In the shadow of TikTok, China's programs quietly hoover up downloads
14 October, 2020
While SHEIN has its origins in China it really is one of the primary shopping apps in the United States, SHAREit has been banned in India despite being massively popular elsewhere, and Likee is chasing TikTok - but desperate in order to avoid a similar fate.
China's app makers are having to be agile in a global where key markets have turned hostile with their country's tech.
They are either going beneath the radar in territories where the war over privacy, security, and geopolitics rages - or are moving to friendlier markets to win an incredible number of downloads.
Experts say that could signal an unstoppable rise for China's smart and responsive tech, according to the long-term damage that security and diplomatic squabbles may bring to the Manufactured in China brand.
For now, the strategies of Chinese-owned platforms - quick reflexes with their customer base and aggressive social media - are winning fans in unexpected places.
Fast-fashion online retailer SHEIN has deployed a legion of influencers and celebrities in America, including singers Rita Ora and Katy Perry, to soar up the application store rankings.
The platform also advertised a Perry-curated selection of affordable tees, dresses, and accessories to coincide with her album launch this year.
The business now boasts among the top five free shopping software on Apple's software store in the US, Australia, and France, according to US-based research agency Sensor Tower.
"A lot of their global users will in actuality be unaware they are dealing with a Chinese company," Hong Kong-based retail analyst Philip Wiggenraad said of such apps.
In a February post on WeChat to recruit suppliers, SHEIN said it had functions spanning a lot more than 200 countries, with 2019 sales exceeding 20 billion yuan (US$2.96 billion).
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
Even TikTok, battered by an ownership dispute in America where it really is accused to be a risk of security, has racked up around 800 million installs this year globally regardless of the squall of negative publicity, Sensor Tower data shows.
That comes despite its blacklisting in India, which has also banned more than 200 other Chinese programs in the wake of a deadly border dispute earlier this season.
TikTok is currently struggling to close a deal allowing it to continue its massively popular US operations.
The travails of the iPhone app - and others winded in the geopolitical ruckus - may signpost just how ahead for other less well-known Chinese platforms.
File-sharing app SHAREit, banned in June by India, has quickly pivoted to new markets.
It says it already has 20 million monthly active users in South Africa and is also targeting Indonesia, which includes the world's fourth-largest population.
Others are basing outside China and specialists say tying in early with western businesses could balance against potential boycotts by suspicious governments.
"We have servers in a number of different locations around the world, including the United States, Singapore, and India," a spokesperson for Bigo, owner of short-video app Likee, told AFP.
"But we do not have any servers in mainland China or Hong Kong."
Bigo was built and headquartered in Singapore before being bought by Chinese firm JOYY, which is listed on the Nasdaq in New York. The application was the third-most installed by a Chinese publisher for the entire year to mid-September, according to Sensor Tower.
ADAPT OR DIE?
With privacy, cybersecurity, and potential influence by Beijing all hot-button issues, Chinese developers should do a lot more to convince governments and consumers in the long run.
Suspicions will probably "change the landscape where they operate and force them to adopt very different business and data localization strategies", said Severine Arsene of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
That could mean locating a company's headquarters and tech development in "safer" territories or locating data processing in different territories.
"This requires adapting the whole tech architecture of confirmed service," she added.
The pressure points to the fundamental issue of Chinese companies being viewed as "de facto proxies" of the Chinese Communist Party, says Hinrich Foundation research fellow Alex Capri.
"Chinese firms will find it increasingly difficult to compete beyond a techno-authoritarian digital landscape," he added.
Chinese companies have increasingly drawn suspicion over if they might be compelled to talk about data with the federal government.
Despite recent spats with Washington and New Delhi, Beijing has demonstrated no signs of "putting aside its technology ambitions", said United Overseas Bank economist Ho Woei Chen.
A good future decoupling of China from the global tech supply chain could have the unintended consequence of forcing "Chinese companies to upgrade and build-up their capabilities", she added.
And buffed up by a vast domestic market, "they will likely stay in business".
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com