There’s no doubt, live streaming is the king of the marketing realm.
Chinese addition to digital innovation is driving the growth of several enterprises around the world.
So, today we decided to talk about how live streaming is healing the wounds the pandemic caused to the travel industry. And, with regard to it, the latest news: Galeries Lafayette Live Streaming Tour addressed to Chinese consumers.
Also, we also would like to take this moment to mention another protagonist of the new virtual traveling era, e-commerce. French companies seem to have understood the strength of these main characters, let’s see why.
Alibaba partners with Galeries Lafayette
Galeries Lafayette and Alibaba worked together to offer a special experience to Chinese customers during the Christmas holidays. The idea reached the expected success and is a good example that western traveling destinations should consider for reemerging from the actual crisis.
More than 10 thousand users were connected via live streaming to see how Paris was magnificently decorated for Christmas and the numerous brands’ collaboration for the event.
So, as we already said, live streaming has been the tool connecting China to France, but where did the users virtually browse the live streaming?
The answer is Fliggy.
What is Fliggy?
Fliggy 飞猪 is Alibaba’s travel online platform that provides members with air tickets, hotels, travel routes, and other commodities. It was originally called Ali Travel, only later changed its name to “Fliggy”.
“Fliggy acts as a one-stop-shop for Chinese travelers to book global travel services, such as flights, train or ferry tickets, hotels, tourist attractions, shows, exhibitions, car rentals, restaurant reservations, visa services, and more. Our goal is to enable Chinese travelers to experience local lifestyles and discover new places around the world.” said the Fliggy team during an interview.
What are the advantages to partner with Fliggy?
There are already a lot of organizations on Fliggy and the Chinese know it, then habitually use it when they are traveling.
In addition, Fliggy belongs to the Alibaba group, so a brand that partners with it can leverage Alibaba’s technologies in eCommerce and payments.
Fliggy, a virtual bridge from China to the rest of the world
The Christmas event for Galeries Lafayette is just one of a series of live-streaming events, around 45,000!
In France, many other hallmarks participated in the traveling sessions, among these, the Louvre, Pompidou, and Palace of Versailles, while the British Museum in London has been the UK’s main character and the Spanish Prado Museum represents Spain in this digital revolution.
According to the Fliggy team, the live-streaming partnerships with European travel organizations have the purpose “to bring Europe to Chinese tourists and maintain the link”. This tool has a unique feature to let passionate travelers feel like traveling at home.
Why live streaming is so successful in China?
Even if Livestream seems a complicated marketing weapon, it isn’t at all.
Companies can conduct their Livestream event via smartphones, this makes the process not expensive and easy to manage. Also, it doesn’t require particular equipment or a special set-up.
We have a suggestion for you. With regard to the tourism sector, the Chinese love to listen to anecdotes or little-known stories about places. Because they like to feel special. Not by chance, the Palace of Versailles gave an exclusive two hours “VIP tour”, allowing users to virtually visit areas of the palace they cannot normally see in person.
in China, E-commerce can bring your customer to the mountain
“If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad then Muhammad must go to the mountain.”
There is a huge number of enthused travelers within China’s borders. Due to Covid 19, they cannot go abroad and bring home the souvenir from their foreign adventure or those luxury items that can be found only in that western cities.
However, the solution has immediately been found: more and more companies are present on e-commerce platforms to sell products to their Chinese consumers.
And even more interesting is to know that an increasing number of museums, also hotels, and other organizations in the tourism sector, have entered the e-commerce eco-system.
For instance, the Louvre will soon open a flagship store on Tmall, one of Alibaba’s e-commerce giants, and signed an agreement with another member of the Alibaba group, Alifish. The licensing platform Alifish, in fact, collected Alibaba users’ data in order to understand what the Louvre’s most loved masterpieces are.
These data will be used by international and Chinese brands to create items inspired by Chinese favorite artworks. Venus de Milo, Monna Lisa, and Victory of Samothrace have inspired new collections of luxury cosmetics brands.
Why should European tourist organizations enter the Chinese market?
“In the pre-COVID-19 era, China was Europe’s fastest-growing source market for international tourism with about 5 million Chinese tourists every year.
France, Italy, and Spain are among their favorite spots for holidays.
Chinese tourists also spend over 250 billion euros a year around the world.”
(Euronews)
Europe is one of the favorite Chinese travelers’ destinations as well as exotic islands like Thailand. According to a report by the China Tourism Academy, the Chinese made three million visits to European countries during the first half of 2019, with a YOY growth of 7.4%.
How can a tourist organization enter the Chinese market?
E-commerce and live streaming are the current most relevant trend to engage Chinese tourists and to inspire their next journey. However, there are many other digital platforms that companies are using to nurture their audience or achieve brand awareness.
Above all, less-known organizations, in particular, should enact omnichannel strategies if want to be found by Chinese people.
This means that to enter the Chinese market, travel organizations should consider being present in the following places:
- Chinese Social media like WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, Little Red Book, or travel-focus platform Maofengwo
- Chinese Search engines like Baidu, Sugou, and Qihoo360. We always suggest Baidu because it owns 70% of the market share.
- Chinese forums like Zhihu, which is connected to the Baidu search engine.
If your brand wants to build brand awareness, collaborations with KOLs, participation at famous events, and live streaming are the best solution. To promote and broadcast all these solutions, you can use social media and e-commerce platforms. Weibo is a great platform for this scope since is featured by an open network.
Social media are also important to nurture your audience, you can send a newsletter through WeChat, create a funny video using Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok), collaborate with KOCs (Key Opinion Consumers) on Little Red Book or Maofengwo, and much more.
A tourist organization also needs a Chinese website
As in western countries, websites are fundamental to making a brand more reliable. You need this kind of space also to leverage SEO and SEM strategies, that involve forums and search engines.
Read also: Marketing to Chinese tourists travelers
In conclusion, if you want to succeed in China you need to use an omnichannel strategy.
The more you are present online, the more you have a chance of being found by your potential consumers.
… and maybe a digital marketing agency?
We are…
GMA is a digital Tourist agency based in Shanghai with 7 years of successful experience in the China market.