RESEARCH REPORT
Reinventing relevance in the age of overload
This is a pivotal moment for companies to reignite brand love.
3-MINUTE READ
November 26, 2024
In brief
- Chinese consumers are overwhelmed. What was once a joyful shopping experience seem like another chore now.
- CMOs' focus on performance marketing has homogenized tactics and contents, diminishing brand distinctiveness.
- This is a critical moment for companies to reignite the brand love. The answer lies in the creativity and technology, Gen AI included.
Decision fatigue
A new challenge for brands
In an ocean of choice, consumer analysis paralysis is becoming a significant challenge for brands. This is particularly clear in China, where up to 76% of consumers have abandoned a purchase due to an overwhelming number of choices or difficulty making a decision. When coupled with the amount of choice in China’s highly developed and constantly evolving e-commerce and content platforms, what should have been a joyful shopping experience has evolved into a tedious and exhausting activity.
76%
of Chinese consumers have abandoned a purchase due to an overwhelming number of choices or difficulty making a decision.
71%
Chinese consumers are “maximizers”, shopping in search of the best buy.
Marketing myths
The brand appeal paradox
To understand how companies in China are tackling—and potentially exacerbating—consumer fatigue, Accenture surveyed 120 CMOs from top domestic and international brands in August 2024.
- Chinese consumers are dispersed across numerous channels, prompting businesses to adopt precision marketing to capture sales opportunities.
- To maximize reach, companies are expanding channel coverage and increasing brand exposure frequency.
- Marketing budgets are allocated across multiple channels, with online platforms receiving the majority of spend.
- The rapid growth and focus on online channels in China have directly fueled the rise of performance marketing.
- Over-reliance on performance marketing may boost short-term sales but can erode brand loyalty, as consumers chasing discounts lack deep emotional connections.
10%
of marketing budgets go to offline.
66%
of surveyed CMOs planning to increase their performance marketing budgets over the next three years.
This is a pivotal moment for companies to reignite Brand Love.
Amid an uncertain economic outlook, consumers are being more deliberate with every purchase. Demand for non-essentials is dipping, and people are less likely to try new products. Research shows that 67% of Chinese consumers (compared to 52% globally) say they are more decisive about what they want than they were three years ago. This means only brands and channels that meet consumers’ core needs and deliver top-notch experiences will make it onto their “trust list”.
Boosting brand love in a busy world
Back to basics
In an age of overload and increasingly discerning consumers, brands need to truly understand their consumer needs and establish long-term relationships through innovative methods to stand out from the competition.