36Kr X Nielsen IQ | Auf der Suche nach den „zukünftigen Supermarken chinesischer Herkunft“

Chinese brands are accelerating their way onto the global stage.

In August last year, "Black Myth: Wukong" made a stunning debut. With its amazing visual effects and profound cultural heritage, it sparked a craze in the global gaming market, allowing players around the world to experience the unique charm of Eastern mythology.

In January this year, after DeepSeek officially released its R1 inference model, it instantly caused an "earthquake" in the global tech circle. With lower computing power requirements and higher cost - effectiveness, it redefined the commercialization path of AI technology.

The cultural consumption sector has also been making frequent efforts.

Since the beginning of this year, "Ne Zha 2" has set a box - office record of 15.9 billion yuan through innovative narrative techniques and the self - developed "Fuxi" rendering technology. It ranks 5th on the global all - time box - office list, achieving a successful breakthrough of Chinese culture in the global film and television market.

Recently, LABUBU under Pop Mart has become extremely popular around the world with its unique charm. From Southeast Asia to international metropolises like New York, London, and Tokyo, countless young people queue up overnight to buy its products, demonstrating the strong appeal of Chinese cultural and creative products.

Behind these phenomenon - level cases is the systematic reconstruction of brand value by Chinese enterprises. With the acceleration of industrial upgrading and consumption iteration, Chinese brands are breaking through the traditional path dependence on "cost advantage" and turning to "technological innovation + cultural empowerment" as the core driving force, achieving a leap from product strength to brand value in the global market.

Crossing the cycle and reshaping the value anchor of Chinese brands

The century - long evolution history of brands is essentially a continuous game between business logic and consumer demand.

The standardized production spawned by the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century led to increasingly serious product homogenization problems. When consumers faced similar - looking products on the shelves, the functions of brands as "quality commitment" and "identity label" emerged.

Take Coca - Cola as an example. In 1915, in the face of the flood of counterfeit products in the soft - drink market, Coca - Cola stood out on the shelves with its unique glass - bottle shape and implanted the brand symbol into consumers' subconsciousness.

The golden arches logo of McDonald's is another classic case. In the 1950s, McDonald's simplified the appearance of its restaurants into a yellow double - arch shape. Consumers could associate it with the "fast and standardized" product experience just by seeing the golden arches from afar.

After the 1970s, with the improvement of material abundance, consumer demand shifted from "basic necessities for survival" to "emotional satisfaction", and the connotation of brands also changed qualitatively. International brands began to break out of the framework of "product function" and became carriers of "lifestyle" and "values".

In 1988, Nike first incorporated the action - oriented slogan "Just Do It" into its advertisements, redefining sports shoes from "sports equipment" to "a spiritual totem of self - breakthrough". Consumers buy Nike shoes not only for their sports functions but also for identifying with the lifestyle attitude of "transcending oneself".

Starbucks' "Third Place" concept reshaped the scenario logic of coffee consumption. In the 1990s, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz found that urban people lacked a space with both social and solitary functions outside of "home and office". So Starbucks designed its stores as a "Third Place" filled with wooden tables and chairs, warm lighting, and the aroma of coffee, making drinking coffee a lifestyle of "escaping from the hustle and bustle".

These international brands have all proven through cultural shaping that brands have long gone beyond the products themselves and become an emotional bond between enterprises and consumers.

The development path of Chinese brands also bears the mark of industrial upgrading in the context of globalization. In the 1980s and 1990s, market competition began to emerge, and the awareness of quality and brand enlightenment awakened simultaneously. In 1985, Zhang Ruimin, the founder of Haier Group, publicly smashed 76 defective refrigerators, which became a landmark event for Chinese enterprises to "build their lives on quality". In 1988, Wahaha opened up the children's beverage market with the classic advertisement "After drinking Wahaha, you'll have a good appetite".

Entering the 21st century, the Internet and mobile Internet have reshaped business logic, and Chinese brands have experienced the pain from "advertising - driven" to "traffic - driven". In 2015, the number of mobile users in China exceeded 1.28 billion, and new models such as live - streaming e - commerce and KOL recommendation have witnessed explosive growth. According to iResearch's calculation, in 2024, the GMV of China's live - streaming e - commerce increased by 19.1% year - on - year to 5.86 trillion yuan. However, behind the high growth, problems such as false publicity, data inflation, and lack of after - sales service occur frequently.

This survival logic of "emphasizing traffic over brand" essentially deviates from the essence of business. Consumers place impulse orders due to low - price discounts but find it difficult to develop emotional identification with the brand; enterprises rely on traffic investment to maintain growth but are unable to build technological and cultural barriers.

Standing at a new starting point in the globalization process, domestic brands urgently need to complete the strategic transformation from "traffic operation" to "value construction". This not only requires enterprises to break away from short - term traffic dependence but also return to the essence of the brand, consolidate the product foundation with technological innovation, build emotional resonance through cultural narrative, and anchor long - term value in the wave of the times.

Precipitating against the trend and telling a new narrative of Chinese brands

"Should enterprises still build brands in the current environment?"

This may be a question that many business owners are facing.

Robert, the former chairman of Coca - Cola, once made a classic statement: "If all of Coca - Cola's factories around the world were burned down in a fire, as long as the Coca - Cola brand still exists, it could have all the factories rebuilt on the ruins overnight."

Relying on its strong brand potential, this century - old beverage company can support a market value of nearly $300 billion with its "selling soda" business model. In a business environment with increasing uncertainty, the brand is a definite barrier for enterprises to cross the cycle.

Currently, for many enterprises, the first priority is to "survive", and brand building may not be the top priority for development.

However, at the same time, we also need to face the fact that under economic challenges, the development of enterprises is accelerating differentiation. For enterprises in different positions, the brand often becomes the key factor determining their direction.

Enterprises on the upward path often have strong brand support and their own traffic pools; on the contrary, enterprises on the downward path have serious product homogenization and can only be trapped in price wars. This is also the reason why Chinese enterprises have been troubled by the label of "world's factory" for a long time.

China has the world's most mature supply chain. "Affordable and good - quality" products cannot be transformed into brand assets, and it is also difficult to gain high - end advantages in the industrial chain in global market competition. From the perspective of enterprise operating costs, building a long - standing brand essentially means reducing costs and improving the operating efficiency of enterprises.

Therefore, all marketing behaviors should ultimately point to brand precipitation. So, make traffic one of the marketing means rather than the ultimate goal. Enterprises need to find a balance between "short - term growth" and "long - term brand assets".

An even more positive signal is that a highly favorable development environment for Chinese brands is being created globally. The rise of national cultural confidence has paved the way for consumers to accept the "Chinese narrative" and provided a solid foundation for creating "Brand from China"; the wave of digital infrastructure has broken geographical restrictions, enabling brands to reach global consumers more conveniently and lowering the threshold for brand internationalization; capital is shifting from chasing hot spots to targeting enterprises with long - term brand precipitation.

In such a timely opportunity, domestic brands have ushered in an unprecedented development opportunity and are expected to make great achievements in the global market.

Searching for the "Future Super Brands of Domestic Goods" together

The Chinese consumer market is undergoing a profound structural transformation. On the one hand, the number of domestic brands has increased explosively, and new - generation brands are emerging like mushrooms after rain; on the other hand, "super brands" that truly have long - term brand value and can cross the economic cycle are still scarce.

Historical monitoring data from NielsenIQ China shows that among more than 13,000 fast - moving consumer goods brands, 76% of the small and medium - sized fast - moving consumer goods brands with rapid growth are from domestic sources. Domestic brands have occupied a place in the retail market with their advantages such as keen market perception, flexible operation models, and strong near - field channel capabilities. However, most small and medium - sized domestic brands are still in the initial stage and face many challenges.

Firstly, the market is noisy and there is serious homogenization. More than 20,000 new products enter the market every year, but most brands still stay in the "traffic - driven" stage, relying on short - term blockbusters or low - price strategies, and it is difficult to form lasting competitiveness.

Secondly, there is a lack of standards, making it difficult for consumers to make decisions. When consumers face a large number of domestic products, they lack authoritative evaluation standards and have difficulty distinguishing which brands truly have long - term value. Brand owners also urgently need an objective "value ruler" to measure their real competitiveness in the market.

In addition, there are internationalization challenges and insufficient brand premium. Although some domestic products have emerged in the overseas market, overall, the recognition and premium ability of Chinese brands in the global high - end market still need to be improved.

In this context, 36Kr and NielsenIQ (NIQ), a globally leading consumer research and retail monitoring company, jointly launched the "Future Super Brands of Domestic Goods" selection activity. The selection includes multiple categories such as "Influential Brands", "New - Force Brands", "Technological Innovation Brands", "Cultural Resonance Brands", "User - Loyal Brands", and "Gen - Z Favorite Brands". Through authoritative data insights and professional industry perspectives, the two parties will dig out and empower those Chinese brands that truly have long - term growth potential, promote domestic products from being "internet - famous" to "ever - green", and export the new narrative of "Chinese brands" to the global market.

The core value of this selection lies in "speaking with data and empowering with professionalism". As a new - type service platform deeply involved in technological innovation and the business ecosystem, 36Kr has been tracking the consumer track for a long time and deeply analyzing the brand growth path. This time, it will mainly dig out domestic brands with long - term value from dimensions such as ecological power, intelligence, technological innovation, and business model innovation.

NielsenIQ, as a globally leading consumer research and retail monitoring company, has business operations in more than 90 countries and regions around the world, covering 97% of the global GDP and more than $7.2 trillion in global consumer spending. Its data monitoring covers more than 1,800 categories, including fast - moving consumer goods, technology, and durable consumer goods. In this selection, NielsenIQ will provide the most comprehensive insights into consumer behavior through professional business intelligence platforms and analysis tools such as consumer survey data and NielsenIQ retail research data, revealing new growth paths.

Currently, the Chinese consumer market is upgrading from "quantity" to "quality". The "Future Super Brands of Domestic Goods" selection jointly launched by 36Kr and NielsenIQ is not only a sorting out of the industry but also a discovery of value. We believe that in the next decade, a number of super brands with global influence will surely emerge in China.

The following is the guide for the "Future Super Brands of Domestic Goods" selection this time.

This article is from the WeChat official account "36Kr", and 36Kr published it with authorization.