What you need to know

Mintel is very positive about the future of social commerce in China as Chinese netizens now are used to shopping for consumer goods online and favour shopping online. A piece of good news for social commerce players is that more respondents would choose them over traditional comprehensive shopping websites for future purchases. Nonetheless, it’s difficult to stand out from the crowd as both social media platforms and traditional e-commerce players are entering the battleground having witnessed the great potential of social commerce.

Social media platforms and e-commerce platforms are trying to include each other’s key function into their apps so that consumers can have a one-stop shopping experience for both shopping inspiration and final purchase. They have also both embraced livestreaming which has made product discovery experience more fun, interactive and efficient. Leading e-commerce platforms already have a first-mover advantage in terms of supply chain and logistics. In the meantime, they have established various rules and regulations to protect consumers’ rights and benefits. Social media platforms however, have a lot of ground to make up; there are no such assurances, especially when shopping from individual sellers. Social media platforms like WeChat and TikTok will need to address these issues to thrive in the social commerce market.

Covered in this Report

Social commerce as discussed in this Report is defined as e-commerce based on social media or using social interactions as the main source of business. It includes platforms that feature social interactions or content sharing besides e-commerce functions, on which registered merchants range from enterprise players as well as private sellers. Private dealers on Weibo/WeChat as well as public accounts/KOLs (key opinion leaders) who at some point start to market products or services once they’ve accumulated a certain number of followers are also included.

Sub-group definitions

Mintel divides consumers into three groups based on their monthly household income.

Tier one cities Tier two cities or below
Low personal income Below RMB6,000 Below RMB5,000
Middle personal income RMB6,000-9,999 RMB5,000-8,999
High personal income RMB10,000 and above RMB9,000 and above
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