Chinese tech brands are gaining influence outside their home markets, says a recent BrandZ report by the world’s largest ad agency WPP and market researcher Kantar Millward Brown.
The report sheds lights into the Top 50 Overseas Chinese Brands in 2019 (link in Chinese), with Huawei topping the ranking followed by Lenovo, Alibaba, Xiaomi, and Bytedance as the Top 5 brands.
According to an index of the 50 brands formulated in the report, Chinese brand power increased by 15% year-on-year in 2019, in contrast to a mere 5% increase over the same time period last year.
The report ranks the brands by a “brand power” metric that comprises three elements: the ability to meet customers’ functional and emotional needs (described as “meaningfulness”), differentiation, and salience (meaning how top-of-mind a brand is for consumers).
Not surprisingly, China’s tech sector is well-represented among the country’s top-10 brands. The list comprises, in descending order: Huawei, Lenovo, Alibaba, Xiao, Bytedance, Haier, Air China, OnePlus, and Anker.
Yet Chinese brands that sell physical goods also grew from strength to strength, especially among overseas consumers. Consumer electronics (34%) and home appliances (11%) accounted for almost half of the brands on the report’s index, and online fast fashion was the fastest-growing category (57%) in terms of brand power.
Meanwhile, Chinese companies looking to expand overseas may have the best luck in Japan, France, and Spain. These three markets were noted as places where consumers demonstrate the greatest interest in Chinese brands.