Appje voor de Borst Lemon.be Lemon Companies

1. Does China need an App for
breastfeeding?

2. Slide 1 video + subtitles

3. Structure of the presentation (not to be
shown)
 Why China? Why now? 1st level of analysis: the global trends and implications for non-market
strategies (Madeleine)
 How do we enter in China? Which organizational choices do we need to make? 2nd level of
analysis: market strategy and organizational choices for international growth (Hervé)
 How to adapt our product to China? 3rd level of analysis: cross-cultural management issues (Filip)

4. Breast feeding is a universal practice
With universally recognised benefits for babies and
mothers, but also universal problems linked to
insecurities and other difficulties….

5. Why China? Why now?
 Government priorities concerning childbirth and healthcare have changed
 One-child policy has been abandoned (China wants more babies)
 Expense for public health is increasing
 Encouragement for natural childbirth to guarantee the health of mother and children
 Investment in midwife education and doula services

6.  Market size
 Number babies born
 Mobile phone use
 WeChat

7. What women want  what the app does
 Education and information
 Direct contact with midwives
 Handy reminder of feeding times
 All information in one place
 Sharing their experience…
 Social impact rather than commercial gain
 Helps women overcome insecurities and
doubts about breastfeeding
 Access to experts (Medics, midwives,
testimony from older generations)
 Related content (articles and videos)

8.  Population expected to grow by
 90% belong to the same ethnic race
 65% of people live in cities
 New middle-class being created, millennials
have only seen economic progress
 Culture of consumption
 Child focussed culture inherited from 36 years
of the One-child policy
 To be in China for China …. Means innovation

9. Why China?
 Population expected to grow by
 90% of Chinese belong to the same ethnic race
 65% of people live in cities
 New middle-class being created, millennials have only seen economic progress
 Culture of consumption
 Child focussed culture inherited from 36 years of the One-child policy
 To be in China for China …. Means innovation

10. 2. How to enter in China?
 The first element to take into account is the distance between Belgium and China according to a
CAGE framework based on our product
 Based on this, we can conclude that the distance between China and Belgium is huge (even for a
technological product)
Cultural distance Administrative distance Geographic distance Economic distance
• Different language &
alphabet(sino-tibetan)
• Different dialects but
Mandarin is spoken by
66% of the population
• Breastfeeding & health is
strongly correlated to local
habits & believes
• Public authorities are not
perceived by Chinese as
public authorities in
Europe (less trust)
• Public authorities tend to
encourage Chinese
companies and are less
reliable for foreign
companies
• Copying successfull
businesses is accepted
• For an app the
geographical distance and
time difference is not a big
issue
• Nevertheless, we will need
to have contact with local
players so this is still to
take into account
• Booming economy but
decreasing these last years
• Expenses on health are
increasing
• Huge potential for e-
commerce

11. 2.1 Integrate our services / market our app
on local social media
 Google or Facebook don’t exist in China!
 Focus on WeChat and Weibo instead
 Chinese people tend to look for more fresh content than we do. Their smart phone usage is
even higher than in the West, and there’s less content available due to censoring.
 Content marketing is key!
 Videos are very popular but differ strongly from ours

12. 2.1 Consult local experts
 We’ll need to invest in:
 Local marketing experts
 Know the market & how to communicate with it
 Local breastfeeding experts
 Speakers / respected doctors / Hospitals
 Local technical experts
 Knowledge about technical architecture in China, restrictions etc.
 Use their credibility

13. 3. Adapt the product.
 Rebrand the product
 Translate into Chinese
 Add locally relevant content
 Adapt it technically
 Update the product regularly

14. 3.1 Rebrand the product
 The application needs a name that sounds & feels good in Chinese.
 Note that design & user experience depends on the local preferences.
 The Asian society has other esthetic preferences than we do.

15. These are screenshots for the most popular apps on China’s iOS app store.
We can clearly see an increased use in bright colors.

16. 3.2 Translate the app into
Chinese
 Note that there are many different accents / slangs / …
 Don’t translate word by word, but hire local professionals
that know the slang & hip word use.
 Speak to users on a personal level and in a helpful and
simple tone.
 Screenshot from Iqiyi promoting
its celebrity video platform: “Iqiyi
Bubbles –
A more wonderful way to watch
videos of famous stars”

17. 3.3 Add locally relevant
content.
 There are a lot of misconceptions about breastfeeding in China. The
application’s tips and information should play on that
 For example: Many Chinese people believe you have to give your baby extra
water as an addition to breastfeeding. They regard to breastfeeding as purely
eating – we would say breastfeeding is a combination of eating & drinking.
 In China being told your baby isn’t eating enough is common. They tend to
breastfeed their babies 10-12 times in 24 hours or more!
 Consult local experts about their beliefs, and find a common ground
between Asian & Western medicinal culture.

18. 3.4 Adapt the application technically.
 In China, Android is marketleader (Android 79% - iOS 18% - Others 3%)
 GooglePlay doesn’t exist in China. They tend to have multiple application markets.
 They all require different coding
 All Chinese internet applications must be hosted on local servers. International data usage is not
an option!

19. 3.5 Adapt the product regularly
 If you experience succes in China, you will quickly get knockoff competitors building right what
you did, and improve where you made mistakes.
 It’s imperative to stay ahead of these competitors by updating frequently, quickly and thoroughly.