By Vogue Business

China’s growing prominence, coupled with an increasing appetite for luxury, continues to carve out a high-end playing field for brands and consumers alike. The Chinese market is projected to account for 35 to 40 per cent of the global luxury goods market by 2030, according to consulting firm Bain. Despite fluctuation in the wake of the pandemic, this consistent growth has pushed luxury brands to accelerate their digital transformation. The advanced digital profile of the Chinese consumer has quickly given rise to Douyin, the sister app of TikTok in China, which is now an essential platform for the fashion industry. With a strong 73 per cent of Chinese luxury consumers on board, it has become a crucial tool for connecting with both new and existing audiences.

Ever since Dior graced the platform with an official Douyin account in 2018, a growing number of luxury brands have followed suit. Official data shows that in the first half of 2023, 66 per cent of the top 100 search words on Douyin were dedicated to brands — names like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Cartier and Bulgari experienced a surge in popularity. These user search trends have helped brands to rapidly gauge product demand and adapt assortments accordingly. The number of consumers buying luxury goods on the platform has also increased, with Douyin’s luxury GMV sharply rising by 254 per cent year-on-year in 2023.

There are three types of luxury consumers on Douyin: core, prospective and aspirational. In a cohort of more than 40 million, core customers tend to be sophisticated, white-collar middle-class shoppers with a penchant for fine watches and jewellery. Meanwhile, prospective buyers — the second largest group standing at 70 million — are “fashionistas” from top cities who favour handbags and clothes. Lastly, the 150 million-strong aspirational group mostly consists of Gen Z buyers with a preference for accessories and shoes.

Given the vast potential these target audiences deliver for luxury brands, there are five key marketing trends for achieving success on the Douyin platform.

Trend 1: Creating immersive and intimate experiences for digital shoppers

The rapid expansion of the digital environment has proven the online luxury customer experience particularly complex in China. Research by Deloitte shows how various digital touchpoints, content formats and e-commerce platforms have created a distinct luxury goods ecosystem.

Fifty-three per cent of Chinese luxury consumers have made online purchases, while short videos and live streaming are the two most important content types for discovering luxury items and businesses. Approximately one-third (34 per cent) believe the product description in short videos is more thorough than on other platforms, and over one-quarter (28 per cent) favour the richness of short video content. In contrast, 36 per cent value the immersive experience provided by live streams. As a result, creating powerful digital content has become increasingly important for luxury brands to not only build brand value but also convert sales.

Brands have increasingly adopted the practice of live streaming for sharing runway shows with Chinese audiences during international fashion weeks. For Spring/Summer 2023, renowned fashion houses, including Prada, Dior, Balenciaga and Gucci, chose to livestream their shows via Douyin. During the season’s four major fashion weeks — Paris, Milan, New York and London — over 6 billion views were accumulated on the platform. Live streaming has revolutionised the way brands connect with and attract customers, transcending the limitations of physical distance.

Last April, Louis Vuitton teamed up with Douyin to showcase its pre-fall 2023 collection. The platform took the opportunity to pilot a new feature that simplifies the process of following a brand’s official Douyin account during a live-streaming session. At the same time, Louis Vuitton dotted targeted ads throughout to reach its core audience while attracting interested customers to engage with the brand.

Following the pilot’s success, brands such as Fendi, Gucci and Loewe have also adopted the feature for their live streams. A single session can typically draw in over 10,000 followers. Saint Laurent has gone one step further: its show materials were meticulously recreated and strategically distributed across the platform, which met with an impressive 78 per cent growth in followers.

Video content possibilities have since evolved into multi-faceted content creation. For example, for its winter event, the #Cartiertempletour project showcased three iconic Cartier works on three screens. This elevated the brand’s holiday concept while simultaneously highlighting the intricate details of the products in a small-screen format.

Another successful approach has seen creative directors using Chinese social media platforms to establish close and direct connections with consumers, particularly younger viewers. Louis Vuitton Men’s Pharrell Williams opened his personal accounts on a number of Chinese social media platforms, including Douyin, during the maison’s pre-fall 2024 showcase in Hong Kong. Olivier Rousteing of Balmain and Lu Yan of Chinese fashion brand Comme Moi have recently launched official accounts on the platform.

Trend 2: Connecting to Chinese consumers’ cultural identity via localised content

One of the biggest mistakes brands make when entering new markets is assuming that cultural references and pivots have universal appeal. As brand presence in China has matured, more businesses are beginning to understand the importance of localised content. With an increasing number of brands forging stronger connections with Chinese consumers, culturally nuanced content is the key to tailoring output for a domestic audience.

To this end, Prada partnered with Douyin Content Lab to spotlight female power in sports during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The maison designed custom SS22 pieces for four female athletes and enlisted the expertise of Chinese fashion icon Hung Huang who creatively guided a campaign video that focused on the theme #Beautyhasitsownpower. The finished content garnered 48 million views, with a further 100 million online exposures. Searches for “Prada” have seen a 56 per cent increase compared with the year prior. Last July, Prada became the official partner of the Chinese women’s national football team. In November, it once again collaborated with Douyin to continue the “Beauty has its own power” campaign; less than 48 hours after it went live, the video had been played over 130 million times, and the topic “#女足 look 又美又飒” (Women’s football look, beautiful and victorious) took fourth spot on the Douyin hot list.

With celebrities now serving as catalysts for strong emotional connections between luxury brands and Chinese consumers, Louis Vuitton’s announcement of Jackson Wang as brand ambassador in 2023 generated plenty of buzz. The official accounts of Louis Vuitton and Wang co-created a campaign on Douyin that increased its followers rapidly.

Trend 3: Deploying cutting-edge technology to enrich brand storytelling

Shiny new technologies such as AR and VR may pose as point-in-time activations for many brands, but these tools have risen in prominence across brand strategies in China. Chinese consumers are increasingly drawn to cutting-edge technologies, compelling brands to take more experimental approaches to marketing.

In 2023, Gucci collaborated with Douyin on an augmented reality sticker challenge as part of its online “Garden of Eden” exhibition. In the same year, Louis Vuitton introduced AR stickers and initiated the “Pumpkin Head” challenge to generate hype around its exclusive collaboration with famed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. This attracted 150 million hits and also saw the brand’s follower growth jump by 137 per cent, an impressive feat considering Louis Vuitton’s already well-established Douyin presence. (Notably, Gen Z made up nearly one-third of this growth.)

Douyin’s luxury strategy team told Vogue Business that it plans to utilise the PICO VR sets — parent company Bytedance’s virtual reality device — to develop interactive content in collaboration with luxury brands. This includes invitation interaction, interactive game experiences, space interaction and more. In recent times, Douyin’s Content Lab has expanded to offer Dou film, Dou craftsmanship, Dou exhibitions, and Dou shows to help luxury brands innovate and create content.

This enables brands to rapidly turn around content, removing the in-house labour required for production. The proposition is already popular with brands like Bulgari, which celebrated the opening ceremony of the 75th anniversary of its “Snake Series” through a partnership with Dou exhibition. The live-streaming campaign drove 12 million exposures on Douyin.

Trend 4: Co-creating content with Douyin influencers

In its “2023 Douyin Luxury Industry” white paper, Deloitte states that luxury businesses may succeed locally by working with influencers in a variety of fields, like fashion, culture, art and lifestyle, to create a varied content ecosystem.

Similar to Cartier’s multi-screen approach, a focus on product remains key for collaborations. Evergreen formats — such as flat lays, panoramic unboxings, product presentations and “outfits of the day” — continue to see traction under the lead of popular influencers. Yet while content is most effective when platform-native, so too are the strategies utilising influencers who’ve found Douyin fame by authentically channelling the lifestyle these products seek to capture.

Swiss watch brand Longines elevated the essence of its “Flyback Chronograph” by exploring themes like innovation and exploration through a co-created campaign with Douyin influencers across extreme sports, fashion and lifestyle: it resulted in a 317 per cent follower increase.

Trend 5: Promoting Chinese consumers’ brand perception

Measurable results in brand awareness and perception remain the ultimate goal for those implementing new digital strategies, yet proving their commercial impact is often where the challenge lies. This is where Chinese platforms offer an advantage by harnessing brand engagement and conversion in one environment.

Hugo Boss offers an example of how Douyin can be used to influence brand perception for distinct audiences. With two brands operating in the market, each targets a specific demographic: Hugo appeals to a younger audience between 25 and 40, while Boss caters more to business professionals aged 35 to 50. On Douyin, the two brands have separate accounts that each target their respective consumers. They’ve seen a combined 400 per cent growth in followers and a repeat purchase rate of 65 per cent. In Western markets, the reported average for repeat purchases hovers between 20 and 40 per cent.

Despite Douyin offering tailored mini-programs to support in-app purchases, brands aren’t restricted exclusively to Douyin environments when utilising the platform. The VIP Room on Gucci’s Douyin homepage allows users to follow external purchase links, while on Bulgari’s account, a customised “swipe up” icon lets consumers navigate to the off-site brand page. The seamless “swipe up” feature has helped Bulgari increase its user acquisition rate by 90 per cent and boosted daily average searches by 38 per cent. Ultimately, a strong strategy on Douyin can create a halo effect across brand-owned channels, too.

In an era of digitalisation, online platforms such as Douyin have evolved far beyond content tools to represent full-service sales channels. Brands using the platform should be mindful of the tools that enable full-funnel results, from content creation to marketing and, eventually, commerce. With an ever-evolving ecosystem, these trends spotlight the power of a platform that is still relatively young, and as innovation rapidly continues at Douyin, brands should seize new opportunities to cut through the noise — often faster than in cluttered, Western social media spaces.