By the end of this year, China’s digital travel sales will amount to more than $95 billion, according to eMarketer. That’senough to rival the revenue of Fortune 500 giant Microsoft. By 2020 this figure will have doubled to around $200 billion.

Retailers and tourism operations globally have been rolling out the red carpet for Chinese shoppers over the past few years. The Australian government introduced a “China 2020” plan in the hopes of bringing $7 billion revenue from Chinese tourist spending.

In Southeast Asia, the top source of tourism receipts in Singapore and Thailand come from China, as the region remains a top destination due to the historically low prices and geographical proximity.

With this expected growth, the days of broad-based marketing are over. Competition for the savvy Chinese shopper is more fierce than ever — without personalized and insightful advertising, the shopper would be overwhelmed with companies vying for their attention. Brands that can deliver the best mobile user experience at the heart of their  campaign strategy will be the most trusted among these consumers.

Mobile-first means user-first Mobile is the most effective channel to reach Chinese shoppers abroad. The IAB reports that 47 percent of Chinese shoppers made purchases with a mobile wallet this year.   

That’s the highest in the world, second only to Norway (42 percent) and the UK (24 percent). The same report reveals APAC has the highest usage of mobile wallet for purchasing products and services of any region in the world.
 
To better understand the Chinese consumer, advertisers can analyze their daily habits on their mobile devices. An audience cluster employing real-time and historical data can pinpoint the most receptive users and find the best time to engage them.

 

There are many platforms that are more popular in China than other regions—such as WeChat and Weibo — and analyzing this historical data can help isolate the behavior on these devices. Combining real-time data such as device language, network carrier, and operating systems will give a more holistic view of the shopper.

For example, to profile a Chinese luxury consumer traveling in Singapore, advertisers can identify and group together key indicators, such as the latest iPhone 7 model, connecting through a Chinese mobile carrier and using traditional Chinese language settings.

Add the potential to pair that with historical location behavioral data identifying them as frequently visiting Singapore, and you can start to build out powerful audience segments. Audience segmentation is becoming increasingly sophisticated and can help advertisers push their branded messages even before the intended customer has departed from China.

Personalized mobile marketing also allows brands to deliver tailored and timely messages to serve the consumer on their shopping journey. Let’s say, for example, an ideal time to send out an advertisement is in the morning before a shopper heads out of their hotel.

A helpful campaign indicating the nearest store location and opening hours, combined with a daily coupon, has a higher chance of converting than a non-targeted advertisement.

With the wealth of mobile data available, advertisers can go one step further and deliver creative campaigns based on device operating system. Most of the time, iPhone ads will lead to a landing page in Safari, and an Android system will take the user into Google Chrome. The ability to tailor each creative format for different user devices can help retailers win over the highly-desired Chinese tourist dollar.

Brands that want to wow Chinese tourists need to have full visibility of their intended consumers and engage with precise timing to truly encourage purchasing decisions. Given the availability of today’s data, brands that fail to customize their creative message and user experience will only stand to lose out.