Westwin Shares Findings in Upcoming Cross-Border Report at the Shanghai International Advertising Festival

Westwin, a leading tech-driven cross-border marketing company, was recently invited to join the opening ceremony forum of the Shanghai International Advertising Festival. Leslie Chu, Westwin's CRO, shared insights and new findings in the company's upcoming research report on cross-border consumption of Chinese consumers. Recognizing Westwin's performance and efforts in the cross-border marketing sector, the company was also awarded as the best agency to help Chinese companies go global at the event.

The new cross-border consumption report examines consumption behaviors in cross-border e-commerce, tourism, education, and real estate scenarios over the past two years with analyses on the Chinese customers in cities of different tiers who often shop overseas. The upcoming report is a continuation to Westwin's signature "Cross-border Consumption of Chinese Consumers" report released in 2018.

Westwin's 2020 report, which is set to be released this month, reveals that the cross-border e-commerce sector saw an uptick trend over the last two years with peaks at the fourth quarters of 2018 and 2019, given large amount of year-end promotions and shopping festivals, as Chu cited the report. The report shows that due to the pandemic, Chinese consumers purchased more healthcare products to improve their immune system. The consumption pattern of cosmetics, skincare and luxury products painted a very different picture, with only a half of the consumers willing to buy more while the rest tend to save money because of the economic uncertainties. For cross-border tourism, the market penetrated lower cities, with the customers in third- and fourth-tier cities contributing to a 160% increase.

In order to better understand consumer behaviors, the 2020 report teases out four groups of consumers who are easily drawn to overseas shopping. The first group is young mothers in third- and fourth-tier cities, although they often don't have a relatively high income. But thanks to lower living costs and financial support from parents, they have more disposable income and spare time. Most of them are heavy social media users who love to share what they buy from overseas on WeChat. They tend to shop on impulse and cannot resist the lures of discounts, especially when it comes to luxury products.

Meanwhile, single working women in their 30s living in first- and second-tier cities shop differently, the report suggests. Financially independent and seeing outfits as part of their identities, they typically go for international niche brands to avoid outfit clash. They shop rationally for luxury products but would only buy inexpensive accessories they like.

As for high-income households, women are usually the main shoppers in the family and spend over CNY$100,000 annually on cross-border shopping, including skincare, apparel and accessories, handbags and home appliances, according to the report. They are often well educated and have overseas study experience. They put lots of efforts on their children and like to send them to overseas summer camps or study tours. Meanwhile, men in households, who earn over CNY$1 million annually, often don't have much desire for shopping but like to spend money on investment and buying properties.

In general, the report shows that women remain the driving forces of cross-border consumption in China and online influencers are still a strong factor for boosting cross-border consumption. Moreover, penetration to lower-tier cities and "cute culture" are the new trends in China's consuming market.

About Westwin

Westwin, formerly known as Microsoft Online (MSN China), is a leading technology-driven digital marketing company that focuses on cross-border business. It provides branding strategies and digital marketing solutions to help customers achieve success in China and around the world. Westwin is a certified marketing & advertising partner of Baidu, Tencent WeChat, Sina Weibo, and many other major digital platforms in China. With years of experience in cross-border business and partnership growth, Westwin is equipped with the knowledge and expertise to take businesses to the next level in overseas markets.