A select group of influential online celebrities from China will arrive in Auckland next week as part of the ‘Walk Into Australia and New Zealand’ campaign, organised by leading turnkey e-commerce solutions provider Azoya and China’s leading online shopping guide SMZDM.
The ‘Walk Into Australia and New Zealand’ campaign is focused on building the bridge between Chinese online shoppers and Australian and New Zealand retailers by offering face-to-face interactions to help them understand the authenticity and reliability of ethical products from Australia and New Zealand.
Deterred by safety and quality issues with domestic products, particularly for healthcare and food supplements, Chinese consumers are increasingly looking to Australia and New Zealand to buy directly through cross-border e-commerce.
China’s e-commerce landscape is rapidly evolving, offering New Zealand brands and retailers a huge opportunity to take advantage of it. The campaign will help local brands and retailers develop more effective and rewarding channels in the dynamic China market, as well as better understand what Chinese consumers need and want.
As traditional marketing channels continue to lose their impact in acquiring new consumers in China, live streaming marketing and influential online celebrities, known in China as key opinion leaders (KOLs), are emerging as the channels employed by the local e-commerce industry. While the marketing influence of celebrities in the Western world is useful, KOLs in China have a very powerful influence over consumers. They mainly attract followers by being a trusted authority on a particular subject and gain credibility through a long history of interacting with those followers.
Leveraging high-profile bloggers and micro bloggers boasting millions of followers is a very effective strategy for brands and retailers to reach target audiences. Retailers can directly influence a large community and reach thousands or even millions of potential customers.
The 12 person delegation participating in the ‘Walk Into Australia and New Zealand’ tour – including four high-profile Chinese KOLs (selected from over 1,000 applicants) and editors from SMZDM – are participating in a series of online and offline events in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. They will experience production, supply, marketing, order fulfillment and customer service from the stores and warehouses of six of Azoya’s participating retail customers, which all have established ecommerce businesses in China. These include Pharmacy Direct, Net Pharmacy and Kiwi discovery in Auckland.
The delegation will also have the opportunity to meet with NZ leading health supplement manufacturers including Douglas Pharmaceuticals, Good Health, Nutra-Life and natural skin care brands Linden Leaves and Honey Collection.
In return, the KOLs will share their experiences online on SMZDM and other sources, potentially exposing participating retailers and brands to more than four million Chinese consumers. The tour will also be broadcast by professional editors on live streaming channels, giving Chinese consumers a glimpse into how their favorite products are packaged and distributed, and showcasing the quality of the products they plan to purchase. During the live streaming, purchase links will be pushed to users to place orders immediately. In addition, a local team in China will help promote the ‘Walk Into Australia and New Zealand’ tour to attract more users to participate.
“We’re really excited to be able to offer our healthcare retail partners such an amazing opportunity to strengthen their brands with Chinese consumers,” said Sylvia Wei, deputy managing director ANZ for Azoya. “China’s healthcare sector keeps developing at an astonishing rate, fueled by favourable demographic trends, continuing urbanization, an increasing disease burden, the overall economy’s healthy expansion and income growth. The campaign will help drive awareness of their quality healthcare products in China and take their e-commerce businesses to the next level.”
