CHINA. Online marketing and enterprise data solutions provider iClick Interactive Asia has just released the latest edition of its guide to Chinese travellers, with key insights into Chinese travel and consumption trends.
Titled ‘A Practical Guide to Engaging with Chinese Travelers: China Travel Retail Market Facts and Tips to Know [2023 Edition]’ the publication was digitally released on 8 May with a press launch on 9 May at TFWA Asia Pacific in Singapore.
Now available for download (click here for access), the report allows global travel retail stakeholders to look up facts about Chinese travel retail, highlighting the dos and don’ts of marketing products and services to Chinese travelling consumers.
It zooms in on China’s travel retail market through a marketing lens – introducing local digital platforms that can be leveraged by brands and travel retailers alike and highlighting key areas that marketers need to know about when selling and advertising in the country.
As the global economy improves and international travel bounces back post-pandemic, the publication shares a positive outlook on the development of China’s travel retail industry. The Chinese market has shown remarkable resilience through a rise in domestic tourism, government duty free incentives in Hainan, the development of travel retail in tier one cities, both new and existing, and novel modes of travel retail which emerged in the wake of the pandemic, iClick notes.
Hainan continues to emerge as a major luxury consumption hub. In 2022, the province continued to open new cargo routes to build on the supply of duty free goods on the island and opened the world’s largest stand-alone duty free facility: China Duty Free Group (CDFG)’s cdf Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex.
As part of the government’s 14th five-year plan, China will develop several international consumer cities alongside policies encouraging Chinese outbound tourists to shop domestically. In-city duty free stores provide significant advantages in terms of rental prices and distance availability, with an estimated compound annual growth rate of +72.5% between 2019 and 2023, the report says.
Travel data in the report indicates that domestic travellers have adapted to the new normal by opting for shorter, closer and more frequent outdoor trips. While the average travel radius for holidays decreased in 2022, long-distance travel has gained popularity as restrictions eased, with Chengdu, Beijing and Shanghai being the top three air travel destinations during the recent Chinese New Year period. Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong were the top three outbound destinations.
The research by iClick uncovered pandemic-period travel trends that will most likely persist. There is an increased appeal for outdoor sports and leisure activities, such as skiing and camping. In particular, Gen Z has become the key driver for travel consumption, playing a significant role in boosting glamping across China.
The guide presents a comprehensive analysis of China’s online duty free ecosystem, mapping out the consumer journey for local travel retail. China is a mobile-first country where digital platforms are used extensively by travelling consumers, from pre-trip research to post-trip reviews and sharing. This has encouraged major technology and duty free groups to forge local partnerships to envision efficient and effective solutions that cater to the needs of the modern traveller.
Emphasising the prominence of the phy-gital trend in travel retail, the report focuses on creating seamless shopping experiences for consumers. It notes that duty free retailers have leveraged new technologies such as AR and live streaming to attract customers’ attention and increase brand awareness.
WeChat Mini Programs have also proven to be valuable in reviving sales and reaching customers in their homes. CDFG has developed a series of mini programs that retargets existing customers and reaches out to those unable to travel to Hainan due to the pandemic.
According to iClick, the outlook for China’s travel retail industry is promising, with total duty free consumption predicted to reach RMB614 billion (US$88 billion) by 2025.
Highlighting reasons to be optimistic about the future of the industry, the publication refers to a variety of factors driving growth: the pilot programme in place for outbound group travel to 20 countries; Hainan’s offshore duty free sales registering steady growth; substantial rise in Chinese travel during the Chinese New Year; government support policies that will incentivise duty free retail consumption; and the establishment of in-city duty free stores, which enjoy competitive advantages over airport duty free locations. ✈
Images from the iClick Interactive workshop at TFWA iLab: ‘Engaging New Wave Chinese Traveling Consumers Through Digital Marketing’
