Why China’s Version of Email Marketing Is So Effective

Group-centric community marketing experiments were popularized in China in 2019. Around that time, China’s online population growth was hitting a natural ceiling with 1 billion people online, or about 70% of the country. Meanwhile, Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu had each captured more than 90% of existing internet users. As room for user growth start ... See more

Tencent, Bilibili, and Kuaishou all rely heavily on “value-added services”—things like micropayments and subscriptions and virtual currencies. More Western companies will turn to VAS, particularly if Apple and Google reduce the 30% tax they take on every digital economy. Already, Discord and Clubhouse have eschewed ads and Facebook, Snap, and Amazo... See more

While this motivation may be latent—even subconscious, for most—in the U.S., it’s an economic driver that’s well understood in China, fueling a thriving video ecommerce market. In Asia, the powerful force of video entertainment shopping has spawned a livestream ecommerce industry akin to professional movie production. It’s more than a place where a... See more