Starting a new store from scratch

Background

A well-established European supplement brand with limited brand awareness in China approached U2C about launching its Tmall Global Flagship Store. It’s no one’s surprise. Launching in China is challenging and complex, especially if you are just starting to do business here. How to design a relevant go-to-market strategy? Who is your target audience, and where can you reach them? How to allocate your marketing budget between the different channels, and why? Those are only a few critical questions you will need to answer early in the process. That’s why experienced Trading partners (TP) like U2c are valuable to your business ambition.

What we did

By thoroughly studying the brand’s identity and strengths, we identified strong potential in targeting Z-gen and young families. With a price tag of 10-20 USD per unit, we could support a premium international feeling and a cost-effective price. We selected the best products for our primary target audiences and tailored our communication strategy to maximize engagement across multiple channels.

Our influencer marketing strategy generated significant sales and growth, bringing a large customer pool within a few months. We achieved an ROI above 20 in a single live-streaming session within the first six months. After building a solid customer base, we quickly shifted our focus to customer retention campaigns and membership programs. Using our Big data Analytics capabilities, we conscientiously segmented our customers for more refined targeting and content personalization. Our efforts led to a high retention rate, and Tmall awarded the brand a customer retention excellence prize in the second year.

We outperformed the First-year sales projections every month; brand equity and customer trust increased steadily. In the second year of operation, we set a target of a 500% increase in sales.

After one year

Following strong performance in the first year, Alibaba invited the brand to sign a strategic partnership, bringing significant market traction and recognition. A few products steadily rank among the top 3 in their categories by monthly sales volume. The brand received several awards for growth and sales excellence, becoming a typical success story Alibaba uses in its communications.