Facts and figures

China has the world’s largest population as well as the largest number of social media users.

Censorship laws in China that block the use of Western counterparts have

determined the surfacing of numerous local social media channels such as

WeChat and Weibo.

●Social Media today represent an instant and cost-effective tool to reach out to

customers in remote third and fourth - tier cities.

●While peer reviews on e-commerce websites remain the most used source of

information, Weibo and WeChat accounts as well as winery websites are

considered the most trustworthy and have the greatest impact on consumers’

purchasing decisions.

Online Survey

In an effort to map out the social media preferences of Chinese wine professionals, in July - August 2016 Vinitaly International carried out an online survey taking into consideration:

8 main categories

1. Communication

2. Microblog, Blog, Soft Blog

3. Business Networking

4. Online forums

5. SNS/Wiki

6. Video & Picture social

7. Live streaming platforms

8. E-commerce

180 Chinese wine professionals

Educators

Journalists

Sales representatives

Importers

Sommeliers

etc.

The online survey was carried out through diaochapai.com, an online consumer survey platform.

1. Communication

●WeChat and QQ account for most of the instant messaging

●99.37% of wine professionals use WeChat on a daily basis

●60.38% of the them also rely on QQ for communication

●Both are accessible via mobile device, tablet and computers

●10% of the interviewees also use Aliwangwang, an instant messenger developed by Alibaba to serve transactions on its e-commerce platform

2. Microblog, Blog & Soft Blog

●Micro blogging supports thesharing of photos, videos,audio, text and a hot topic can easily obtain 100 million reads in a single day

●There is a dizzying array of companies offering both Blog and Micro Blog/Weibo: Sina Weibo and Sina Blog are the most used superseding Tencent Weibo and Tencent Blog which belong to the same company of WeChat and QQ

3. Business Networking

●46% of the interviewees don't use any form of business networking social media

●41% of interviewees claim they are on LinkedIn

●Domestic APPs such as Maimai and Dajie are not used very much

4. Online Forums

●Locally called BBS, Online forums are the oldest form of social media in China

●Their popularity among wine professionals is relatively high despite their descending trend within the Chinese social media community

●Baidu Tieba ranks first place with 50% of users whilst the other two major players are Douban (31.87%) and Tianya(21.87%)

5. Social Network Site & Wikis

●Qzone and Renren are the most commonly used social network sites

●Baidu Baike and Zhihu are the wiki equivalents in China consulted respectively by 60% and 50% of wine professionals for credentials and information

6. Video & Picture Social Media

●Aiqiyi and Youku Tudou are the main online video channels followed by Letv, Sohu video and Tencent video

●Local player Meitu and the international app, Instagram, are the most popular for picture sharing

●However, since Instant messenger WeChat also allows picture sharing, Picture Social Media has been weakened to some extent

7. Live Streaming Platforms & Apps

●whatever suits them through their i-phones

●Among Chinese wine professionals, live streaming is starting to gain popularity, with Ingkee being used by nearly 20% of them

8. E-Commerce

●Not surprisingly Taobao (70.44%), Tmall (50.94%) and JD (62.89%) are the most used

●A recent study shows that almost half of Chinese imported wine drinkers purchase wine online

●Wine professionals work closely with e-commerce platforms to obtain and share information

●Integrated vertical e-commerce websites are quite popular among wine professionals with Jiuxian enjoying a 30% usage rate