China is a complicated market, where consumers know what they want and what they do not want, tells marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok. She says that finding the right channel is the start of a complicated process.
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Get in touch or fill out our speakers’ request form.
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Increasingly global brands not only look at China as a potential market but also as a guide on how they can use the country’s digital transformation for their global ambitions, writes marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok on her website Chozan. “By this year, China’s digital transformation sector is expected to reach $221.95 billion. It is forecasted by Mordor Intelligence to expand to $410.67 billion by 2029, with an annual growth rate of 13.1% over these years,” she writes.
Ashley Dudarenok:
Companies everywhere are looking to China for digital transformation lessons. It is now common knowledge that companies need digital transformation in order to cut costs and run efficiently in the modern age. It involves streamlining processes and the adoption of new technologies. But why China specifically?
By this year, China’s digital transformation sector is expected to reach $221.95 billion. It is forecasted by Mordor Intelligence to expand to $410.67 billion by 2029, with an annual growth rate of 13.1% over these years.
China’s digital transformation involves adopting advanced technologies like AI, 5G, IoT, and big data to modernize its economy and society. This includes integrating these technologies into traditional industries to create efficient and innovative business models.
The transformation focuses on building digital infrastructure, enhancing services, and fostering tech-driven innovation across sectors like finance, healthcare, and urban management, aiming to drive economic growth and establish China as a global tech leader.
Over 50% of thriving global companies incorporate outsourcing into their delivery strategies, according to Deloitte. 72% prioritize digital transformation, and 55% utilize unified enterprise platforms like ERP3 or SAP/4HANA.
Data migration and generative AI are becoming major growth areas. Remarkably, 80% of global business leaders believe generative AI will boost their business efficiency.
Last year, China announced its comprehensive plan for digital development, aiming to make significant strides towards building a “Digital China” by 2025 and to lead globally in digital innovation by 2035.
In 2023, China’s total data output hit 32.85 zettabytes, marking a 22.44% year-on-year increase. Additionally, core digital economy industries contributed 10% to the GDP, as highlighted in the latest Digital China development report from the NDA released last Friday.
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
Are you looking for more experts on China’s digital transformation? Do check out this list.
Customer centricity is key in a competitive markets, more than customer friendliness, says marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok on her weblog. “China’s approach to customer centricity has been transformative, driven by a combination of technological integration and a deep understanding of consumer behavior,” she writes.
Ashley Dudarenok:
At the core of customer centricity is the focus on meeting customer needs. By truly understanding and fulfilling customer expectations, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction. Improved customer satisfaction brings numerous benefits, including increased customer loyalty and retention.
Satisfied customers are more likely to become brand advocates and provide positive word-of-mouth referrals, contributing to the growth of the business. Moreover, businesses that prioritize customer satisfaction create a distinct competitive advantage by differentiating themselves from rivals.
Hgh levels of customer satisfaction lead to a higher likelihood of customer forgiveness in the event of occasional service issues or mistakes. When customers feel valued and their needs are consistently met, they are more understanding and forgiving of any shortcomings.
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Would you like her to be at your meeting or conference? Contact us or fill out our speakers’ request form.
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E-commerce expert Sharon Gai explains how AI is helping her industry transform challenges into opportunities, speaking at Mike Allton’s podcast on strategic marketing with AI. Gai has extensive experience in China and uses her insights to help e-commerce stay competitive in a fast-changing industry.
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China’s eateries have been slashing their prices up to half to woo consumers, but marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok warns that this trend might hurt the businesses, as their costs do not go down, she tells Channel News Asia. Business models and their effects do vary a lot, depending on the age group the industry is focusing on, she adds.
Channel News Asia:
The current trend of affordability is not a passing phase, and is a response to significant shifts in the market, said Ms Ashley Dudarenok, founder of China-focused digital consultancy ChoZan.
At the same time, she noted that consumer preferences in the Chinese F&B market vary significantly depending on the individual and the age group…
In the first quarter of 2024, around 460,000 restaurants were deregistered or had their licences revoked, with around a 230 per cent year-on-year increase in restaurant closures. In March alone, 180,000 establishments shut their doors.
China’s high-end catering sector has been hit the hardest since 2023, noted Ms Dudarenok. She cited the decrease in business banquets, declining foot traffic in shopping malls and reduced discretionary spending as reasons.
Long-term leases are compounding pressures, she added.
“It is difficult to achieve cost reductions from the decrease in commercial real estate rent in the short term. With these pressures, in 2024, news of well-known restaurants closing down became frequent.”
High-end dining casualties this year include several known Western restaurants such as Refer in Beijing and TIAGO. The former closed its doors for good on New Year’s Day, while the latter closed suddenly in April, leaving customers unable to redeem their prepaid balances and some employees with unpaid wages.
Located in Beijing, Michelin-starred Italian restaurant Opera Bombana abruptly shut down in April as well. It was later revealed that the restaurant had defaulted on rent.
Still, China’s F&B industry remained resilient overall, official data suggests. National revenue reached 460.9 billion yuan in June, a 5.4 per cent year-on-year increase. From January to June, the sector generated a total of 2.62 trillion yuan, a 7.9 per cent year-on-year rise.
New endeavours have also been sprouting up. Among the nearly 15.73 million catering enterprises nationwide, more than 4.1 million were newly registered in 2023, with private firms accounting for over 80 per cent, industry data shows.
“New entrants face higher barriers, needing to excel in product, pricing, supply chain and management to succeed. This has led to an accelerated ‘survival of the fittest’ landscape, where strong companies strengthen their positions while weaker ones struggle,” said Ms Dudarenok.
For instance, Shanghai-based fast food retailer Yum China – which operates brands like KFC and Pizza Hut in China – posted record-high Q2 revenue at US$2.68 billion, up by 1 per cent year-on-year, despite “challenging industry dynamics”…
Existing F&B players are finding ways to adapt, noted Ms Dudarenok – such as opening up to franchising, or expanding abroad in the hopes of breaking into new markets.
While there are clear benefits, these come with significant challenges as well, Ms Dudarenok pointed out.
“(Franchising) allows for faster expansion with less financial pressure compared to direct operation. However, it demands higher standards in supply chain management and franchisee oversight,” she said.
Meanwhile, expanding overseas requires adapting to different culinary cultures and preferences, and involves extensive market research and localised product adjustments.
Mr Zipser from McKinsey said exploring new revenue streams and incorporating local flavours in their offerings are among the innovations which can help chains stay competitive, coupled with a strong social media presence.
Ms Dudarenok highlighted the growing domestic consumer appetite for creative dining experiences. She cited examples in cities such as Luoyang, which introduced immersive dining events in the summer such as a beer festival and the “Luohun Whole Fish Feast” cooking competition…
Existing F&B players are finding ways to adapt, noted Ms Dudarenok – such as opening up to franchising, or expanding abroad in the hopes of breaking into new markets.
While there are clear benefits, these come with significant challenges as well, Ms Dudarenok pointed out.
“(Franchising) allows for faster expansion with less financial pressure compared to direct operation. However, it demands higher standards in supply chain management and franchisee oversight,” she said.
Meanwhile, expanding overseas requires adapting to different culinary cultures and preferences, and involves extensive market research and localised product adjustments.
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
Are you looking for more consumer experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.
Marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok dives into 40 years of marketing innovation that has put China in a leading role right now. A showreel giving an overview of Ashley’s amazing career and deep involvement with leading companies, both foreign and domestic, in China.
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form
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China marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok discusses her success in supporting companies selling in China in a new Growth Tactics podcast by Jeff Towson. “China is a big country,” says Ashley Dudarenok, “but what’s trending in Shanghai today? How can I make my post, my message? Connected with that broader topic that is featured in the media or in on a specific platform et cetera.”
Ashley Dudarenok:
So, what’s trending in, not just China, China is a big country, but what’s trending in Shanghai today? How can I make my post, my message? Connected with that broader topic that is featured in the media or in on a specific platform et cetera.
And of course, again, the community, but in China on the digital space, the community is coming in a form of a private traffic. So, you have your own private group, right? People connect with you on WeChat, then you put them in a group and then you continue communicating. Because, you know, Paper play in China is very expensive, right?
You, every time you want to reach out to your consumer on Douyin or on Tmall or wherever else you need to pay, but once you loop them in your private traffic. So, in my own business, it is a newsletter, right? It’s something that we own. We own those, those, those. Many, many, many [00:16:00] thousand people’s emails and we can communicate with them whenever we choose to, unless they unsubscribe.
In China, that works as a part of a WeChat group, let’s say, or a Tmall group, etc. And that is the community that you are building. When it comes to the client’s growth that come for Chozan, yeah, very often they, as we said, learn for China, learn from China. They come with research needs or they come with market immersion, or this kind of learning expedition needs or they come for a keynote.
Yeah, they want me to talk to their top leaders about what’s actually happening here. How to learn and how to operate, you know, with it and from it. So typically, these clients grow through partnerships. Very often they come into the market and they see that, oh my God, there’s actually a lot of opportunities to partner up with local firms.
Or very often also get inspired. Their leaders just being in the market, just understanding it better, they get inspired and they can take those inspirations back home and do things differently. We recently had [00:17:00] a team that came to China to see what is considered trendy and hip. And they saw a lot of designs, they saw artists, they met, you know, they met the community that is not related to business.
So, in other words, they were not talking to distributors, right? But they were talking with artists and young people and DJs and all that. And these people took away inspiration. from China for their global collection. So, in other words, they put together clothing and shoes inspired by some of these global trends, including China as a piece of the puzzle.
And the collection is doing very well, very well. And this whole initiative that they had kind of learned from around the world, being inspired by, by different things. They don’t only come to China. They’ve been to many other places in Asia and. Latin America before, et cetera. But this is, I think, a very fit mindset of a global multinational enterprise that actually gets you to constantly [00:18:00] grow and constantly expand.
And once again, to highlight, you always grow with the market, with your customer and the moment the market stagnates, the moment your customers do not push you, you stop innovating. So put yourself in situations where you’re forced to constantly move forward and innovate.
More at the Jeff Towson podcast.
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
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Hong Kong-based marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok explains how she became what she is today at the Hong Kong women’s magazine Jessica: A Leading Voice in selling in China—a snippet of her insights: the blueprint for success.
Jessica:
Money as Energy: Investing Beyond the Balance Sheet
Ashley perceives money as more than a mere financial metric or symbol of success; she views it as a form of energy.
“Money is pure energy, money is nothing but energy. The energy is given to me not just to give me comfort… when I have a use case, I know what to do with this money, how am I going to contribute even bigger to the world.”
Her contemplation of money’s role is both philosophical and pragmatic, acknowledging the nuanced relationship women often have with finances. Ashley recognizes that cultural and familial influences deeply affect our financial mindset and behaviors from an early age, particularly for women, and how these can dampen financial aspirations. By conceptualizing money as “pure energy,” Ashley reframes the discourse from accumulation to purposeful distribution, from personal wealth to societal contribution.
Ashley envisions money as a means to empower and create positive change, transcending personal luxury to foster broader societal benefits. Her stance is clear: money is a vehicle for fulfilling potential and serving the community, not just an end goal.
Moreover, Ashley aligns her financial strategies with core values like enjoyment, value creation, and profitability. These principles guide her business choices, ensuring alignment with her identity and long-term vision. This approach marries personal satisfaction with business acumen, redefining financial success as the capacity to innovate, make a difference, and uplift one’s community.
Looking ahead, Ashley emphasizes adaptability and the pivotal role of education:
“The latest statistics said that a Gen Z in China today in their lifetime will likely change 12 careers… what do you need in order to be so agile? Education.”
She underscores lifelong learning as essential for thriving in an ever-evolving career landscape.
The Legacy of Empowerment
Ashley’s narrative weaves a vision where innovation is nurtured, diversity is embraced, and growth is relentless. The space she has created transcends the physical confines of her agency, fostering a mindset of empowerment that resonates with every individual she influences. Her story serves as a blueprint for change, a testament to the transformative power of asking the right questions. It is a journey of profound self-discovery that unfolds when one dares to pursue the answers.
Ashley’s path illustrates how curiosity can ignite passion and conviction. By challenging conventions and forging new templates for women in business, her leadership celebrates collaboration, mentorship, and talent cultivation. Ashley reframes limiting mindsets around gender and money, championing authenticity and education as drivers of success. With an unrelenting focus on growth and innovation, she leverages her expertise to guide brands into the complex Chinese marketplace.
Ashley’s courage to take the entrepreneurial leap, despite risks, ignites a call to action for others to fearlessly pursue their purpose and potential. Her inspirational journey empowers women to become trailblazers in their own right, turning curiosity into conviction.
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
Are you looking for more stories by Ashley? Do check out this list.
Marketing guru Ashley Dudarenok released today – together with co-author Ron Wardle – their book Innovation Factory: China’s Digital Playbook The two examine China’s digital transformation and its unique e-commerce and share what Western brands can learn to boost innovation, increase competitiveness, and foster a brighter future. You can read the press release here.
“China’s rapid economic reinvention has been nothing short of miraculous, but that reinvention has faced criticism that the country is good at manufacturing but not at innovating,” said Ashley Dudarenok, founder of the China-focused digital consulting firm, ChoZan. “It’s clear that China has proven those critics wrong, and in Innovation Factory, we showcase how China has been able to jump into the digital age with less baggage with the game-changing mobile phone, do it at speed, and keep up the pace to get it where it is today.”
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
Are you looking for more marketing experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.
Hong Kong-based marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok dives into the lessons to learn from China and the future of retail in China, together with Kathryn Read. How did she start off in China, and evolved into one of the leading voices for both Chinese and foreign companies?
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
Are you looking for more marketing experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.
Social commerce is expected to grow exponentially until 2023 in North America, Europe, and Latin America, following the trends of market leader China, writes marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok. In Techn0de she describes three trends in social commerce brands have to know.
Ashley Dudarenok:
This year, it’s anticipated that social commerce will generate global sales of more than $1 trillion. And when it comes to social commerce, China is the market that stands out. Social commerce has expanded rapidly in the country, with a 40.25% increase in market size between 2021 and 2023. Between 2021 and 2025, the size of China’s market is anticipated to increase at a rate of 17% per year. …
Co-creating together with consumers is one of those trends, and Dudarenok looks at the example of Yili.
Brands can engage users on social media platforms by allowing them to interact or co-create engaging content as part of an effective strategy for increasing product promotion and awareness. This technique not only creates a user community but also increases brand visibility and engagement.
Take, for example, the milk brand Yili. Yili asked consumers to participate in a packaging design contest aimed at football enthusiasts to increase engagement and sales during the 2022 World Cup. Customers who spent a particular amount on items were entered into a lucky draw as part of the promotion.
As a result, visibility and sales increased significantly. The campaign received over 27.24 billion Weibo impressions and resulted in a 12.1% increase in sales, illustrating the potential of user participation and co-creation in brand promotion.
In light of this, fast-moving consumer goods brands can consider employing similar techniques by inviting consumers to co-create content during popular events, festivals, or marketing campaigns. This could involve a wide range of activities that tap into the creative potential of the consumer base.
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
You can get here the CHINA SOCIAL COMMERCE REPORT 2023.
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Economic recovery in China has been modest since the country emerged from the Zero-Covid crisis, and marketing will only be on track in 2024, rather than 2023, says marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok at CNBC.
CNBC:
Businesses in China are spending cautiously on advertising this year as local consumption isn’t expected to bounce back for a while yet.
Marketing revenue rose in the first three months of 2023 for several Chinese internet giants — but not Alibaba, the largest of them all by dollar value. That’s on a year-on-year basis.
Heading into the 618 shopping festival this month, brands remain cautious.
“For 618, generally of course brands will be trying, but compared to before it’s a bit more tired,” said Ashley Dudarenok, founder of ChoZan, a China marketing consultancy.
“We know it takes exactly the same amount of money to bring the customer into your shop today versus 2021, but the customer is going to spend about 30% less in your shop,” she said…
In the first quarter, the median disposable income of urban residents in China was officially 12,175 Chinese yuan ($1,739), up 3.9% from a year ago. Education, health care and travel were the top three categories for planned spending, a central bank survey found.
“The general consensus in the industry is that 2024 is going to be the year of growth and rebound,” Dudarenok said. “2023, let’s just get out of the downturn, stay connected with the platforms, with the customer,” she said.
Dudarenok noted that ad agencies are also spending just to experiment with search engines. Baidu and Microsoft’s Bing have both been working with new generative artificial intelligence technology.
Ashley Dudarenok is a marketing expert at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
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Andrew Gaule discusses with marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok how China leapfrogged over the past 15 years in innovation and marketing, leaving many of the Western competitors behind, often forcing them to leave China.
Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
Are you looking for more innovation experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.
