Chinese companies expand abroad in hard times

Chinese brands have an opportunity to leverage their advantages in areas like logistics and make inroads with these consumers by upgrading their current services, the report said.

A good example is Alibaba, which topped the most recent Top 20 Chinese Star Brands in Emerging Markets, a sublist compiled by Kantar and Google. The company invested heavily to introduce its Cainiao supply chain and tracking system in 152 countries and regions by the end of 2020. The ability to enable consumers to know where a package is and when it will arrive in logistically challenged environments is a critical advantage, according to the report.

Also, the company's AliExpress service has been putting serious efforts into improving its logistics and providing a better experience for its customers. To get around painfully slow delivery times, the brand charters at least three flights a week to deliver goods to the country, the report added.

The report said that despite the disruption of the pandemic, brand power, which measures the ability of a brand to grow its overseas market share, has remained relatively stable across categories, with consumer electronics and mobile gaming still making up the lion's share.

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, for instance, was the top smartphone vendor in terms of shipments in 11 countries and regions in the third quarter of 2021, and it was among the top five in 59 countries and regions globally, according to market research company Canalys.

Xiaomi's overseas revenue hit 40.9 billion yuan ($6.45 billion) in the third quarter of 2021, accounting for 52.4 percent of its total revenue, the company said.

Oppo, another Chinese smartphone vendor, also saw fast growth in overseas markets. Canalys said that in the Middle East and Africa, Oppo climbed to fourth place in market share in the first half of 2021 with year-on-year growth of 106 percent. At the forefront have been the United Arab Emirates with growth of 196 percent and Saudi Arabia with 218 percent year-on-year growth.

Mobile gaming is another area where Chinese companies have a strong determination to go global. Wang Wei, general manager of AppsFlyer Greater China, an Israeli mobile marketing analytics company, said over half of AppsFlyer's customers in China are gaming companies, who are eager to grow globally. AppsFlyer has about a market share of 70 percent in global marketing analytics, and the corresponding figure for the Chinese market is about 80 percent.

Gaming enterprises are among the first Chinese companies to explore overseas markets. "We noticed their efforts as early as before 2010," Wang said.

Half of China's overseas advertisers are game advertisers, both in terms of quantity and the revenue they bring to the company, he said. They are very stable, whether the economy is good or times are challenging, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, and AppsFlyer's revenue from gaming is growing continuously, the company said.

Chinese comics companies are also ratcheting up their push to expand in international markets. Kuaikan, a major Chinese mobile comics platform, aims to bring more global attention to Chinese comics.

Chen Anni, CEO and founder of Kuaikan, said the company is working with more than 70 comics platforms covering nearly 200 countries and regions in 12 languages, including Japanese, Korean, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.

The company, backed by Chinese internet heavyweight Tencent Holdings Ltd, raised $240 million in a new funding round in August, and a part of the new cash will be used to accelerate its overseas expansion.

"In Japan, South Korea and some other countries where users are willing to pay for comics, we are trying to expand our influence to generate more revenue. In Southeast Asian countries, where the comics communities are growing rapidly, we are trying to attract more people to Chinese comics," Chen added.

Wang of AppsFlyer, said: "Chinese companies' footprints are all over the world. There is no place where Chinese people do not venture."