How to best connect and engage with the Australian Chinese consumer

The typical Chinese customer requires eight touchpoints before they buy – compared with just four for Western shoppers, according to McKinsey China.

This fact was highlighted at the Polaris Beauty Seminar, where leading beauty brands and marketing teams came together to discover and learn more about the current Australian Chinese beauty, makeup and skincare landscape.

Hosted by Polaris Media Group, one of Australia’s most influential and popular lifestyle media platforms among the Chinese community, and Polaris Talent, the event showcased insights on how to best reach and interact with Australian Chinese consumers.

Speakers at the event included Polaris Media Group Founder and CEO Jessica Yue, Influencer Relations Lead Melody Chen and Head of Strategy Rihanna Duan.

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A post shared by JESSICA YUE 乐章 (@jessicayue007)

Jessica spoke about a variety of insights and trends when it came to Chinese consumers in Australia, including the best ways to boost local retail sales, strengthen existing customer relationships and build new ones and the different shopping mindsets between Australian and Chinese consumers.

Social media was a big focus of the seminar, specifically Little Red Book and WeChat.

Melody explained that Little Red Book (LRB) was a “not just a social media app, but a lifestyle search engine” that combined Instagram, Pinterest, Farfetch and Google.

LRB has 300 million registered users and 100 million monthly active users, with 400,000 daily active users in Australia, of which 80 per cent are female, according to QianGua 2021.

“LRB is a tool that can create the multiple touch points between brands and users,” Melody said. “Its algorithm is based on browsing habits, location, search history, interest and who you follow.”

Rihanna then highlighted the importance of WeChat, the number one social media platform in China, which boasts 1.0825 billion monthly active users with 700,000 active users in Australia

“Brands need to act at times when we know our audience is likely to be considering decision making,” she said.

The seminar also featured two guest speakers on a panel discussion – Claudia Crosby, former National Marketing Manager at La Mer, Jo Malone and Tom Ford Beauty and Founder of Curated, as well as Katy Eng, Head of Diverse at OMG, who shared their valuable experiences of marketing towards Australian Chinese consumers.

Key takeaways from the seminar:

Trusted Adviser – The Australian local Chinese market has a high demand in beauty and skincare products. A trusted adviser can help the brands to navigate through this market.
Multiple Approaches – Create continuous engagement by using WeChat publications, WeChat banners, Little Red Book Influencers and offline events or workshops.
Schedule Buying Moments – Embed the Chinese Key Consumption Periods (KCP) and Culture Moments in your future marketing plan – this allows you to capture retail moments where people are ready to buy.

The seminar was held at The Langham Sydney, over high tea. Images from the seminar below.