Ogilvy China: Brands’ Battle to Breakthrough in China’s E-commerce

Ogilvy China released its latest e-commerce white paper, “Brands’ Battle to Break Through in China’s E-commerce.” This white paper analyzes the massive data of China’s e-commerce platforms, providing insights and strategies to help brands more effectively build relationships with online consumers.

For brands that want to make a difference in the Chinese market, being able to navigate the ever-changing e-commerce market has become a major challenge. According to statistics, more than 10 million stores have entered China's e-commerce platforms or established their own online stores, operating more than 1 billion products, and the transaction volume is expected to exceed 1 trillion US dollars this year. This means that consumers need to compare prices in real time from thousands of products to select their favorite brands. For this reason, establishing a clear-cut differentiated route based on a long-term strategy has become the secret to brand success.

"We hope to help our clients build brand advantages and make them sustainable in the long term, forming meaningful brand value. The fast-paced e-commerce environment often makes brand marketing focus more on short-term sales growth and ignore brand building," said Chris Reitermann, co-CEO of Ogilvy Asia Pacific and CEO of Ogilvy China. "As brands continue to increase their investment in e-commerce platforms, which has generated a huge sales proportion, brands must find the right direction in such a market environment. More and more brands are springing up in China, and marketing activities focusing on social media and e-commerce platforms will be the goal of further development."

This white paper divides e-commerce consumers into several categories based on their purchasing behavior and motivations, and proposes corresponding marketing strategies to attract the target groups. More importantly, it also proposes how to maintain consumer loyalty to the brand and ultimately retain customers, which is especially important in an era when the market is becoming more volatile and the cost of consumer interaction is becoming more expensive.

This white paper also points out some deviations in e-commerce market strategies, such as the price wars common among fast-moving consumer goods brands. The smartest brands are often not satisfied with pursuing sales figures on e-commerce platforms, but also want to reap net profits from participating in the e-commerce market.

“Although the mechanism of China’s e-commerce market is unique and full of changes, it is not completely unsolved,” said Mike Zhu, the main author of the white paper and head of e-commerce and data analysis at Ogilvy Shanghai. “We believe that the key to brand success is to use a complete brand strategy, shape omni-channel customer experience solutions, and try new e-commerce and communication channels to meet the ever-changing consumer needs.”

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