Basques, brassieres, corselets, bodies, panties, G-strings, bras… all these elegant and sexy undergarments have been filling the Chinese lingerie market for several years. Why this unexpected boom in the luxury lingerie market in China? High-end lingerie sales increased by 30% last few years. It is not surprising that international and local players are paying attention to this big opportunity to enter into this lucrative market.
Chinese customers are becoming more confident
Chinese Consumer Start to Like High End Lingerie Brand
Chinese consumer tastes are changing, they are more sophisticated, confident, and the most important is that they know exactly what they want. They want high-end products such as shoes, accessories, but also elegant lingerie. For Chinese young consumers, luxury is not just about buying to show off, it’s more about buying products that make them feel good. Chinese women started to understand the importance of becoming more sexy and glamorous through lingerie and are now more willing to treat themselves better by purchasing premium lingerie with high standing, better comfort, and beautiful design.
Read Also: China Lingerie market
The leading firms in the Chinese lingerie market
Now for Chinese consumers, foreign brands have to surpass local brands not just on quality, but also innovation. It’s important to use the new digital marketing tools to adapt to Chinese consumers for attracting them. Young lingerie consumers trust always Chinese brands but often think that there is a lack of diversity in colors, materials, and designs used. That is the reason why international brands can easily enter the Chinese lingerie market with an appropriate strategy.
For instance, the U.S. brand Victoria’s Secret opened its first store, with a 20,000 square foot flagship store in Shanghai. Companies such as Italy’s luxury brand La Perla, which sells bras priced around 2,000 yuan ($300), have 8 stores in China and plan additional outlets in Chengdu and Chongqing. It also aims to open a men’s store in Beijing and Germany’s Triumph, which already has 1,000 stores in China, plans to open more stores in new Chinese cities.
The brands have to adapt themselves to the Chinese market because the habits change from one country to another, and China is the proof. Chinese consumers don’t have the same habits and tastes as western consumers. From the color to the sizes of morphology to the designs and materials used, nothing has to leave to luck because Chinese Millennials are really demanding and expect more from international brands.
High End Lingerie Marketing Strategy in China
If you want to launch your lingerie brand in China, you have to pay attention to the design and colors because Chinese consumers have more expectations. People are superstitious in China, especially about the colors. Color means a lot for Chinese people, for example they don’t like buying too many white products because it is the death color. Yellow is considered a pornographic color in China, and they used to buy pink or red lingerie. Another important point that foreign brand has to keep in mind is Chinese women have a smaller slinkier build compared to European women.
How to market luxury lingerie in China?
The Chinese lingerie market is very competitive and fragmented. Many solutions exist depending on your needs and target consumers. Foreign brands can adopt the right digital marketing tool to lure Chinese consumers. In this article, we select some digital marketing strategies able to help you:
E-commerce in China as your entry gate
Generally, Chinese consumers are quite shy when they have to buy some lingerie, so the online platforms help them to buy with more privacy. Nearly 73,5% of online buyers are between 20 and 39 years old. E-commerce sites like TMall and JD.com have a massive user database, large distribution channels, and trusted payment services. All these benefits make it easier for both local and international brands to reach more and more Chinese consumers. But the major problem of e-commerce sites in China is a loss of brand value.
However, retail stores provide new brands with a high level of customer service and help to educate new shoppers and keep them engaged. The major difficulty is to fix the right locations in order to get more visibility and reach potential customers. Opening a big store in Beijing or Shanghai means your brand will only be present in one location. If you are a new brand and unknown in China, you have to quickly build a strong online reputation because Chinese customer doesn’t buy brands, but they buy trust.
WeChat informative push/message is an asset
Your promotional message could help you to define your distribution channels and pricing strategy. There are some strong strategies available to luxury lingerie retailers. These strategies include:
- Sexy/Romantic (affordable or expensive)
- Pure and Innocent (affordable or expensive)
- Great Comfort (affordable)
Chose wisely your communication channels
China is the largest world-connected country, so when Chinese customers want to get some information about a brand, they just used social media platforms or KOLs. Using the correct promotional channels will help to reach your right audience. For efficient digital marketing in China, you have to use some Chinese media platforms, it’s unavoidable. Some of the key Channels include Weibo, WeChat, niche sites, and KOLs using multiple channels….
With nearly 1,1 billion active users, WeChat is the most popular social media in China, and brands have the opportunity to open a Wechat account for more stay more connected to their customers. Weibo, with 520 million active users, is also an important promotional channel to not neglect in China.
Influencers: they may help to spend your brand DNA
Don’t forget the KOLs. It’s the new marketing trend. They have millions of followers and they can really influence the Chinese customer’s decisions. The average Chinese luxury lingerie consumer spends $400-500 per year on luxury lingerie, which means pricing strategies are very important if you want to reach more Chinese customers. Being aware of consumers’ disposable income will help with your pricing strategy.
Find the perfect strategy for your brand
Now, Chinese customers are ready to spend more money to get luxury lingerie with a fashionable design and quality. But, because of the complexity of this new market, the consumers are looking for a direction. So it is the perfect time for lingerie brands to enter the Chinese lingerie market.
With the right marketing strategy, maybe you can be the next big brand in China. As an agency, we can help you set and develop your digital marketing strategy thanks to various services, such as distribution consulting, business development, branding, social media marketing… with strong knowledge and experience with e-commerce (TMall, Taobao, JD.com, WeChat…) we are able to help you conquer the Chinese market.
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