Digital Marketing in China

Live-stream commerce is a highly popular online shopping method in China where influencers (KOLs) demonstrate and sell products in real-time via video broadcasts. Viewers can ask questions and purchase products directly within the app (like Douyin or Taobao) without leaving the stream.

A Daigou is a personal shopper or cross-border exporter who buys goods overseas and sells them to customers in mainland China. Historically, Chinese consumers used Daigou networks to purchase authentic foreign luxury, cosmetic, and infant products to avoid high import taxes and ensure product safety.

The biggest shopping festival in China is Singles' Day (Double 11 / November 11th), pioneered by Alibaba. Another major event is the 618 Festival (June 18th) created by JD.com. These events generate billions of dollars in sales and are crucial campaign periods for foreign brands.

More than 1.4 billion Chinese are hungry to buy luxurious imported products like cosmetics, clothes and accessories, nutrition foods, and health products. You may ask yourself why they don’t simply buy these products in China? Well, in the categories of food, baby and health, foreign goods generally are associated with better quality. They are perceived safer due to stricter standards abroad. And on top, they add to the elite image of the Chinese buyer.

Chinese who want to buy foreign products have to travel abroad themselves, or purchase them through so-called Daigou. That’s someone who lives abroad, buys goods in bulk as a business-person and sells them in their online shops to China. Recently, cross border ecommerce platforms like Tmall Global, Kaola, JD Worldwide, and VIP.com have emerged and are offering exactly this service. Their users can be impressed with authentic and trustworthy influencer marketing.

While the global influencer marketing industry was worth about $8 billion USD in 2019 and estimated at $21 billion in 2023, it has since grown dramatically as brands increasingly shift spending toward creator-led strategies. By 2026, the global influencer marketing market is valued at roughly $40 billion, nearly doubling its size in just three years—a reflection of sustained high growth and expanding adoption across industries.

This remarkable expansion shows how consumer behavior continues to shift away from conventional advertising toward peer-driven recommendations and social commerce. Influencer campaigns are no longer just an experiment; they are considered a core, measurable performance channel by most marketing teams, with nearly three out of four marketers planning to boost their influencer budgets this year despite broader economic uncertainties.

A massive portion of this growth is driven by China, where influencer marketing and live-stream commerce are deeply integrated into retail journeys and social platforms. In fact, China's live streaming e-commerce sector alone is projected to surpass the $1.1 trillion mark by the end of 2026. With over 430 million Chinese consumers actively participating in live shopping, buyers heavily rely on Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and livestream hosts for trustworthy recommendations. This real-time, peer-to-peer influence plays a definitive role in purchasing decisions, making China the undisputed titan of the global influencer economy.

Unsurprisingly, people around the world—and especially in the Middle Kingdom—are experiencing traditional ad fatigue and increasingly trust authentic voices. Influencer-driven content now routinely triggers direct sales, as consumers look to creators for genuine insights, real-time demonstrations, and honest reviews rather than polished corporate brand messages.

Search Engine Optimization is abbreviated as SEO. It is the practice of using different strategies to show up higher in the results of a search engine, such as Google and Baidu. An SEO agency for China can help you to achieve a higher ranking for your website! In China as in the West, Search Digital Marketing is one of the best ways to get leads online.

Pay-per-click advertising on Baidu is one of the fastest and cost-effective ways to reach people who are searching for products and services in your niche. Together with search engine optimization for Baidu (SEO), where you improve your organic ranks, it efficiently puts your business in pole position. Especially for B2B Baidu PPC is probably the best China digital marketing solution.