92% of luxury brands are now on WeChat. Here’s how you can make the most of it

Photo credit: Sinchen Lin.

China is a land of limitless opportunities. While the number of luxury brands on WeChat has grown by 87 percent over the past two years, the industry still has much work to do when it comes to reaching Chinese consumers.

According to L2’s 2016 Luxury China Digital IQ Index, 92 percent of global luxury brands now have a WeChat account, marking a dramatic surge since 2014, when only around half of all brands had joined the platform. The popular messaging app is now on par with Weibo, which features accounts for 94 percent of luxury brands.

Interestingly, findings show that 77 percent of luxury brands opt for feature-friendly service accounts, yet less than 10 percent of luxury brands in both the fashion and watches/jewelry categories have links to ecommerce or WeChat payment.

Here’s a short summary of our report on the topic.

Part 1: Meeting the HENRY

What does HENRY mean and who are the HENRYs? HENRY stands for “High Earners, Not Rich Yet” and it represents a new demographic segment in China: the rising, young professionals who can afford to buy luxury goods and afford frequent travels. So how do we target them on WeChat?

Part 2: Why are beauty brands more advanced on WeChat?

Beauty products have a shorter product lifecycle that results in a larger database of followers, making it easier for brands to do CRM binding. By binding personal information (e.g. mobile numbers and emails), users will be able to gain insights into consumer behavior and send targeted messages, which is key to successful marketing campaigns on WeChat.

Part 3: How to maximize WeChat pages and 7 tips to increase engagement on HTML 5 campaigns

HTML 5 campaigns can be one of the most effective ways to engage your followers on WeChat. They can be held in various formats such as exhibitions, interactive games, and information collectors. Meanwhile, it is also important to follow our seven tips to increase engagement on your HTML 5 campaigns for better results!

Here’s our full report: