(Source: https://pltfrm.com.cn)
Introduction
Most overseas brands enter China with positioning that feels right in London or New York—but completely wrong in Shanghai or Chengdu. The winners rebuild positioning from the inside out using qualitative methods that reveal emotional ownership gaps and cultural permission zones. These are the five research approaches that created some of the strongest China-born positionings in 2025.
- Emotional Ownership Gap Analysis
1.1 Category Benefit Ladder Reconstruction Process: Strip away all current brands and ask consumers to invent the ideal one from scratch. Result: Almost always produces a positioning no global team would have guessed. - Face & Status Scenario Testing
2.1 Gifting, Dating, and Workplace Role-Plays Insight: A brand can be objectively superior but still lose if using it makes someone “lose face” in specific situations. - Peer-to-Peer Positioning Defense Sessions
3.1 Consumers Argue Why Their Favorite Brand Is Superior Benefit: The phrases they naturally use become the most authentic China positioning lines. - Cultural Symbol Integration Labs
4.1 Test Chinese Aesthetic Elements on Global Designs Example: Adding a barely visible Chinese knot pattern inside a watch case turned a Swiss brand from “cold foreign” to “respectful heritage.”
Case Study: American Premium Coffee – From “Hipster” to “Urban Elite Essential”
A West Coast third-wave coffee brand was perceived as “too niche and pretentious.” PLTFRM ran 160 ownership gap sessions and face scenario testing in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Chongqing. Key discovery: Chinese white-collar consumers wanted coffee that signals “global taste + local success” for client meetings and blind dates. The brand launched “城市菁英甄选” (urban elite selection) in matte black-gold cans with bilingual tasting notes. It overtook Nespresso as the #1 imported RTD coffee on Tmall and Mini-Programs within ten months, with 590% growth.
PLTFRM is an international brand consulting agency that works with companies such as Red, TikTok, Tmall, Baidu, and other well-known Chinese internet e-commerce platforms. We have been working with Chile Cherries for many years, reaching Chinese consumers in depth through different platforms and realizing that Chile Cherries’ exports in Asia account for 97% of the total exports. Contact us, and we will help you find the best China e-commerce platform for you. Search PLTFRM for a free consultation!
