OpenAI's API platform and use it to build their own applications, the Securities Times said.
4. Tesla China Recalls Laid-Off Employees As Store Operations Suffer
Tesla‘s China region has recently begun recalling previously laid-off employees. It is expected that more than 100 people will be recalled, and due to the recent start of this work, the number of recalls may change.
Currently, the planned recalled employees were originally from departments such as charging, sales, after-sales, and delivery. If they agree to be recalled, returning employees need to return “3” parts of the “N+3” severance compensation and their seniority will be recalculated. On April 15th local time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed in an internal email to employees that the company will cut more than 10% of its global workforce to reduce costs and improve productivity. Tesla’s operations in China are also affected, with layoffs exceeding 10%. The layoffs in the charging, sales, and marketing teams even reached a rate of 40%-50%.
5. Microsoft to Close All Offline Authorized Stores in China
American tech company Microsoft Corp has said that it has decided to consolidate its channels in the Chinese mainland market, as part of its ongoing evaluation of retail strategies to meet evolving customer needs.
According to sources, Microsoft China’s online retail business will only retain the official Microsoft China store website and the self-operated flagship store on JD.com
. All of Microsoft China’s offline authorized stores will be closed, while national official after-sales repair points will still be retained. This is reportedly also the reason why “many consumers who went to offline stores to inquire about Pro 11 / Laptop 7 found that there were no demo units available”.
6. WeChat Officially Launches the ‘One-Click AI Q&A’ Feature
WeChat has announced that the WeChat input method has launched the ‘One-click AI Q&A’ function.
It is reported that this function is based on Tencent‘s Hunyuan large model. Simply enter content in the chat box within WeChat and add an equal sign “=”, and you can get AI answers. Click the ‘Copy as Image’ prompt in the bottom right corner to generate an image that can be saved and used.
The official statement is that the Win and Mac versions are currently online, and the mobile version is also preparing to go live. In addition, when entering text in the chat input box to the third line of characters, click the up arrow on the left side or long-press the chat input box and select ‘Full-Screen Input’ from the pop-up options.
7. Tencent’s Dungeon & Fighter Mobile Game Will No Longer Be Available on Some Android App Stores
Tencent is removing its hit mobile game "Dungeon & Fighter" (DnF Mobile) from selected Android app stores as its contracts have expired, the company said.
Game developers in China have long had a contentious relationship with distributors over issues such as revenue sharing, as mobile games become increasingly popular in the broader game market. In the case of partnerships between developers and Android app stores, the standard 50% revenue share split has often been a bone of contention. Tencent, China's largest game developer by revenue, did not specify which app stores would be affected. Local media outlet 21st Century Business Herald reported that the affected app stores include those of Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo.
8. TikTok Launches Support Program for Beauty Creators
TikTok has announced a new initiative to help support beauty creators in the app, partnering with Estée Lauder on a program called “The Catalysts” which aims to find emerging voices in the sector.
TikTok creators aged 21 and over will be invited to submit ideas and business plans focused on makeup, skincare, body care, hair care, and fragrance. Creators will then need to demonstrate their capacity for creative storytelling via the app. A team of industry experts will then judge the entries and choose winners, who will each be awarded $250K as well as TikTok ad credits for their project.
9. TikTok Launches Big Brand ‘Deal Days’ To Promote In-Stream Shopping
TikTok is making yet another push on in-app shopping, this time via new “Deals For You Days” in the app in the U.S.
TikTok’s Deals For You Days will see big brands share discounts in the app, across a range of trending products, which TikTok is hoping will get more people browsing and spending in-stream. The main impetus here is based on TikTok’s success with eCommerce in China, which has now become the key revenue driver in the local version of the app. Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, generated $300 billion from e-commerce sales in 2023, which is almost 100x more than TikTok made in the same period.
10. TikTok Appoints Cybersecurity Firms To Assess Its US Data Security
Despite facing a ban in the U.S. due to (among other things) data security concerns, TikTok is pushing ahead with updates to its U.S. user security measures, this time via new partnerships with cybersecurity firms HaystackID and OnDefend to monitor its safety and data protection measures.
TikTok says that these new contractors will serve as “Independent Security Inspectors“ for TikTok U.S. Data Security Inc. (USDS), which is a group that it formulated as part of “Project Texas,” its broader, billion-dollar initiative designed to appease meet the requirements of U.S. regulators. The project, TikTok says, aims to identify potential security risks to U.S. users through technical security testing and validation of the TikTok U.S. platform.
11. TikTok Announces Support Programs for Retailers in the App
https://sairam-io.medium.com/tiktok-announces-support-programs-for-retailers-in-the-app-f401bfeb9e04
TikTok is launching two new programs to support small businesses that are looking to display and sell their items via its in-stream shop displays. Under the broader banner of “Supporting Our Artisans and Retailers (SOAR) Together,” TikTok has announced two new funding and training initiatives, aimed at providing additional support for retailers.
The first initiative will provide support for women-owned businesses, via a 6-week training program, that’s designed to facilitate growth and success in the app. The program covers a range of TikTok marketing and business elements, which will help the selected SMBs build their in-app presence.
The other initiative will provide support for LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs. TikTok says that the program is already supporting 30 small and medium businesses in the U.S. “to empower and grow LGBTQIA entrepreneurship”, and it’s seemingly also looking for more to provide more support in the future.
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 our latest report, click here.
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