In “Chinese Whispers”, we share the biggest news stories about the luxury industry in China that haven’t yet made it into the English language.
In this week’s edition, we discuss:
- The overuse of social media influencers in marketing and branding,
- Social commerce app Redbook's layoff rumor, and
- JD.com Toplife's new development.
1. Consumers are tired of "inauthentic" and "cheesy" influencer marketing -#
Jiemian#
For many brands, influencer advertising is now a staple part of any marketing campaign. But apparently, consumers are no longer just going to "buy buy buy" whatever online influencers recommend, an opinion piece published by the Chinese news publication Jiemian on August 8 states. Citing statistics from research agencies, the article says consumers are growing sick and tired of fake influencer marketing content on social media sites.
2. Founder of Redbook denies mass layoff rumor - Sohu#
Earlier this week, China's social commerce platform Redbook was reportedly undergoing a corporate restructuring, planning to lay off about 50 percent of its employees in the e-commerce department over the next three months.
On August 10, founder Zhai Fang denied this rumor in a public statement. She said the company was still expanding, having hired 133 new employees in July. Since January of this year, the number of employees in the e-commerce department has also doubled, according to Fang.
3. JD.com's app will add a new link to the exclusive TopLife luxury portal - Ebrun#
Ding Xia, Vice President of JD.com and Director of TopLife recently announced that JD.com's official app will now include a direct entrance to TopLife, JD.com's luxury portal, in order to attract more traffic. However, not all JD shoppers will have access to TopLife; only those who have demonstrated enough interest and spending power for luxury goods in the past will be able to see the link.
