How China Is Rethinking the Entire Customer Journey

Of course, China is not Europe – and not a blueprint for Western markets. But looking at China reveals earlier than elsewhere what marketers here will also need to prepare for: customer journeys are no longer linear paths across individual channels. They emerge where content, commerce, and community move closer together. Where access to trusted communities becomes as strategically important as the reach brands currently buy through media. And where creators increasingly function as sales infrastructure.

The strategic question is no longer just how brands communicate with consumers, but who controls access to them. If retailers once controlled shelf space and media companies controlled attention, creators in China increasingly control both: attention, trust, and the final path to transaction.

Let us start with an example from everyday life in China: Mr. Wang has run out of laundry detergent, and since he is not committed to a specific brand, he opens the popular Chinese social media app Rednote. Like most Chinese consumers, he is used to relying on social networks for product information, user reviews, and promotional offers. Mr. Wang does not use search engines or e-commerce platforms.

He enters “laundry detergent pods” on Rednote. But the first result he sees is a post about “laundry detergent sheets.” This is no mistake: a laundry detergent sheet brand has used search engine marketing on Rednote to intercept traffic and push a partner creator’s video to the top position. Mr. Wang is curious. In the video, laundry detergent sheets are presented as a practical alternative to traditional liquid detergent or washing powder. Before making a decision, however, he looks at other content. What he does not know: because he watched the first video, the laundry detergent sheet brand can retarget him with additional creator content in his feeds.

This is how Chinese social media works: brands use creators, or key opinion leaders (KOLs), feeds, and search together as one integrated system to reach consumers across different touchpoints.It allows brands to shape the journey from discovery to retargeting and conversion, rather than treating social content, media delivery, and search behavior as separate activities.

As Mr. Wang continues his research, he notices that several videos have been carefully tailored to the laundry detergent brand. All posts are aligned with the individual style and area of expertise of each creator. They clearly explain the benefits of laundry detergent sheets in different use cases.

After that, he is convinced. He wants to order immediately, enters the product name on Rednote, and is taken directly to the brand’s e-commerce shop on the platform. Instead of ordering there right away, however, he enters several livestreams on Rednote. Various creators are selling the product there. The format is somewhat reminiscent of traditional TV shopping, but with a stronger focus on interaction with consumers. The creators not only answer questions, but they also offer discounts. After comparing several livestream offers, Mr. Wang finally places his order with the creator offering the lowest price. A few loads of laundry later, he is very satisfied with the product and publishes a positive post on Rednote. It could become the starting point for convincing other consumers.

This idealized shopper journey shows the difference between China and Europe. While marketing professionals in Europe primarily see creators as a communications channel, China’s KOL ecosystem already points to a different reality: creators there increasingly function as sales infrastructure, connecting content, trust, community, and commerce. At its core, this raises the question of who controls access to consumers.

In China, traditional advertising formats such as TV spots rarely achieve the same level of credibility as recommendations from people whom consumers already trust. This is why creators have become such an important interface between brands and target groups: they do not simply amplify a message; they translate it into a more personal, contextual, and trustworthy form of communication.

As a result, many brands in China are gradually shifting investment away from costly, centrally produced brand films and toward content created with or by trusted influencers. A global household care client we work with is a good example. In Europe, brand videos still play an important role. In China, however, we have shifted much of the focus toward KOL-produced content, because credible creator voices are more effective there in helping consumers discover, understand, and trust a product.

This development is rooted in the evolution of Chinese social media networks. Major platforms such as Douyin, Rednote, and Bilibili have integrated e-commerce functions directly into their ecosystems, allowing consumers to move from KOL content to product pages with one click and buy there directly. This is also why brands are increasing their investments. Today, spending on creators, feed, and search already accounts for the largest share of media investments for many brands.

As creators have become increasingly important in driving revenue, many have moved beyond awareness and engagement into direct sales – often as livestream commerce hosts. By 2025, China’s livestream commerce market had already reached revenue of around $900 billion. In later shopping festival campaigns, according to Tencent News, a leading livestream host was reported to have generated more than RMB 6.4 billion — roughly €800 million — in single-day sales.

This has encouraged many people in China to enter livestream selling. Celebrities and even sales staff from brick-and-mortar retail stores have started hosting livestreams themselves. As a result, the KOL landscape in China has become much more diverse. Today, China is an innovation hub where platforms, media, brands, and KOLs evolve together and continuously.

Brands have always looked for effective ways to communicate with consumers. In the past, the main focus was on maximizing reach through media. Today, however, the focus is shifting away from the sheer number of consumers reached and toward the effectiveness of each individual interaction.

And as product differentiation becomes more difficult and offerings become more homogeneous, emotional connection plays a stronger role in purchase decisions. The brand that understands consumers better and interacts with them more naturally gains the upper hand in intense competition.

What creators provide is therefore not only reach, but a live environment in which brands, creators, and consumers interact in real time. Comments, questions, and peer recommendations become part of the persuasion process – turning content into access to a community’s response.

The important question for European marketers is not whether Europe will simply follow China’s path. The ecosystems are still fundamentally different – especially in Germany, where the customer journey remains spread across search engines, retailers, brand websites, marketplaces, and social networks. But as platforms such as TikTok gain reach and influence globally, user behavior is beginning to move in a similar direction. TikTok will probably not replicate the Chinese model in Europe one-to-one. Still, the trajectory is clear: social platforms are expanding their role across more stages of the customer journey. TikTok Shop is a clear signal of where this is heading.

That means brands need to rethink where communication starts. The starting point should no longer be the format a brand is used to producing, but the journey consumers actually take. Brand-created content remains valuable: it provides consistency, craft, and long-term brand meaning. But in social environments, creator-led or user-generated content is often the more effective way into the conversation.

This kind of content signals a different stance from the brand: a willingness to move beyond purely top-down communication and enter the spaces where consumers are already discussing products, asking questions, and sharing experiences. Brands should therefore not only speak to consumers but participate in their activities. The most valuable media space may no longer be the one with the greatest reach, but the one with the greatest trust.

This article first appeared in LBB.