The WHO, WHY, HOW, WHEN, and WHAT…

Who are Chinese consumers ?
With more than a billion residents, China is quickly shifting from a manufacturing hotspot to the new bastion of consumerism. Total household wealth is estimated to more than double to nearly $35 trillion by 2015. The nation will surpass Japan to become the country with the second highest household wealth in the world. Approximately 70% of all Chinese citizens will live in or near cities by 2015. This is a dramatic leap upwards from the 43% of urban dwellers recorded in 2006. This urbanization is helping fuel the growing ranks of wealthy Chinese. Chinese consumers are proving to be an elusive target, around ten million enter the market each year, and the behavior of the hundreds of millions already there is evolving rapidly. While in China more than 400 million people live on less than $2 a day, there is an emerging and fast growing elite class which shops at Armani, Gucci, Cartier, Ferrari, Bentley, and Hugo Boss. These are the high brand-conscious and prestige-oriented Chinese consumer segments who like to indulge in conspicuous consumption. These success-driven, educated, information savvy Generation Y Chinese are surprisingly loyal to Chinese values and culture but also open to Western ideas. They are good candidates for Western brands and are fashion-conscious. Tagged as one of the most valuable consumer group world-wide, spending by Chinese travelers is estimated to grow to more than $110 billion by 2015, up from $43 billion in 2010

Why should I market to Chinese consumers ?
The timing has never been better to market to Chinese consumers, especially by leveraging electronic channels. China is one of the fastest growing outbound travel markets in the world. Thanks to rapid urbanisation, rising disposable incomes and relaxations of restrictions on foreign travel, outbound trip volume has grown by an annual average of 20% since 2000 – reaching 58 million in 2010, and expected to reach over 100 million by 2015. China has the highest number of Internet users, with 440 million broadband consumers in April 2010. More interestingly, 92 aged 13 and above, contributed to social media. This compared to 76% of American broadband population. Forty-three percent of Chinese broadband users communicate via forums/discussion boards, are considered “heavy” social media contributors, meaning they participate in six or more activities and connect with at least 84 people on a “one to many” basis in a typical week. Research by ACNielsen has also shown that, within the 18-40 age group in the major cities, the market penetration level of internet users is 60-70% – and among university-educated Chinese, the level is over 90%. Further Chinese consumers heavily use the Internet to make their purchase decisions, while still using travel agents for final transactions for the most part due to convenience, including visa processing.

How should I market to Chinese consumers?
This is where we come in. We don’t replace the travel agent, either online or offline for transactions, but we increase the awareness of your brand by leveraging social media, and digital marketing. We make sure there is a buzz about your products and services via online influencer marketing and content penetration so that the Chinese consumer has made up their mind before going to the travel agent. China as a market is daunting and complex. The area of social media and digital marketing is still considered new and fast-changing. Leveraging emerging technologies and new media channels in China, especially for travel and tourism, is breaking new ground and requires expertise, relationships, and technology.

When is Convergence important ?
Chinese consumers heavily use the Internet to make their purchase decisions, while still using travel agents for final transactions for the most part due to convenience.  Travel agents in China, for the most part, recommend travel packages that they have either known for years and offer them the greatest incentive, if the consumer has no specific destination or hotel in mind. This is why it is vitally important for brands to be top of mind with Chinese consumers BEFORE they contact a travel agency. You don’t want to leave it up to the travel agent to recommend your brand by chance but educate the consumer to request your brand by choice. In order to start a conversation with consumers you need to have an engaging website where you can invite your potential customers to talk to about your brand and also listen to their feedback.  The second step is to leverage social media websites as a cloud to build various touch-points around the engagement platform, that drive traffic back to the website, but also spread the word about the brand, and start conversations.

What is our unique and award-winning approach ?
We apply strategic thinking and storytelling across a spectrum of communications execution in China to get brands noticed, get traffic to the new Chinese web site, build tourism brands and enhance reputation. Ultimately, our job is to help companies generate, and increase the amount of travelers, it’s that simple. Dragon Trail leverages its proprietary Multi-touch point Ring Strategy to develop a customized “China Online Marketing Platform” (COMP), which goes way beyond a traditional website. This engagement platform is the foundation for social media and digital marketing to execute Dragon Trail’s “China Influencer Marketing System” (CIMS), with the goal to capture permission-based targeted and relevant consumer data that will lead to a sustainable business to drive sales, compared to a campaign and advertising driven strategy, which will not be sustainable.