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We are proud to announce the launch of the Hayman’s Gin Chinese web site toady at http://www.haymansgin.com.cn/.

Regroup designed and built the site, localised for the Chinese market, which represents part of an overarching digital strategy for the China market that includes a WeChat presence and a WeChat mini program.

Hayman’s have been making gin for 150 years from London, distilled from family techniques handed down through the generations.

The market for Gin in China is on the increase, and these are the first exciting forays into the digital domain in China as part of an ongoing strategy.

Sign-up to our free Webinar on unleashing the potential of WeChat, China’s unique Digital eco-system.

April 30th 2020 BST

You will learn:

  • What is WeChat?
  • What are the steps to registering an account?
  • How can WeChat be used to reach and engage with your audience?
  • What are WeChat Mini-Programs?
  • How can Mini Programs be used to sell to your audience in China?
  • What do you need to know about WeChat pay?
  • How can WeChat be used to advertise to your market? #rethinkchina

 

Find out more and register here

CBBC EVENT

April 07

China is the biggest online market in the world. How do you protect your name online in China? What are the key considerations, and how to strategise? Join this webinar, with guest speaker Scott Muir – MD of Regroup China. Regroup provide dedicated digital marketing services for UK businesses reaching China. One of Regroups’ core services is in protecting Brands and Individuals reputation online in China, providing services for Online Reputation Management, Brand Monitoring and Brand Protection.

Key topics:

  • The Digital landscape in China – the key channels
  • ‘Owning’ your assets/ protecting your name
  • Monitoring brand noise/ How to keep informed
  • Addressing negative coverage – pre-emptive/ proactive tactics
  • Questions

 

Speaker:

Scott Muir, Director and Founder of Regroup Media & Regroup China

About Regroup China:
Formed by experienced digital marketeers and technicians, Regroup China is a specialist digital agency committed to helping Western brands define and action strategy for growth in China – the World’s largest online marketplace.We have amassed many years’ experience working with some of the biggest brand names and retailers globally, across multiple online disciplines in China.

Start date: 07/04/2020 09:30

End date: 07/04/2020 10:30

Venue: Webinar

Address: Online

CLICK TO REGISTER

#Rethinkchina

CBBC was pleased to host Scott Muir, CEO at Regroup China, today in our London headquarters, he addressed attendees on the topic of digital China for our inaugural member-exclusive Lunch & Learn event.

After an introduction to Scott Muir and his organisation by CBBC’s Sector Lead for Retail, Jack Porteous, around 30 delegates from our members – representing core sectors such as Education, Professional Services and Engineering – were able to gain insight into key channels for B2B engagement in China.

Scott Muir gave a comprehensive understanding of key channels that are utilised, in particular, WeChat, which holds great potential for businesses. He stressed the importance of WeChat, which offers e-commerce functionality to a userbase of over 1 billion while maintaining a highly user-friendly and sophisticated user interface. He also explained how much the app is due to evolve, with Tencent’s vision for the app to become an ‘ecosystem’.

He also referred to the significance of Linkedin, a more familiar tool for many in the UK, identifying that it can be used uniquely in regards to China, as one of the few western channels given a platform, search optimisation is also key where businesses can target users via filtering demographics and also finding a means to network with outward-looking Chinese businesses seeking collaboration and an international market.

The session highlighted best practice in capitalising upon online tools to target the biggest online market worldwide – with over 800 million internet users in China – it is clear that having an online presence is vital for success in the thriving Chinese market.

After an engaging Q&A, members stayed to have lunch and network with one another and CBBC staff, the day proved a great success with more events to follow, so stay tuned!

 


Scott Muir and Jack Porteous taking members’ questions during the Q&A

We are pleased to announce that Scott Muir, our MD will be speaking at the CBBC in London this month about digital marketing for a B2B market in China.

February 27

CBBC is delighted to announce a new Lunch and Learn series, available exclusively to our members. Join us for the first session as we welcome Scott Muir, CEO of ReGroup China, to share his expertise on digital marketing in China for B2B companies.

In this session we will cover:

  • What are the key online B2B channels to reach your audience in China
  • In focus – We will look at:
    • The role of LinkedIn
    • The role of WeChat for B2B
    • What other channels can be considered to reach a B2B audience in China?
  • What are the key considerations in managing a strategy to reach a B2B audience?
  • Questions/ Answers

For more information please visit:

http://www.cbbc.org/events/2020/february/cbbc-lunch-learn-reaching-a-b2b-market-in-china-on/

We are pleased to announce the launch of the vintage watch web site – Black Goose. (www.black-goose.com).

Regroup designed the brand identity, produced the web site, and defined social media strategy in support of the launch. The vintage watch market is booming and Black Goose come in to the market with a passion and wealth of experience of collectable watches, pens and other items. #setthegooseloose

In support of our recently launched German office in Bremen, we are happy to announce that our dedicated German language web site is now live at – https://www.regroup-china.com/de/.

Regroup now provides digital marketing firms for German brands wishing to enter the China marketplace. Please contact Roman Wills for further information – [email protected]

We are pleased to announce that Regroup have been selected to work with Wolf (https://www.wolf1834.com/), the international market leader in watch winding and watch storage pieces, in support of their expansion plans in China. Wolf has been in operation since 1834, and has offices in the UK, Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

Regroup will be establishing a dedicated e-commerce Chinese web site, an official WeChat presence and a Baike profile as well as a WeChat e-commerce mini program, as part of an overarching plan to build awareness and sales in China.

For more information contact Scott Muir at [email protected]

We are happy to announce that Regroup China will be the official sponsors and speakers at the upcoming London & Partners event next week on how London can improve its welcome and offering for Chinese travellers to start the journey to becoming China-ready today.

Event Sponsor – Regroup China

Formed by experienced digital marketeers and technicians, Regroup China is a specialist digital marketing agency committed to helping Western brands define and action strategy for growth in China – the World’s largest online marketplace. We provide a full digital service offering for China spanning market sizing, branding, social media (WeChat, Weibo), content, China web development and market-place strategy.

The event running order:

  • 8:30am Welcome Breakfast
  • 9:00am Opening remarks and company presentations
  • 10:00am Structured networking session
  • 11:00am Close

As anyone who has visited China recently will know, WeChat is enormous, with over 1- billion users, it is the largest App in the Country.

WeChat is best described as an ‘eco-system’ rather than as traditional social media or a ‘WhatsApp of China’, as the BBC recently described it. Describing WeChat as an eco-system captures the fact that it is all things in daily life in China.

It is Tencent’s (WeChat’s owners) vision for Chinese nationals to use WeChat throughout their day; using it for calls, messaging, playing games, paying bills, buying products, hiring taxis and posting their social media.


Key WeChat Functionality

What are Mini Programs?

Mini Programs are best described as ‘apps within an app’. WeChat is an app and a mini program is an app within the WeChat eco-system. These apps sit on Tencent’s server, not on the users’ mobile phone, as such they are typically fast to access.

For brands looking to enter the China market, mini programs can provide additional functionality to their WeChat account, to add shopping functionality for instance, to sell directly via a shop front, or to add booking engine functionality, to take bookings directly. The whole process can be done within the WeChat eco-system, using WeChat Pay as the payment gateway. The end-user never has to leave WeChat.

As such, Mini Programs can help brands monetise their WeChat account.

For UK brands wishing to test the waters in China, WeChat is the ideal vehicle, serving as a base to build brand awareness, and as a route to establishing sales.

Building a shopfront on WeChat

Using a mini program, brands can build a shop within WeChat at relatively low cost. The process typically involves taking a product data feed of product SKUs and marrying this up with design templates for the shop front. The whole process can take as little as 4- weeks to build significantly less than setting up a Shopify or Magento e-commerce channel.

Building up an audience on WeChat

Using the WeChat advertising platform, brands can target users based on age, gender, education, location and importantly on search behaviour, meaning brands can build up a targeted audience over time.

The other main key channel to building up an audience is via Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) who are effectively influencers and hold huge sway in China.

It has never been easier to set up a WeChat verified account

It is now easier than ever to set up an official Service account on WeChat for overseas brands. The days of requiring a Chinese business licence to register a verified account are long gone. UK brands can use their UK business licence and the whole process takes 2-3 weeks to process, faster than ever. Ownership resides with the brand, not a third party.

All of this makes for exciting times post Brexit. China accounts for a fifth of the world’s internet users, and 40% of worldwide e-commerce. Regroup China has been working with Tencent to produce some of the best known mini programs in the UK, including the WeChat shop for the Best of British event in Shanghai this year, where we onboarded over 30 UK brands selling product at the event via WeChat, using WeChat pay as the payment gateway.

The Best of British WeChat mini program

Regroup have also been at the forefront in producing mini programs as booking engines, producing the UK’s first property booking engine for Downing Property, the student-property business, who are targeting Chinese students in the UK, via WeChat.


Student Property Booking Engine on WeChat

Why should UK brands be excited about this?

We believe that UK brands wishing to test the market in China should be excited about this for many reasons, namely:

  • WeChat is getting bigger all the time, with well over 1 billion users and counting
  • Establishing an official WeChat account has never been easier for foreign businesses, and the process is fast. You own the account not a third party
  • Brands can build up brand awareness via WeChat ads, building up a highly targeted follower-base
  • Brands can set up a shop front easily, quickly and relatively cheaply on WeChat providing a direct route into this ever-growing market
  • Brands can take payments using WeChat Pay, with each transaction costing only around 2% per transaction in commission and the acquirer’s fee

All of this adds up to providing a unique opportunity for UK brands wishing to test the market in China. As a proof of concept, no other channels provide the ability to build awareness and sales, at low cost.

As such, we are of the view that WeChat is the priority channel for brands getting established in China, as a phase 1. Once the concept is proved, then we advise moving into key e-commerce channels such as Tmall and JD, who collectively own c 70% market share of b2c e-commerce in mainland China. Getting active on these channels is not a small consideration and requires investment. But building awareness and sales initially is far safer on WeChat as an initial undertaking.

For more information on reaching the World’s largest market please contact us. We’d love to hear from you.

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