Thanks to celebrity anecdotes, a luxury mattress priced at 2 million yuan has recently caught the attention of all Chinese. With countless consumers searching for the brand and going to offline stores to experience it and post their experiences on social media platforms. With this came an unprecedented rise in the Chinese bedding industry. This also shows how much Chinese people value their bedding products.
Huge Chinese bedding products market
The main consumers of Chinese bedding products have gradually shifted to young people – the 90 and 00 generation. and consumers’ willingness to purchase bedding has increased. in 2021, the sales scale of China’s bedding industry was 76.491 billion yuan, up 14.04% year-on-year. Thanks to the change of Chinese consumers’ bedding consumption habits and the increase of consumption frequency, the market revenue scale of China’s bedding industry has been growing steadily, and the industry has been running with good quality throughout the year.
(Data source: Zhiyan Information)
Chinese bedding industry: consumer profile
Women are still the main consumer of China’s bedding market, but consumers’ age is gradually getting younger. Bedding product brands are considering children’s and young generation’s and aesthetic preference and demands.
Today, the main consumption force of high quality and fashionable bedding products is no longer limited to residents of developed cities. Residents of small cities are gradually increasing their attention to the quality and brand of bedding products.
Chinese bedding industry: development trend
In China, the bedding industry keeps evolving. The concept of zen, health and perfection has been incorporated in design. Bedding products are no more daily commodities, but become technology-based and fashionable products. Brands are emphasizing on technology, product diversification, user experience and user satisfaction.
Chinese bedding industry:new materials and technologies
More and more Chinese consumers are attaching attention to whether the bedding products adopt new materials and new technologies. In the Chinese bedding product market, material is the foundation. If the fabric and material of bedding products integrate healthy and high-tech design, there is no doubt that it can win the love of Chinese consumers.
An expansion project in China? We can help you!
Chinese bedding industry: nature & green technology
As Chinese people’s environmental awareness improves, they put forward higher standards to bedding product manufacturers. This requires the bedding industry to adopt a green production process and care about the environment. The concept of sustainable development is slowly filtering into people’s minds.
Chinese bedding industry: fashion & character
In China, young people have become the main force of the bedding products; they tend to purchase fashionable products and value the brand’s design aesthetics and character. Bedding products’ brand image is incredibly important for the new generation in China.
Chinese bedding industry: technology & innovation
Today’s high technology and innovation usher the Chinese bedding industry in a new milestone. high tech and smart bedding products are winning large market share in China. Many bedding facilities are able to monitor users’ sleep information. Intelligent bedding accessories, such as musical pillows, temperature-adjustable blankets, sleep quality recording mattresses in China are now appearing in the market in China.
Future of Chinese bedding industry: Children bedding facilities
In China, children’s bedding products are not yet fully developed, but it is sure that the children’s bedding market will gradually become the” playing field” in the future’s. As more and more “post-80s” and “post-90s” become parents in China, their demand for children’s bedding products’ style, quality and environmental influence will also rise correspondingly.
How to promote bedding brands in China?
The Chinese bedding market size is huge and lucrative. International bedding brands need to impress consumers with their advantages.
However, it is not easy to enter the Chinese market. Not only do brands need to launch products that cater to Chinese consumers’ preference, but also need to understand Chinese culture and consumers’ psychology. First of all, It is of vital importance to know social platforms commonly used by Chinese people, which are completely different from those of other countries.
Which platforms are suitable for marketing bedding products in China?
The “seeding” (recommendation) platform: Little Red Book (RED)
Bedding products branding can not bypass Little Red Book. Little Red Book is the most trendy KGC/ “seeding” platform in China, similar to instagram, and it is very competitive in China. Users of Little Red Book are young, and they have a strong desire to share their life experiences and like pursuing high-quality life. (Click to learn more about Little Red Book’s platform)
In terms of advertising strategy and content creation, there are many gameplay for bedding product brands to experiment on Little Red Book. One of the most popular advertising practices is to encourage KOCs to explain their shopping or product testing experience, or to introduce the special features of a bedding product (we can call it “copywriting” on Little Red Book).
This is the most effective and cost-effective way to increase brand exposure on the Red Little Book’s KOC platform. Of course, besides cooperating with KOC/KOL, bedding product brands can also create their official accounts on Little Red Book and release engaging and interactive content regularly such as pictures or videos to accumulate followers.
Video marketing is very popular and competitive on Little Red Book. In addition to bedding product reviews, relevant topics such as house decoration, sleep quality, bedding recommendations for college dormitories and personalized bedding service all have wide discussion, which is very beneficial to bedding brands.
In addition, brands also need to pay extra attention to the use of long-tail keywords and use both search and information flow to expose traffic in Little Red Book.
WeChat: multi-functional integrated social platform in China
Another platform that is completely inescapable for bedding branding in China is WeChat, the largest social media platform in China. For Chinese consumers, a brand’s WeChat Official Account is a symbol of authority and trustworthiness. In other words, Chinese consumers are in the habit of treating the WeChat official account of brands as official websites. Indeed, Chinese consumers are not in the habit of using the official websites of brands to browse information and make purchases.
On WeChat Official Account, bedding brands are able to perform all service functions such as new product launch, brand PR, consumer coupon distribution, interactive activities, customer service and even purchase. And once consumers start following a brand’s official account on WeChat, they can receive information from the brand’s official account from time to time, which is very effective to increase user adherence.
Bedding brands need to explain their products’ advantages and unique functions to audiences. It is particularly important that bedding products need to impress users by adopting a wide variety of displaying forms such as video, photos or live-show etc. On WeChat, bedding product brands can highlight products’ characteristics by writing product introduction articles, creating videos and live shopping etc. Whatever the brand positioning (high-end/ mass market ), WeChat is a must-have platform for international bedding brands to establish their brand image among Chinese consumers.
TikTok (Douyin): largest interactive video marketing platform in China
Another popular Chinese social media platform we have to mention is Douyin (TikTok China).
In China,Tik Tok (DouYin) has become a very mature platform for companies to promote their products. TikTok (Douyin) is very efficient in video campaigns and live commerce. On TikTok, normal users, KOL and celebrities can create and share content they like. So they can work with bedding brands, and share their feelings about brand’s products, forming an enormous brand exposure effect.
Besides, TikTok’s advanced traffic pool algorithm can analyze users’ preferences accurately. This function greatly reduces brands’ ads exposure costs, contributing to increase brand’s customer stickiness and developing potential markets.
International bedding brands need to showcase their products as perfectly as possible, and video is the most suitable media to achieve this purpose. On Tiktok, Brands need to adopt a unique brand tone to introduce products’ function and accumulate followers gradually by interacting with them frequently.
On Tiktok, whatever is the brand’s character and its positioning, as long as its product can impress users, the brand will soon become popular. Therefore, for international bedding brands, Tiktok is an indispensable “base camp” to impress and win customers’ hearts.
How to sell bedding products in China?
In China, there are two distribution channels for bedding products: offline and online.
Off-line channels (still with great advantages)
Bedding products’ main distribution channels are wholesale markets and department stores.
Distributors: Generally speaking, Chinese distributors have their own sales channels. Experienced distributors can take advantage of their network and penetrate into different markets (high-end/mass market/ shopping mall, large supermarkets or home furnishing retail stores) quickly. To work with distributors, brands can not only have fewer detours, but also shorter time to take a larger market share.
Department store: mainly sell middle and high-end bedding brands.
Shopping malls: sell ordinary products to attract working-class consumers.
Sales method:counter sales or self-selection.
Brand stores: At present,the form of brand stores are mainly adopted by international brands, mostly located in big cities. Branding stores help to present brand image and provide customers with testing experience.
Malls, supermarkets and chain stores: low operating costs and price.
Wholesale market: the wholesale market is the place for bedding manufacturers and distributors to select products. The wholesale market takes the largest market share in China.
Online distribution channel: E-commerce platforms
Jingdong International
Jingdong International is a branch of Jingdong Group, mainly engaged in cross-border import business, and it has won a high reputation among Chinese consumers for its efficient logistics and customer service. Jingdong International has attracted nearly 20,000 brands with nearly 10 million SKUs, and its product categories include fashion, mother and child, nutrition and health care, personal care & beauty and imported food. Jingdong International works with international brands from more than 70 countries and regions, including the United States, Korea, Japan, Australia, France and Germany.
Jingdong self-operated store
Jingdong self-operated store’s goods are purchased, transported and sold by Jingdong itself, and such goods will have the label of “self-operation” on their product pages. Jingdong self-owned products are generally shipped by Jingdong and Jingdong provides after-sales service. Brands can enjoy the logistics and after-sales service of Jingdong self-operated stores.
Jingdong brand flagship store
The brand or Jingdong’s exclusive licensee can create their brand flagship store on the Jingdong platform. Jingdong charges an annual fee, except for managing merchants and customer services (refunds, complaints, etc.), and Jingdong is not involved in store operations.
Tmall International
Tmall Global, the import retail platform of Alibaba, is the most trusted platform for Chinese consumers to buy imported products. Up to now, more than 29,000 overseas brands from 87 countries and regions have entered Tmall International, covering more than 5,800 categories, with more than 80% of them entering China for the first time. For personal care and beauty products, Chinese consumers prefer to purchase on the Tmall platform.
Tmall International provides two cooperative modes for international bedding product brands:
Tmall self-operated store: Brands sell their products to Tmall as suppliers, and Tmall is responsible for the sales and service of the products.
Tmall official flagship store: The brand opens its own official flagship store in Tmall and pays a fee for the brand to control the e-store creation, management and store operation.
Overall, the Chinese bedding market is quite attractive for its huge consumer base and diverse needs. Many bedding brands are rushing to enter the Chinese market. Meanwhile, many bedding brands disappear from the view of Chinese people due to the lack of appropriate marketing methods. Therefore, international bedding brands must seize the opportunity to enter the Chinese market as early as possible.
Want to learn more about the Chinese bedding product market and learn about the latest industry news in China ? Don’t hesitate to contact us. STAiiRS Chinese digital marketing experts are at your service.
Recent Comments