The power of Chinese e-consumption is unstoppable despite the slowing economy and is estimated to reach 9.6 Trillion RMB by 2020. This sheer magnitude alone is the main reason why we are now taking a spotlight on China’s E-commerce industry.

1. S u m m e r 2 0 1 6
GAINING THE
EDGEIN
E-COMMERCE
1

2. 2

3. Add More Edge To Your E-Commerce
Welcome to this season’s Industry Spotlight for 2016!
Last year, China has set a new world record for hitting 1 Billion RMB sales in 1 minute and 10 Billion RMB sales in 12 minutes from the world’s biggest online
shopping day- 11.11. The power of Chinese e-consumption is unstoppable despite the slowing economy and is estimated to reach 9.6 Trillion RMB by 2020. This
sheer magnitude alone is the main reason why we are now taking a spotlight on China’s E-commerce industry.
After an overview of the current landscape, we took a closer look on advertising opportunities and promotional efforts made by top e-commerce platforms. The
last 2 sections are dedicated to case studies from successful brands in various categories, as well as some insights from e-commerce companies themselves.
With Singles’ Day 2016 just around the corner (and another expected world record), we hope that this publication can facilitate early planning. And in the long-run
we hope that it can provide marketers a better reference and guide to win the e-commerce battle in China.
Enjoy reading!
Mark Opao
Associate Strategy Director
Publicis Media Greater China
Mandy Hou
Head of E-Commerce and Programmatic
Performics, Publicis Media Greater China
Shann Biglione
Chief Strategy Officer
Publicis Media Greater China
3

4. THE NEW NORMAL IN CHINA’S E-COMMERCE
ADVERTISING IN E-COMMERCE
CASE STUDIES
GAINING THE EDGE: INSIGHTS FROM
EXPERTS
• THE NEW NORMAL ISN’T SO NEW AFTER ALL
• E-COMMERCE GROWTH IS EVIDENT IN FMCG AND LUXURY
• LATEST TRENDS IN A NUTSHELL
• KEY PLAYERS IN CHINA’S E-COMMERCE
• KEY CHALLENGES
• CROSS-BORDER E-COMMERCE LEVELS UP THE COMPETITION
• E-COMMERCE NEW TAX POLICY: WILL IT AFFECT HAITAO?
• SERVICES DRIVE THE GROWTH OF O2O
• IS MOBILE THE FUTURE OF E-COMMERCE?
• THE LANDSCAPE KEEPS ON EVOLVING
• WHAT ADVERTISING MEANS TO TOP EC PLATFORMS
• EC ADVERTISING PRODUCTS IN A GLANCE
• THE EVOLUTION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF ALIBABA’S
ADVERTISING PRODUCTS
• ALIBABA GOING ALL THE WAY TO LURE BRANDS AND
CONSUMERS
• JD SELLS ITS ADVERTISING INVENTORY MORE
“TRADITIONALLY”
• YHD ADVERTISING PRODUCTS ARE VERY SIMILAR TO JD
• CONVERGING DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS DRIVE THE INTEGRATION
OF BRAND ADVERTISING AND E-COMMERCE
• HOW LANCOME BECAME THE HIGHEST SELLING
COSMETIC BRAND IN TMALL WITHIN 1 YEAR
• L’OREAL PARIS: HOW SOCIAL AND SEO DROVE E-
COMMERCE SALES
• THREE SQUIRRELS: NUTS WHO WENT NUTS IN E-
COMMERCE
• REJOICE USES VR TO RECREATE LOVE MOMENTS (AND OF
COURSE TO SHOP)
• SMART USE OF BIG DATA
• BURBERRY: SELLING AND TELLING A BRAND STORY VIA
TMALL
• OTHER E-COMMERCE TACTICS THAT WORK
• GLOBAL: LEARNING FROM THE STARTUPS
07
08
09
25
26
29
33
43
10
15
16
17
19
34
36
27
40
41
42
44
45
46
SUMMARY AND POV
47
4
14
21

6. THE “NEW NORMAL” IN
CHINA’S
E-COMMERCE
Overall E-Commerce Landscape in China

7. THE “NEW NORMAL” ISN’T SO NEW AFTER ALL
250
523
768
1,289
1,850
2,712
3,877
52%
109%
47%
68%
44% 47%
43%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
-
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
SALES VALUE OF CHINA E-COMMERCE
(2009-2015 Est. in Billion RMB)
EC Sales (RMB Billion) Value YOY Growth
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Share of B2C 10% 14% 28% 35% 45% 49% 51%
Share of C2C 90% 86% 72% 65% 55% 51% 49%
If we trace back history, China’s fascination to E-Commerce isn’t so much of a
“new normal” as some people will call it. From almost a purely Business-to-
Business transaction (B2B), E-Commerce in China has evolved into consumer
retail (B2C and C2C) since 2004. In 2008, online consumer retail grew 26
times its value from 2004 and then 10 times its value four years after (2012). In
2015, China’s E-Commerce is valued at 3.8 Trillion RMB – a 43%growth versus
2014 and 3 times its value from 2012. Also for the first time, sales from B2C
transactions overtook C2C with a higher market share in 2015.
If we put it in a broader context, Mintel compared how the pace of growth of
China’s e-commerce is significantly stronger than that of the US. Last year,
China already overtook the US to become the largest e-commerce market in
the world based on value.
Source: Mintel 2016
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
47%
10.8% 13.7% 10.5% 8.2%10.3%
68% 44% 47% 43%
YOY Total Online Retail Growth Rate (US vs China)
China’s e-commerce market is set to reach 5 Trillion RMB by end of 2016 and
is forecasted to grow 2.5 times by 2020 (est. 9.6 Trillion RMB).
7

8. E-COMMERCE GROWTH IS EVIDENT IN FMCG AND LUXURY
FMCG
Source: Kantar-Bain China Shopper Report 2015
FMCG includes personal care, home care, beverage and packaged food
Retail Channel Value in Urban FMCG Retail Market
While traditional and modern channels maintain the largest share of retail sales,
Chinese consumer goods shoppers have greatly embraced e-commerce.
According to Kantar. this is driven by the increase in online buying penetration as
well as purchasing frequency across all tier cities, with beauty and baby products
dominating online sales.
LUXURY
If we further drilldown into sectors, we have seen evidence of e-commerce growth especially in FMCG and luxury.
Source: BNP Paribas---”China Online Boom - No Country for Ostrich Brands” (2015)
In a study by Exane BNP Paribas last year, they reported that 74% of
luxury consumers already bought luxury products online and 73% will
want to try online luxury shopping in the future. Price is one of the main
reasons for this, citing that luxury consumers buy online primarily to get a
better deal cheaper than physical stores. But this raises questions for an
industry that usually avoids offering its product at a discount, highlighting
the importance of demonstrating other benefits of e-shopping to their
consumers.
8

9. LATEST TRENDS IN A NUTSHELL
In April 2016, McKinsey released its latest survey highlighting trends on e-commerce and online-to-offline (O2O) services. In summary, the enormous potential
and growth prospect of China’s e-commerce are driven by lower-tier cities, social media and cross-border shopping.
Source: McKinsey iConsumer China 2016
GMV: Gross Merchandise Value
E-Commrce penetration of consumers age 13+
LOW-TIER CONSUMERS
ARE SPENDING MORE
E-commerce activity from Tiers 3-4 cities surpass
their higher tier city counterparts based on
online shopper base and total spending (share
of National Gross Merchandise Value).
SOCIAL MEDIA TRIGGERS ONLINE
PURCHASE
Social media is an important touchpoint for
deciding what to buy online (via product research
or getting recommendations). In particular, the
proportion of WeChat users who shopped from
the platform doubled compared to 2015 either
through WeChat’s JD.com entrance, public
accounts, Moments, group chats or link to other
apps.
CROSS-BORDER E-COMMERCE
(HAITAO) SUPPLEMENT DOMESTIC
PURCHASES
Nearly 1/5 of the digital consumers surveyed buy
goods from cross-border vendors especially on
items that are either too limited or expensive
domestically.
• Tier 1: Healthcare products
• Tier 2: Luxury products
• Tier 3-4: Apparel
9

10. KEY PLAYERS IN CHINA’S E-COMMERCE
B2C
C2C
General Marketplace Vertical and Multi-Brand Retailers Stand-Alone Brand EC
Electronics
Consumer Goods
General Marketplace
Beauty / Cosmetics / Women’s Fashion / Luxury
The retail e-commerce landscape in China might be complex to navigate, but can be summarized into 2 broad categories (B2C and C2C) and sub-categories
within B2C such as general marketplace, vertical and multi-brand retailers and stand-alone e-commerce sites.
10

11. KEY PLAYERS IN CHINA’S E-COMMERCE (Cont.)
58%23%
4% 3%
2%
1%
9%
Market Share of China B2C Players 2015
Tmall JD.com Suning VIP.com
In terms of market share, Tmall and JD are the clear leaders occupying 80% of all e-commerce transactions made in 2015. Based on iResearch, the B2C e-
commerce will continue to flourish and is expected to reach almost 70% of total transactions by 2018.
34.6%
40.4%
45.2%
51.9%
59.0%
64.0% 68.1%
65.4%
59.6%
54.8%
48.1%
41.0%
36.0% 31.9%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016e 2017e 2018e
MARKET SHARE OF B2C vs. C2C (2011-2018E)
Share of B2C Share of C2C
Source: IResearch (2016)
11

12. BAIDU IS CATCHING UP (AGAIN) WITH “BAIDU MALL”
2008, Baidu launched its
e-commerce platform.
2010, Baidu cooperated with Japanese
e-commerce “Rakuten” to launch a new
platform.
2015, Baidu invested in the infant& mom
e-commerce “Mia” and cross-border
platform “Bolome”.
2015, Nov, Baidu Mall was
launched.
In November 2015, Baidu launched its B2C e-commerce platform that is said to target 25-40 years old middle class consumers by selling mid to high-end
products from third-party sellers. This was not the first attempt for Baidu to get into the e-commerce market, citing previous partnership with Rakuten
(Japan’s first e-commerce site), as well as investments in baby care e-commerce site Mia.com and Balome, a cross-border platform. Using its existing services,
Baidu Mall allows online consumers to choose their products to be delivered or via the nearest physical shop with the help of Baidu Maps. Can Baidu succeed
this time? Some sources say that it has to improve more on a lot of aspects (product variety, site navigation) in order to keep up with the existing leaders.
Source: Marketing To China.com (2016)
12

13. MEET THE START-UPS
Miyabaobei is an e-commerce site for baby care
products, originally from Taobao. They sell mostly
overseas items to cater parents that supplement/
distrust domestic brands
Yetang sells apparel and accessories
mainly from small businesses and up and
coming designers
B2C
C2C Taodangpu is an “online pawnshop”
selling products for users who cannot
pay back their loans
Aihuishou is C2C marketplace for used
electronics products. Buyers can use any
various forms of payment (including trade-
in to buy a new one)
Maimaibao is an m-commerce retailer
mainly catering to low-income feature
phone owners who want to reach out in
rural places in China
Beyond the big players, China also boasts a number of startup companies who capitalized on the rapid e-commerce growth in China by building specialized /
vertical e-commerce sites. According to market research firm IT Orange (as reported by Internet Retailer.com), the number of investments into e-commerce
startups in China rose by 78% from 353 deals in 2014 to 627 by end 2015. Below are just some of them.
Source: Sparklabs (2015), Internet Retailer.com (2016)
Beibei.com is a flash-sale retail site of
children’s products sold at huge
discounts within a limited time frame
13

14. KEY CHALLENGES: LOGISTICS, PRODUCT TRUST AND OVERALL EXPERIENCE
Logistics Speed and Coverage
Needs Improvement
Service and Experience
Now More Valued Over Price
Trust Remains A Key Concern For
Both Brands and Consumers
Given the growing e-commerce activity in lower-
tier cities, major e-commerce platforms are now
improving their logistic networks in these cities.
For example, Alibaba’s increased investment in
Cainiao (worth RMB 50 Billion) in 2016 to cater
more local cities and cross-border purchases.
Aside from logistic investments, others are
trying to be more creative by investing in O2O
services and self pick-up strategies in order to
reduce cost.
Source: Kantar Retail 3.0 (2015); McKinsey Quarterly (2016), TechCrunch (2016), Fortune (2016)
Source: Kantar Retail 3.0 (2015) Source: Kantar Retail 3.0 (2015)
Kantar Retail observed the change in Chinese
consumers’ primary motivation for shopping online
from “price, assortment and convenience” to “quality
and value, assortment and service & experience”.
Some tactics employed by e-commerce platforms
include personalizing homepages and search results
list based on users’ internet browsing tags.
In May 2016, Alibaba was put on hot seat after
its membership at the International Anti
Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) was suspended
following defections from several luxury brands.
This just goes to show that product quality and
authenticity remains to be a key issue
concerning brands and consumers alike.
14

15. CROSS-BORDER E-COMMERCE LEVELS UP THE COMPETITION
Source: McKinsey Quarterly (2016)
Source: Kantar Retail 3.0 (2015)
Source: Kantar Retail 3.0 (2015); McKinsey Quarterly (2016), TechCrunch (2016), Fortune (2016)
Several studies have indicated the rising cross-border e-commerce (aka “Haitao”) activities among Chinese consumers. In a McKinsey 2016 1st Quarter report,
cross-border consumer e-commerce is estimated at RMB 259 Billion (USD 40 Billion) in 2015 and is expected to further increase by 67% this year. McKinsey
cited factors such as demand for foreign products not yet available in China, protection from counterfeit products and more attractive prices as the main
drivers that will fuel its popularity especially among middle to upper middle class consumers.
For the most part, the “haitao” boost will benefit consumers and foreign brands that currently have limited reach but have a good brand image among
Chinese consumers. This will help them expand their coverage without adding local distribution capabilities. At the same time, this will also level up the
competition among e-commerce platforms in providing the highest-quality products with best prices. For instance, Tmall Global has lured Costco (US) and
Lotte Mart (South Korea) into its site. Tmall and JD also built “country pavilions” to organize foreign brands based on its country of origin.
Market Size of China’s Retail Import Market (In Billion RMB)
Launch Timetable of Cross-Border E-Commerce Platforms
15

16. E-COMMERCE NEW TAX POLICY: WILL IT AFFECT “HAITAO” BEHAVIOR?
Source: China Briefing.com (2016)
On April 8, 2016, China General Administration of Customs (CGAC) implemented a new tax policy as a means to level the competition between online and
physical (brick and mortar) import stores. In the said policy, the parcel tax scheme will only apply to products bought back into China for personal use worth
above RMB 5,000 (for Chinese residents) and above RMB 2,000 (for non-residents). Goods amounting to less than these amounts will be exempted. In other
words, imported products bought online (which is usually cheaper) will now be treated the same as ordinary imported goods subject to import value-added
tax (VAT) and consumption tax, depending on commodity type. The tables below summarizes of the new tax scheme taken from China Briefing.com.
Given this new policy, will it reduce cross-border purchases in the future? Not so. In a survey conducted by Financial Times in May 2016, price isn’t everything.
Instead, authenticity and trust the product origin were the most important factors driving them to “haitao”. The survey also indicated the popularity of
cosmetics, apparel and consumer electronics as the top 3 most product categories being bought online or overseas.
Source: China Briefing.com (2016); Financial Times (2016)
16

17. SERVICES DRIVE THE GROWTH OF O2O
While Online-to-Offline (O2O) commerce is still relatively small, iResearch (as reported by eMarketer) expects this sector to maintain double-digit growth in
the next 3 years. Much of this growth will be driven by travel, dining and mobility services with notably popular platforms such as Didi Kuaidi (ride hailing),
Meituan-Dianping (group deal site), Ele.me (food ordering) and Ctrip (travel booking service). This finding is also supported by McKinsey, citing that
consumers’ total spending has increased when these O2O services were used.
When broken down by age group, Tencent Intelligence finds that younger consumers are the heaviest users of O2O services . Specifically, those aged 20-39
highly used the top 4 O2O services including dining/food delivery, transportation, travel, and groceries. This could be attributed to a more active spending
behavior and mobile usage.
Source: eMarketer (2016)), McKInsey iConsumer China (2016)
Source: iResearch / eMarketer (2016) Source: Tencent Intelligence / eMarketer (2016)) Source: McKinsey iConsumer China (2016))
17

18. SERVICES DRIVE THE GROWTH OF O2O (Cont.)
O2O STIMULATE MORE
TRAVEL SPENDING
Travel is one of the most popular O2O
services in China where 77% of the
surveyed consumers believe that their
travel spend has increased after using O2O
travel services. Furthermore, they are
willing to pay a premium for guaranteed
tickets, upgrades and personalized travel
planning.
HIGHER EXPECTATIONS ON
QUALITY AND DINING
EXPERIENCE
As for dining, convenience and app-
exclusive deals are the main reasons why
consumers use O2O services. Similarly,
they are willing to pay for value-added
services such as food quality control, faster
delivery and better packaging.
MOBILITY SERVCES REDUCE
SELF-DRIVING
O2O mobility services such as Uber and Didi are changing
driving behavior. As McKinsey found out, their surveyed
respondents indicated a reduction in the average self-driving
frequency from 4 to 3 days per week. In the long-rub, this may
also result in the decrease of vehicle purchase as they become
more dependent on O2O.
In general, O2O consumers value the convenience and quality of its services which is why some investors see it as the “next big thing in China”. We’ve seen this
happening in 2015 when BAT strengthened its O2O offerings via mergers (Alibaba’s Meitum + Dianping and Tencent’s Didi Kuaidi + Kuaidi Dache) and
increased investment (Baidu pumping USD 3 Billion to Nuomi). McKinsey highlighted 3 trends among the highly used O2O services- travel, dining and
transportation.
Source: McKinsey iConsumer China 2016
18

19. IS MOBILE THE FUTURE OF E-COMMERCE?
100 300 900
2100
3400 4500 5500
0
10000
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016e 2017e 2018e
M-Commerce sales expected to reach
RMB 5 Trillion in the next 3 years
(+162% from 2015)
Sales of M-Commerce(Value)
94.2% 85.5% 66.2%
44.5% 31.8% 27.2% 26.2%
5.8% 14.5% 33.8%
55.5% 68.2% 72.8% 73.8%
0%
50%
100%
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016e 2017e 2018e
Revenue share of m-commerce grew significantly from
2014 to 2015 and is predicted to completely topple PC
moving forward
PC MOBILE
Before 2010 online retail on mobile was non-existent at all. But by the end of last year, the scale of China’s mobile commerce (m-commerce) is now valued at
an estimated RMB 2 Trillion- that’s 2000% increase versus 2012! So will mobile be the future of e-commerce? After gathering various data from iResearch,
Mintel/CNNIC and Tmalll, it seems that the future of m-commerce in China is bright!
70% of Tmall’s revenue from 11.11 last year
came from mobile By 2020, m-commerce share of per capita spend will reach almost 80%
of total B2C per capita
Sources: IResearch 2016; Mintel 2016; Tmall / ZenithOptimedia 2015
19

20. PHYSICAL STORES ARE INTEGRATING M-COMMERCE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE
“In the future, you will go shopping without having to take your wallet. The mall will immediately recognize you when you arrive,
through your phone. You won’t have to wait for anything, you won’t have to stop and pay for parking, there will be targeted
discounts for those stores you like. It will be very convenient, very personalized. This is not an either/or situation; the online aspect
makes the offline experience much easier.”
-----Daniel Suen, Baidu Head of Business Development
Sources: The Guardian (2015); Mintel (2016)
In an article released by The Guardian last year, a number of shopping malls and physical stores have closed down in many cities which they mainly attribute to
the rapid and disruptive growth online retail in China. But despite this, others chose to stay in the game by integrating m-commerce technologies to stay
relevant.
CHINA SOUTH CITY AND WECHAT
China South City partnered with WeChat to
allow shoppers to make purchases via WeChat’s
online payment system while allowing the mall
developer to send promotional messages to
them based on personal shopping history and
movements within the mall.
“JUST FITTING ROOM”
“Just Fitting Room” is a recently opened
retail space in Chengdu that features key
merchandise available in Taobao and
Tmall. Shoppers can then choose to buy
the items via in-store itself or by
scanning a QR code to place an order in
Taobao / Tmall. To lure more physical
traffic, several fashion consultants were
hired to advice consumers on how to
best mix and match clothes.
20

21. AND THE LANDSCAPE JUST KEEPS ON EVOLVING
JD.com’s “JD Now” lets you shop in an instant Alibaba lets you pay with your face
Source: Technode (2015); Recode.net (2015)
In November 2015, JD.com launched their own version of ‘instant’ shopping
device called ‘JD Now‘. As most would compare it to Amazon’s Dash Button,
JD Now is an internet-enabled gadget that allow shoppers to place an order
to JD.com with a single press of a button. All they need to do is connect the
device to JD’s mobile app via Wi-Fi then bind the product they want to buy
repeatedly.
JD Now piloted with 12 brands and 81 items from milk powder, laundry
detergent to door-to-door cleaning services.
In March 2015, Alibaba unveiled its “Pay With Your Face” mobile app during
the CeBit conference in Hanover, Germany. The technology allow m-
commerce consumers to pay for purchases using face recognition. Users can
use their phone to take a selfie which automatically authorizes a purchase in
Taobao / Tmall.
The payment technology is set to be launched in public by 2017.
21

22. AND THE LANDSCAPE JUST KEEPS ON EVOLVING (Cont.)
Alibaba introduces VR-Commerce with Buy+
Source: Technode (2016); News.87870.com (2015)
On the 17th of March 2016, Alibaba announced its in-house VR research Lab named GnomeMagic(GM), revealing bold ambitions for VR. Alibaba said GM Lab
will develop a 3D virtual warehouse with a view to integrate VR into the shopping experience. It also claims to have completed 3D modeling for hundreds of
products and will accelerate the process with standard modeling tools.
Together with the lab, the company released Buy+ Plan, aiming to produce high-quality VR content in cooperation with Youku Tudou, Alibaba Entertainment
and Alibaba Music.
On the 1st of April, Buy+ program was officially launched which is promised to recreate a real-world scene with computer graphics systems and auxiliary
sensors. Buy+ using TMC 3D motion capture technology to track user’s movement and provide feedback immediately to VR environment.
“VR technology will help customers have a vivid experience. In the near future, customers could be experiencing shopping on Fifth Avenue in New York while
sitting at home,” said Zhao Haiping, an engineer at Alibaba’s GM Lab.
22

24. ADVERTISING
IN
E-COMMERCE
A Close Look at Advertising in China’s Top E-Commerce Platforms

25. In comparison to China’s EC platforms, eBay generates its global revenues mainly through product listing fee, transaction
fee and Paypal usage fee, which usually account for 20% of sales. eBay also offers advertising, but it only accounts for
around 5% of its total revenue in 2015.
When Taobao was established in 2003 (to compete with eBay China), Jack Ma back then made a “game- changing”
announcement that selling product on Taobao would be total FREE- that means no product listing, transaction or payment
fees.
On the other hand, Tmall was first introduced in 2008 as a dedicated B2C platform consisting of either brand owners or
authorized distributors. Merchants need to pay a 60000 RMB annual tech usage fee and 3% to 5% transaction fee. No fee
for consumer transactions.
As both EC platforms continue to evolve, Taobao and Tmall began to build its revenue model on incremental services like
premium store design and notably from merchant advertising which now occupies 60% of their revenue.
JD started as a B2C website with focus on electronic products. It was launched as a marketplace business in 2011 with a
revenue model based on 5%-10% transaction fee and logistics service fee. While JD have also built a series of advertising
products for 3rd party merchants, there has been a conflict between JD’s owned products and products from 3rd party
merchants. Moreover, the advertising products are not as attractive as Taobao and Tmall, so advertising still accounts for a
small share of JD’s revenue.
WHAT ADVERTISING MEANS TO TOP EC PLATFORMS (CHINA VS GLOBAL)
Based on industry sources
25

26. Product
• Brandzone
• Precise Display
• Keyword targeting
• Affiliate program
• DMP
• Cost per day display
• Precise Display
• Keyword targeting
• EDM / SMS
• Affiliate program
• DMP
• Cost per day display
• Precise Display
• Keyword targeting
• EDM / SMS
• Affiliate program
• Cost per day display
• Brand big day promotion
Tracking • Impression, click and ROI
tracking
• Impression and click tracking
for all product
• ROI tracking is partially
• Impression and click tracking
for all product
• ROI tracking is partially
• Impression / click tracking
Inventory • Inside and outside of the
platform
• Inside and outside of the
platform
• Inside YHD only • Inside Jumei
Maturity*
EC ADVERTISING PRODUCTS IN A GLANCE
General Marketplace Consumer Goods BeautyGeneral Marketplace
• Maturity is a subjective evaluation of EC advertising based on advertising products, inventory coverage and tracking capabilities (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest)
• Taobao and Tmall got the highest score in relation to other EC platforms 26

27. THE EVOLUTION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF ALIBABA’S ADVERTISING PRODUCTS
Alimama, a business unit within Alibaba Group, manages all Alibaba Group's marketing businesses. Alimama aims to
offer a combined solution for both e-commerce and brand marketing and use Ali big data to achieve one-stop access
of digital media (PC terminal+ Wireless terminal + Internet TV terminal).
Began with in-site keyword
bidding ad
All cost per day product, like
homepage image, began to
be managed through system
in CPM bidding model
Launched precise display product
for ad outside of Alibaba owned
site.
Now Alimama became the 2rd
biggest Adnetwok / Ad exchange in
China in terms of traffic volume.
Invested hundreds of billion RMB to acquire
and build its media matrix, especially focused
on enhancing branding inventory.
Some key media are Youku, Toutiao, Momo,
Weibo, and UC browser. Ali also invested
heavily on movie IPs to build its content
business.
2006 2011 2011 2015-2016
27

28. TOP ADVERTISING PRODUCTS WITHIN TAOBAO AND TMALL
Tmall Homepage Banner
Taobao Homepage Banner
Buying Model:
CPM
Avg. CPM :
70-80 RMB
Minimum Investment
Duration
1 Hour
Buying Model:
CPM
Avg. CPC:
100 RMB
Minimum Investment
Duration
1 Hour
Brandzone
Buying Model:
CPM
Avg. CPM :
200-350 RMB
Minimum Investment
Duration
1 Hour
Keyword Search Ad
Buying Model:
CPC
Avg. CPC:
1.5-3 RMB
Minimum Investment
Duration
1 Hour
28

29. ALIBABA GOING ALL THE WAY TO LURE BRANDS AND CONSUMERS
Live data streaming of Alibaba’s Singles’ Day sale on
November 11, 2015.
Daniel Craig on 2015 Singles’ Day Live Online Show
Big -Budget Cooperation
Singles Day (11. 1) has grown tremendously since Tmall began promoting it as a shopping day in 2009. Now, it already became a much-anticipated nationwide
event and is already considered the biggest (online) shopping day in the world. Many retailers such as rivals JD.com also staged sales promotions during 11.11.
In order to maintain its colossal dominance, Alibaba went all the way last year and for the very first time co-partnered with Hunan PSTV to create a pre-single’s
day program (2015 年淘宝天猫双 11 全球购物狂欢夜晚会) in Beijing 4 hours before 11.11. The star-studded event created excitement among consumers with
big-budget production and numerous local and foreign celebrities (Li RongHao, TFBoys, Eason Chan, Daniel Craig and Kevin Spacey) as well as the opportunity
to interact with the show on both TV and OTV.
The show scored a record viewership share of 28% - almost 3x the share of any TV program during that time block. JD also attempted a similar cooperation
with CCTV 3, but the viewership was dwarfed by the Alibaba’s program.
29

30. ALIBABA GOING ALL THE WAY TO LURE BRANDS AND CONSUMERS (Cont.)
Online Shopping Events Beyond Singles’ Day
Singles Day is not the only event Taobao / Tmall created throughout the year. In 2016, both platforms launched numerous events that brands could leverage on
to gain better presence within these 2 EC platforms- including seasonal shopping festivals (i.e. CNY, Rio Olympics) and special days (6.18, 9.9, 12.12)
Shopping Spree for
Spring Festival
Seasonal
Shopping
Festivals
Big
Sales
The Alipay Spring
Festival Event
2016 Olympics
Double 11 carnival
Rural Taobao 3.8 Life Day Mid-year Sales 9.9 Big Sales Double 11
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Double 12
30

31. ALIBABA GOING ALL THE WAY TO LURE BRANDS AND CONSUMERS (Cont.)
Exclusive Brand Events
If brands wanted to move away from crowded e-commerce festivals, Alimama offers exclusive brand events within Taobao and Tmall.
For example in April 14, 2016, Maybelline held a live show with Tmall on top of a traditional new product launch. The live show started with their brand
ambassador Angelababy, on her way to the launch event but suddenly encountered a traffic jam. Despite the rush, she “made it happen” with the help of
Maybelline lip product (Lip Flush Oil In Gloss). Before the live show, ad placements were utilized to drive traffic to the event page. As a result, the lip product
Angelababy recommended in her make-up room sold 10,000 units in that night. Other brands such as Huawei, Apple, Maserati and Durex have also
cooperated with Tmall Live Show.
31

32. ALIBABA GOING ALL THE WAY TO LURE BRANDS AND CONSUMERS (Cont.)
Heart warming series of posters and H5 story H5 game to win tickets home Two chartered trains to send people home
Marketing Efforts Extend to Low Tier Consumers
Capitalizing on the purchasing power of lower-tier consumers. Taobao created a brand campaign in line with the homecoming season during Chinese New
Year. They utilized emotional content, followed by a mobile game with a chance to win free train tickets to their hometown.
32

33. JD SELLS ITS ADVERTISING INVENTORY MORE “TRADITIONALLY”
京挑客
Jing TiaoKe
（CPS Affiliate）
京东快车
JD KuaiChe
（CPC）
京东直投
JD ZhiTou
（CPC）
京选展位
JingXuan Display
（CPM）
SNS & EDM
& APP Push
（CPD）
Intro:
JD Affiliate programs
Tracking:
Order and revenue
Intro:
Keywords and visit
behavior targeting to
promote product on
resource within JD and
outside of JD
Tracking:
Impression, click, order
and revenue
Intro:
Ad on Tencent GDT
resource. Targeting
include Tencent
demographic and JD
shopping behavior
solution
Tracking:
Impression, click, order
and revenue
Intro:
CPD and RTB display
ad within JD and
outside of JD
Tracking:
JD can give post buy
report but no real-time
tracking mechanism
Intro:
Show ads through
SMS, EDM and APP
Push
Tracking:
JD can give post buy
report but no real-time
tracking mechanism
Although JD has a series of precise targeting advertising products based on CPC and CPM model, 80% of its advertising revenue are still generated from Cost
Per Day Display ad on homepage and each category front page. Brands and merchants on JD invest in this ad format mainly for branding or new product
launch.
33

34. YHD ADVERTISING PRODUCTS ARE VERY SIMILAR TO JD
1点通
1DianTong
（CPC）
钻石展位
Zuanshi Display
（CPD/CPM）
CPS推广
Affiliate Advertising
（CPS）
1信鸽/短信小蜜
SMS, EDM
（Cost by Unit Price）
1直投
1ZhiTou
（CPM/CPC）
Intro:
Keywords targeting to
promote product on
resource within YHD
Tracking:
Impression, click, order
and revenue
Intro:
CPD or RTB display ads
within YHD
Tracking:
Cannot Track,
Post-buy report on
Impression, click
Intro:
Display ads in YHD
affiliate websites whit
free impression and
click, cost by sales
Tracking:
Order and revenue
Intro:
Show ads through
SMS, EDM
Tracking:
YHD can give post buy
report but no real-time
tracking mechanism
Intro:
Ad on Tencent GDT
resource. Targeting
include Tencent
demographic and YHD
shopping behavior
solution
Tracking:
Impression, click, order
and revenue
YHD advertising product is just like JD in a sense that it also gets most of advertising revenue from Cost Per Day display ads.
34

35. MULTI-PLATFORM CAMPAIGNS
Launching a campaign on EC shouldn’t have to be exclusive to 1 platform. For instance, Huawei held a major launch of their latest P9 mobile phone utilizing
premium placements in Tmall, JD and YHD.com. Before the launch week, Huawei bought the front pages of these 3 platforms in order to drum up the live
event in London featuring the reveal of their new global ambassadors Scarlett Johansson and Henry Cavill.
35

36. CONVERGING DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS DRIVE THE INTEGRATION OF BRAND ADVERTISING AND E-COMMERCE
Case 1: Youku and Taobao/Tmall’s View and Buy
Youku and Taobao / Tmall launched a View and Buy product in 2016 which enables Youku users to buy the most relevant product on Taobao / Tmall without
leaving the Youku APP. This product was launched as a result of Alibaba’s full acquisition of Youku in Q1 2016. Through this acquisition, more integration is
expected in the coming years. In the future for example, Alibaba will not just let Youku viewers buy the clothes worn by the actors on the screen, but may also
get involved directly in content production which will allow them to sell the content to a client by proposing a function allowing viewers to immediately buy
products on Taobao / Tmall after seeing them in the screen.
36

37. CONVERGING DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS DRIVE THE INTEGRATION OF BRAND ADVERTISING AND E-COMMERCE (Cont.)
Case 2: Tencent and JD.com
Tencent and JD.com formed a strategic partnership at the end of 2014. In May 2016, they announced opening up a marketing tool to all brands worldwide
which allow more targeting precision using shopping behavior, social and demographic data. Tencent provides data on what public accounts people follow
and which companies or celebrities they may like on. JD.com, in turn, has transactional data that can show what users have bought through the JD platform. As
a result, Advertisers can target more suitable audience on Tencent media inventory and then drive them to buy on JD.com
Shopping Behavior Data
 Search
 Add to Cart
 Search
Social and Demographic Data
 FemaleMale, Age
 Cannes Article Readers
 Spokesperson Fans
 JD Buyer Lookalike Modeling
37

38. 38

39. CASE
STUDIES
How Brands Can Win in E-Commerce
39

40. CASE STUDY 1 HOW LANCOME BECAME THE HIGHEST SELLING LUXURY COSMETIC BRAND IN TMALL WITHIN 1 YEAR
In January 13 2015, Lancôme opened its own flagship store on Tmall (the 19th high-end beauty and skincare retailer who opened a Tmall flagship store). But
while this seems to be a normal flagship store, Lancôme ramped up a significant effort in building strong e-commerce performance.
• Lancôme created specially-designed product packages for e-shoppers to coincide with the official flagship store launch. This was complimented with
exclusive deals on selected skin care, make-up and fragrance products within the launch period.
• They integrated both their online and offline membership systems of Lancôme Club. “Offline” members (those with membership card) can redeem and
exchange online coupons while “Online” members can go to offline stores to get free samples.
• Used RTB targeting to serve advertising that are relevant to consumer’s interest and e-commerce site activity.
• Worked closely with Alimama to negotiate added promotional mileage during Tmall’s special sale events (i.e. 11.11, Big Brand Day)
The efforts totally paid off as Lancôme reported a nearly RMB 8 million ($1.3 million) online sales in just the first 3 days of launch, setting a brand sales record
for the Tmall cosmetics category during that time. Lancôme also revealed that it broke the RMB 1 million sales mark within the first 30 minutes of Tmall store
operations.
Source: Alizila (2015)
40

41. CASE STUDY 2 L’OREAL PARIS: HOW SOCIAL AND SEO DROVE E-COMMERCE SALES
L'Oréal Paris launched a Cannes 2016 campaign in May 12, 2016 featuring its global ambassadors including China’s Li Yuchun. In order to drive buzz among
Chinese consumers, L'Oréal created a live broadcast video on famous short video APP Meipai with Li Yuchun’s testimonial of L'Oréal’s easy to apply Silk Soft
CC Light Lipstick. Apart from that, L'Oréal developed creative SEO strategies to increase the product ranking in Taobao. The soft-sell approach to the
campaign became an instant hit among Chinese women and in 4 hours, all the stocks in their Tmall flagship store were sold out!
The success of this campaign goes to show how social media can be an effective way to drive band consideration on e-commerce. Tmall is actually leveraging
on this trend wherein marketers can customize their shops / flagship stores with video and social media apps to engage consumers. Other beauty brands
create engaging platforms like online skin tests and photo sharing function to drive better Tmall store user experience. For example in Clinique’s online skin
test, consumers just need to fill out an online questionnaire and they are able to know their complexions, skin types and other skin problems. Clinique then
generates a skin test report and from there recommend the right Clinique products for them. On the other hand, Estee Lauder allows consumers to share
selfies after using their products and review it online, thus leveraging Chinese consumers’ social-media “instinct” to consult with their peers before making
purchase decisions.
Source: Alizila (2015)
41

42. CASE STUDY 3 THREE SQUIRRELS: NUTS WHO WENT NUTS IN E-COMMERCE
Never underestimate the power of small brands in E-Commerce. This has been greatly proven by Three Squirrels- a food (nuts) brand from Anhui Province that
has now become one of the most successful e-commerce cases in China. Despite being a start-up, Three Squirrels became a heavyweight, turning a low-
involvement food product such as nuts into a higher-valued snack. Apart from that, it is now the largest retailer of snack food on Taobao and Tmall.
What did they do?
• Three Squirrels stirred the market by creating 3 cute animated squirrels, each with its own personality.
• These characters engaged consumers through WeChat and Youku and even developed jargons in line with the brand image. They also extended this idea
on their customer service where consumers were addressed as “pet owners” and each purchase is called an “adoption”. The product packaging comes with
a packet of wet tissue, a bag for placing nut shells and a nut cracker.
• The popularity of the product was further amplified through product placements in a hit Chinese drama Ode To Joy
The overall campaign made a huge impact resulting to an annual sales of RMB 326 Million (USD 52 Million) in its first year (2013) and grew exponentially with
a RMB 160 Million (USD 25 Million) the following year--- in January alone! It was also reported that the case is currently being used in several business schools
in China as a local example of blue ocean strategy. Just recently at Cannes 2016, Guangyu Guo, its chief brand officer reported that the revenue of his 4-year-
old startup has already exceeded US$100 million.
Source: Forbes China, Campaign Asia 42

43. CASE STUDY 4 REJOICE USES VR TO RECREATE LOVE MOMENTS (AND OF COURSE TO SHOP)
520, a Chinese featured romantic day that encourage singles to speak “I love you” out loud, has became an interesting avenue for brands to catch consumer’s
attention. The long established shampoo brand from P&G--Rejoice set their hands on the trendy VR technology with Alibaba’s GnomeMagic Lab to make a
difference in 2016.
What did they do?
• Leveraging on Taobao mobile APP, consumers could click into the campaign site titled as “My VR boyfriend” or “My VR girlfriend”, which encourage them to
buy the special Rejoice package to win a VR glass.
• With this simple and fun gadget, consumers could enjoy the immersive experience with the Rejoice’s brand amnassador Yang Yang by watching a produced
VR video. Wake your lover to get up, prepare sunny breakfast or even make a proposal have been vividly depicted with virtual reality. Those daily sweet
moments between couples intelligently enabled consumers to imagine and recall their own romantic moments and build a natural connection at 520（I
love you）Day.
This is considered a breakthrough e-commerce tactic via an interactive micro-film. Using 180°3D high definition shooting technology, Taobao was able to
simulate real occasions, plus combining it with their EC exchange system for a seamless shopping journey covering collection, purchasing and friend-add of
favorite stores.
Source: Campaign China (2016.05.20)
43

44. CASE STUDY 5 SMART USE OF BIG DATA
Benz-Smart
BE AN “E-SALES AGENT” IN 1 DAY
Friso
USING LBS TO REACH ONLINE AND OFFLINE CONSUMERS
Known for their “flash” sales in previous years, Mercedes-Benz launched a
unique promotional campaign to sell its 666 Smart cars in 12.12– that is, to
make consumers the sellers themselves! Using Allibaba DSP, Mercedes-Benz
targeted auto enthusiasts (via their user behavior, interests, and e-commerce
behavior within Alli’s ecosystem) with an attractive proposition to be Smart’s e-
sales agent by promoting and selling the car to their friends. The best part is for
every confirmed sale generated in Smart’s Taobao flagship store, they get a
RMB 10,000 commission sent to their Alipay straightaway!
The campaign was an instant success with all the 666 cars sold in just half a day!
Smart continues to experiment with these clever tactics in social media (Sina
Weibo) and even launching special edition smart cars to continually attract
Chinese car buyers.
In 2015, Friso wanted to boost its e-commerce sales but finds that
targeting online consumers with broad profiling is not enough to drive
it. Using Alibaba’s Location-Based System (LBS), they collected historical
data from locations where prospective consumers of infant milk formula
can be found, particularly in baby hospitals and baby stores in Tier 1
and 2 cities. Offline data was then married with Ali’s Data Management
Platform (DMP) to include online data (use of Ali-owned apps, purchase
history in Taobao / Tmall) to push advertising messages to IMF
consumers.
This tactic has been proven effective with 75% of Friso’s Tmall page
attributed to LBS than any other form of targeting. Moreover, CTR
performance from LBS is almost 40% higher than benchmark in the IMF
category.
Source: Alibaba
44

45. CASE STUDY 6 BURBERRY: SELLING AND TELLING A BRAND STORY VIA TMALL
Burberry opened its Tmall flagship store in April 23 2014, making it the first international luxury brand that entered into the third-party online shopping
platform. Fast forward to 2016, its sustained success lies in its ability to maintain a premium e-shopper experience despite being in a mass e-commerce
platform. Social Brand Watch highlighted the key reasons for this:
Source: Social Brand Watch (2016)
Chinese-specific seasonal promotions
(i.e. Children’s Day)
Specific GIFT pages for women, men
and children
Sales discounts
exclusive to T-Mall
Special content on the Trench Coat heritage- how it was made and
KOLs wearing it in everyday life
Special content on Burberry’s history, and
the essence of “Britishness”
HOW IT SELLS
HOW IT TELLS THE
BRAND STORY
45

46. CASE STUDY 7 OTHER E-COMMERCE TACTICS THAT WORK
11.11:
START EARLY
L'Oréal Paris Tmall Flagship Store 11.11 Campaign
11.11 contributes an average 30% sales of annual target
in the cosmetic category. Anticipating the cutthroat
competition arising on that big day, L'Oréal Paris
“warmed up” the market by launching its 11.11
campaign 30 days in advance. Using programmatic
buying, L'Oréal served promotional ads (i.e. free
samples/discount) by analyzing the shopping behavior
of cosmetic shoppers in T-mall before 11.11 – i.e. what
they put in their shopping carts.
As a result, revenue from advertising reached more than
10 million RMB which accounted for 30% of 11.11
L'Oréal's Tmall store revenue.
TMALL SITE VS
BRAND E-COMMERCE SITE
CAPITALIZING ON
BRAND E-COMMERCE SITE (ONLY)
The case of Biotherm
What do you do when you have a T-mall store AND a
stand-alone brand e-commerce site? In the case of
Biotherm, they found out that the traffic from these 2
sites comes from different sources. The majority of the
traffic to their T-mall store comes from the T-mall
platform itself, while on the other hand, traffic from their
stand-alone brand e-commerce site comes from Baidu
SEM and organic search.
This goes to show that managing these e-commerce
platforms require different set of tactics to drive traffic.
Differentiating the promotional strategy on these 2
platforms will also help to better serve the preferences
of these audiences.
Can you drive conversion even without a T-mall
flagship store? Definitely! This was exemplified by
Kiehl’s own e-commerce site. There are several
factors driving its success. First, a strategic SEM
strategy helped in driving traffic to the website by
buying into generic “I want…: search keywords in
Baidu. Consumers are then led to Kiehl’s e-
commerce site made with a clear layout so
consumers can easily find a specific product.
Offline events also supported the campaign.
The combination of these tactics drove Kiehl’s
website conversion (click to order) rate 15% higher
than industry in half a year.
The case of Kiehl’s
46

47. GLOBAL LEARNING FROM THE STARTUPS
While China dominates e-commerce globally, we can still learn from e-commerce success stories around the world. And apparently, we can also take some
best practices from (used to be) startups.
The success of Rent The Runway was evidenced by its numerous recognitions,
including CNBC’s one of the 50 most disruptive companies in 2013, Fast Company’s
10 most innovative fashion companies in 2011 and Time Magazine’s one of the 50
best websites in 2010. By 2016, Rent the Runway has been offering over 50,000
dresses and 10,000 accessories from over 200 designer partners. Plus they have
opened offline retail locations across major cities in the US where shoppers can
work with a work with a resident personal stylist.
RENT THE RUNWAY
Its About Personalization
DOLLAR SHAVER CLUB
A David and Goliath Story
Source: Wikipedia (2016)
Rent the Runway is an e-commerce site that provides rental service on designer
dresses and accessories for a 4- or 8-day period at 10% of the retail price. The
website was designed with personalization in its core. For one, shoppers can put
pictures of them on the app or on the website to see themselves in the dress. In
addition, they could write reviews on the dresses to better facilitate choice.
Personal stylists are also available via live chat.
Dollar Shave Club is an online retailer of razors in the US. Born out of a casual
conversation from its owners’ shaving product complaints (dull blades, super
expensive prices and pointless “new technologies”), the business was born with a very
simple model- a monthly subscription service that delivers high quality razors to
consumer’s at reasonable prices.
On of the key success factors of Dollar Shave Club was its funny, simple and no-holds-
barred video with a provocative message “Our blades are f------ great.” and a promise
that their subscription will save money over leading brands. The authenticity of the
campaign resonated well with its 20-30 year old male targets using content that’s
simple, entertaining, yet made with high quality.
Just within 48 hours of the video debut, they immediately gained more than 12,000
subscribers and in 2015, Dollar Shave Club has now been serving over 900,000
subscribers with estimated $60 million in sales which has surprisingly shaken the
“Goliaths” of the category.
Source: Real Digital Productions (2015), Wall Street Journal (2015) 47

48. 48

49. GAINING
THE EDGE
Insights From the Experts
49

50. Jiao Liu
Brand Division General Manager (Alimama)
What is your current assessment of the current China EC landscape?
A decade ago, Jack Ma said: “The 21st century is e-commerce, or no business can be." The further integration
of the entire business and consumer through Internet + is the next phase of the internet. Online and offline
integration is no longer a trend. It is the reality. In China there is a huge opportunity to upgrade from offline
selling to “content and commodity” integration- through live videos and social media. New technology has
been fast and furious. The entire retail industry, including the entire marketing and supply chain processes are
constantly changing.
More than 90 percent of enterprises will move towards large-scale use and practice of big data. Today when
we talk about e-commerce, it is not just being used to buy clothes, buy a cell phone, or a lottery ticket. E-
commerce has been involved in all aspects of life and a broader consumption. So, in this sense, I think e-
commerce is in fact the ultimate consumer demand-driven, supply chain reengineered, and ultimately efficient
to meet the needs of consumers from physical products to services.
How brands can be successful in EC? How can they have an edge versus their competitors?
E-commerce is undergoing an extensive development stage. The Ali platform in particular, with 630 million
users have rich consumer data. Our product pins on the whole business of marketing the most comprehensive
big data through partnerships with support from brand owners and agencies. This is the beginning of our
mission.
For consumers, our E-commerce platforms has become a means to understand the brands and products so in
turn marketers can understand their search and browsing behavior. At Alimama we don’t want to simply
promote our platforms as an online sellers’ platform but also be able to reach a wider sales network (including
offline) to benefit from our platforms
Brand building is a long-term process. But we look into multi-dimensional brand marketing and consumer
communication. The key is precision targeting using big data to drive efficiency. I think this is very crucial for
each brand. 50

51. Jiao Liu (cont.)
Brand Division General Manager (Alimama)
How can brands make use of EC advertising more effectively?
Conventional digital marketing efforts tend to emphasize user conversion. But in our view, marketing is a
long-term work. The most important thing is not conversion, but it has to continue on through the entire
consumer journey (from awareness, consideration, purchase and sharing). Marketers need to leverage on the
full picture of consumer behavior and expand their e-commerce campaigns beyond the platforms. In short, EC
advertising is not a single dimension but a brand, product and sales integration.
Recently, Alimama launched Pin Bao, which help precisely target consumers as well as on a category/
industry-level. The whole Alimama group also processes rich media resources which can largely assist on
communication from brand exposure to order placement.
How do you see China’s EC landscape 5-10 years from now?
The nature of e-commerce is that: THE FASTER (YOU CAN LINK THE PRODUCT AND THE CONSUMER),
THE BETTER. Earlier this year, Ali proposed four directions for e-commerce in 2016. 1) focusing the consumer
experience, 2) ecological prosperity 3) enabling businesses and 4) consumer upgrades. Alibaba wants to
strengthen its position as a company driving consumer e-commerce services, business services and marketing
ecosystem services to obtain and further use big data.
Today we see the developments going even further and closely integrated with retail, production and supply
chain. E-commerce is a major engine of growth for the entire Chinese economy and its momentum is still
unmatched on a global scale. "Internet +" will be an important tool for the future of global trade and
governance, and China's future should be aiming to be a global product distribution center. In the future all
businesses will be e-commerce, We will have no “e-commerce company” in the future and everything will be
e-commercialized. It’s both an opportunity and a challenge for businesses to prepare and accept this new
reality.
51

52. David Feng
Senior Director, Integrated Marketing (YHD)
What is your current assessment of the current China EC landscape?
Monopolization is getting worse.
How brands can be successful in EC? How can they have a competitive edge versus
their competitors?
Marketers need to build a strong brand based on customer demand. Innovation is the
most important part- whether innovation of product, marketing or communication. They
also need to establish their own online sales channels gradually.
How can brands make use of EC advertising more effectively?
Strong focus on product, event, promotion, page design, cooperation and content.
How do you see China’s EC landscape 5-10 years from now?
E-Commerce sales growth in tier1, tier 2 and tier 3 markets has been slowing down
currently. There is opportunity from Tiers 4 and 5, but its hard to be sure for now.
Prior to join YHD, David Feng worked in Elizabeth Arden as Digital MKT & Ecommerce Director and Head
of Digital & Ecommerce in Fonterra Brands China. In his early career, he also played several important
digital & Ecommerce roles in Pfizer PCH and The9 Limited, in which helped World of Warcraft success
launch in mainland China and led biggest joint marketing program iCoke-WoW with Coca-Cola China.
52

53. 53

54. 54
YOUR SHOPPING CART TO SUCCESS
We have seen in this report that China’s e-commerce industry is set for an even brighter future driven by continuous innovation, swift consumer adaptation and support from the
government, retailers, and businesses themselves. But the opportunity for brands to succeed will not come in an instant. Gaining the edge in e-commerce requires a combination
of what you do on the inside (USER EXPERIENCE AND CUSTOMIZATION) and how you drive consumers from the outside (DRIVE TO SITE TACTICS).
Firstly, it starts from your site’s USER EXPERIENCE. Whether you decided to work with the large e-commerce platforms or your own, start with optimizing the essentials- your site
design, accessibility, usability and consumer engagement both in desktop and mobile platforms. Can consumers easily find what they need in your site directly from their mobile
phone? Do you provide comprehensive details on each of the products? Can you let them compare variants and prices? Can you implant a live customer service function to answer
their queries in real-time? Can consumers pay in a variety of mobile wallet options especially WeChat wallet and Alipay? Moreover, don’t assume everyone who comes to your e-
commerce platform is familiar with your brand and ready to make a purchase. Treat your site as a brand owned platform consistent to your offline retail experience: it’s not just a
shopping destination, it’s a place to bring your brand to life. Taking Burberry’s example, add a further edge by creating content that helps you weave in your brand story. Every
detail counts.
Of equal importance is your DRIVE TO SITE STRATEGY. We have seen from Three Squirrels, L'Oréal and Rejoice the importance of social, search, KOL and programmatic tactics
to create impactful launches. A solid mobile strategy is definitely non-negotiable in your media mix. Add a further edge by leveraging on data and integration of Alibaba and
JD.com’s wider digital ecosystem (i.e. Youtu and Tencent), as well as being an early adopter of their new technologies for a more seamless consumer experience.
Lastly, another key element that we have seen to have worked is CUSTOMIZATION. Customization can be done on a product/service level or through promotions. Dollar Shaver
Club is a perfect example of how a disruptive service offering led to a new retail model that is now being followed by leading brands in the category. E-commerce-specific
promotions, “programmatic” creative, special packages and personalized customer advise further adds an edge to solidify your e-commerce leadership.
USER EXPERIENCE. DRIVE TO SITE STRATEGY. CUSTOMIZATION.

55. Editorial Team
Shann Biglione, Chief Strategy Officer, Business Transformation, Publicis Media Greater China
Mark Opao, Associate Strategy Director, Publicis Media Greater China
Lucy Liu, Strategy Supervisor, Publicis Media Greater China
Mandy Hou, Head of E-Commerce and Programmatic, Performics, Pubicis Media Greater China
Kitty Chen, Associate Director, Performics, Publicis Media Greater China
Vivi Wan, Senior Designer, Publicis Media Greater China
About Publicis Media
Publicis Media is one of the four solutions hubs of Publicis Groupe, alongside Publicis Communications, Publicis.Sapient and Publicis Healthcare. Led by Steve
King, CEO, Publicis Media is powered by its four global brands, Starcom, Zenith, Mediavest | Spark and Optimedia | Blue 449, and supported by its digital-first,
data-driven Global Practices which together deliver client value and business transformation. Publicis Media is committed to helping its clients navigate the
modern media landscape and is present in more than 100 countries with over 13,500 employees worldwide.
Twitter: @PublicisMedia
55

56. THANKS
FOR READING
SEE YOU IN
OUR NEXT ISSUE
56