Table 3 Selected evidence on first-order... | Emerald Publishing

Table 3

Selected evidence on first-order codes

Second-order themes	Selected evidence on first-order codes
Online channels to sell wine products	“There is a boom represented by online sales and the collapse of sales in the traditional channel and, therefore, in catering, HoReCa.” (Key informant 9) “Chinese consumers, for convenience, speed and efficiency, are increasingly making their wine purchase online.” (Key informant 14) “Specialized platforms dedicated to selling wine can be considered within a selection of channels that must be exploited to reach the final consumer in an increasingly widespread way.” (Key informant 17)
Social media as a primary touchpoint in the Chinese market	“There are consumer groups with existing consumers who are in the group chat, because there is also a salesman … Our specialized importer handles sales online and via social media, so he also deals with how to keep consumers informed in the group chat, giving information about specific promotions or activities.” (Key informant 1) “[Chinese consumers] do anything on WeChat … You see the advertisements in the chat or you scan a QR code, which is linked to some advertisements or events, so they can go to the website and buy.” (Key informant 4) “We keep Chinese consumers updated on news and events that involve the winery. The dedicated profile on social commerce becomes the company’s showcase and, at the same time, it allows for greater interaction and participation from the consumer.” (Key informant 14) “Some [consumers] are afraid of buying fake products … These [group chats] are perceived as more reliable.” (Key informant 21)
Joint collaboration of different stakeholders on digital platforms	“We are on Tmall, Jindong and WeMall, through our importer, we do not have the direct management. Always through our importer, we sell on WeChat. Our importer has a virtual shop on WeChat from which you can purchase all products.” (Key informant 1) “For several months now, we have launched a whole series of projects to facilitate the participation of Italian companies in some of the main Chinese e-commerce platforms. About two years ago, we started to build a virtual flagship store on Alibaba’s Tmall Global, then we developed important e-commerce projects, one with WeChat and one on JD.com creating two Italian pavilions within these two platforms.” (Key informant 17) “We’re creating a mini-program [on WeChat] of the group of food and beverage companies of the Chamber [of Commerce] … You can access products, but there is also space for content and live streaming. The mini-program was created for the purpose to disseminate content.” (Key informant 18) “Nowadays, China uses social media more and more … We support companies by opening their official account on WeChat, we can manage live sessions if necessary. Therefore, even sales or promotion on live streaming are really booming in China, especially on TikTok … [Companies] should first add material on social media, then introduce themselves to the market, so when [consumers] look for you or have seen you at an event, they know who you are, where to find you, they have information.” (Key informant 23)
High psychic distance	“The biggest obstacle is a linguistic obstacle in the sense that if you have no way of knowing their language everything becomes more complicated … Then it also takes time to understand their way of thinking, they definitely have a culture and, therefore, an approach that is very different from ours in both business and personal relationships.” (Key informant 4) “The main difficulties are first of all bureaucratic, due to technical-administrative procedures that are expensive in terms of time and money. Tariff and language barriers are not less so, as well as the difficulty in finding the right partner/importer.” (Key informant 14) “Before entering the market, I initially encountered difficulties with the language, and also cultural ones obviously. Chinese have guanxi which are very important for maintaining commercial relationships, in short. At the beginning, you have to understand how to earn trust, and this is a difficulty.” (Key informant 15) “Not all companies that do exports, especially in China, know about this new law that requires you to have this registration. So maybe you bring the product and then it is blocked at customs because this company registration is missing on the Chinese customs’ website.” (Key informant 22)
Education of final consumers	“The main focus for Italian companies should be developing communication and information to educate Chinese consumers to the culture of wine, through a strategic use of storytelling.” (Key informant 3) “Wine product is promoted via social commerce through a targeted communication strategy that aims to educate the Chinese consumer on a great variety of Italian wines and their value. We help wineries in the creation and management of dedicated WeChat accounts, through which we tell the story of the winery and its characteristics of production, but not only that.” (Key informant 14) “We made an agreement with the Italian Trade Agency for B2C and B2B … We select a target user, who visits this Italian pavilion page [on the e-commerce marketplace] through an advertising campaign … It’s an education page for the Chinese user about the Italian market and within this page, there are about 300 Italian brands.” (Key informant 20) “On TikTok, there are a lot of short videos introducing different kinds of wine. I think that kind of marketing or way of introducing wine is very efficient because they can reach a lot of different people, who can learn about wine and know wine in any kind of spare time which is very, very convenient. So that is why TikTok is so popular in China for the entry level consumers … For the video part, we focus on the knowledge, we’re teaching knowledge via our public account. So they are more education channels, not sales channels.” (Key informant 24) “The more knowledge about wine, terroirs, firms, the higher the demand, the online search, and then purchase.” (Key informant 26) “I would focus more on the sales volume, the sales record, instead of scrolling all the comments, which is too time consuming now. So if the price is good, the brand that I’m familiar with. First of all, I focus more on the brands that I know.” (Consumer F)
Education of intermediaries	“For us, both the tastings and the wine dinners that are held, as well as the tastings on the occasion of fairs or international activities, such as Decanter Shanghai or VinExpo Hong Kong, could be very important because they allow us to deliver a message that would be very difficult to have only with the bottle on the shelf.” (Key informant 1) “Investing in social commerce and e-commerce platforms can be an important card to play. A real trade war is taking place between Australia and China, and Italy could take advantage of this situation. The appeal of ‘Made in Italy’ is certainly strong in China, but to obtain effective and lasting results, investments are needed in terms of marketing, promotion and training of operators and consumers.” (Key informant 3) “Alongside this B2C campaign for the promotion of Italian wine, we continue with a training campaign called ‘I love Italian wines.’ They involve professionals: importers, distributors, sommeliers, wine connoisseurs and specialized media who are carefully selected.” (Key informant 17)
Swift guanxi educates consumers and affects their purchase decision	“In China, there is the so-called herd effect, it’s very strong … In China, it’s cool if you drink what everyone else drinks or what you may have seen in the advertising on TV or on its social networks, of course.” (Key informant 5) “If you want to talk about creating marketing tools to influence choice and consumption, you absolutely have to communicate with standards and with faces that are within these guanxi circles.” (Key informant 12) “Chinese culture is undeniably connected to the sense of belonging to a group, so I believe that when a KOL or an influencer in general [is involved], a relationship between the user and this influencer is established. … In Chinese society, individuals indeed have a strong cultural need to feel part of a group and to receive approval, seeking recognition around a figure who can be a KOC, a KOL, and this significantly determines the fact that the KOL from whom you feel represented can become a driver for your purchases. In China, it is absolutely essential to work with a KOL because it refers to that human and cultural dimension that is very difficult for us as Westerners to attain without the human intermediation of a person who translates and interprets all that the brand carries with it.” (Key informant 19)
KOLs as an increasing communications and sales channel	“We activate local KOLs rather than national KOLs, so we use key opinion leaders specific to the city or even the province … what we would call micro bloggers who have a smaller follower base but a stronger hold on that small follower base.” (Key informant 7) “In China, KOLs are very effective. They can do a live streaming on TikTok for two hours and they can sell 10,000 bottles of wine; you build up your audience, you have people who are following and you allow people to follow and do what you are recommending.” (Key informant 11) “Since April, we have launched a massive campaign to promote Italian wine on China’s most important social media, using KOLs, KOCs, infographics, small and long videos, live streaming and therefore all the inbound marketing techniques that are now widespread in the Chinese market, without which we say it is difficult to build a storytelling, to engage interlocutors and, above all, final consumers.” (Key informant 17) “I follow a KOL on Bilibili. The KOL introduces a lot of types of wine, then whisky and beer, red wine and also sparkling wine … it’s really interesting for me to have a basic experience of wine. Sometimes they introduce different types of wine, sometimes they go to bars that rank first, so they will give some comments on the wine.” (Consumer B) “Influencers are powerful in all kinds of products. They sell a lot of things online … everything. So I think this channel is more acceptable by young people.” (Consumer C)

Second-order themes	Selected evidence on first-order codes
Online channels to sell wine products	“There is a boom represented by online sales and the collapse of sales in the traditional channel and, therefore, in catering, HoReCa.” (Key informant 9)“Chinese consumers, for convenience, speed and efficiency, are increasingly making their wine purchase online.” (Key informant 14)“Specialized platforms dedicated to selling wine can be considered within a selection of channels that must be exploited to reach the final consumer in an increasingly widespread way.” (Key informant 17)
Social media as a primary touchpoint in the Chinese market	“There are consumer groups with existing consumers who are in the group chat, because there is also a salesman … Our specialized importer handles sales online and via social media, so he also deals with how to keep consumers informed in the group chat, giving information about specific promotions or activities.” (Key informant 1)“[Chinese consumers] do anything on WeChat … You see the advertisements in the chat or you scan a QR code, which is linked to some advertisements or events, so they can go to the website and buy.” (Key informant 4)“We keep Chinese consumers updated on news and events that involve the winery. The dedicated profile on social commerce becomes the company’s showcase and, at the same time, it allows for greater interaction and participation from the consumer.” (Key informant 14)“Some [consumers] are afraid of buying fake products … These [group chats] are perceived as more reliable.” (Key informant 21)
Joint collaboration of different stakeholders on digital platforms	“We are on Tmall, Jindong and WeMall, through our importer, we do not have the direct management. Always through our importer, we sell on WeChat. Our importer has a virtual shop on WeChat from which you can purchase all products.” (Key informant 1)“For several months now, we have launched a whole series of projects to facilitate the participation of Italian companies in some of the main Chinese e-commerce platforms. About two years ago, we started to build a virtual flagship store on Alibaba’s Tmall Global, then we developed important e-commerce projects, one with WeChat and one on JD.com creating two Italian pavilions within these two platforms.” (Key informant 17)“We’re creating a mini-program [on WeChat] of the group of food and beverage companies of the Chamber [of Commerce] … You can access products, but there is also space for content and live streaming. The mini-program was created for the purpose to disseminate content.” (Key informant 18)“Nowadays, China uses social media more and more … We support companies by opening their official account on WeChat, we can manage live sessions if necessary. Therefore, even sales or promotion on live streaming are really booming in China, especially on TikTok … [Companies] should first add material on social media, then introduce themselves to the market, so when [consumers] look for you or have seen you at an event, they know who you are, where to find you, they have information.” (Key informant 23)
High psychic distance	“The biggest obstacle is a linguistic obstacle in the sense that if you have no way of knowing their language everything becomes more complicated … Then it also takes time to understand their way of thinking, they definitely have a culture and, therefore, an approach that is very different from ours in both business and personal relationships.” (Key informant 4)“The main difficulties are first of all bureaucratic, due to technical-administrative procedures that are expensive in terms of time and money. Tariff and language barriers are not less so, as well as the difficulty in finding the right partner/importer.” (Key informant 14)“Before entering the market, I initially encountered difficulties with the language, and also cultural ones obviously. Chinese have guanxi which are very important for maintaining commercial relationships, in short. At the beginning, you have to understand how to earn trust, and this is a difficulty.” (Key informant 15)“Not all companies that do exports, especially in China, know about this new law that requires you to have this registration. So maybe you bring the product and then it is blocked at customs because this company registration is missing on the Chinese customs’ website.” (Key informant 22)
Education of final consumers	“The main focus for Italian companies should be developing communication and information to educate Chinese consumers to the culture of wine, through a strategic use of storytelling.” (Key informant 3)“Wine product is promoted via social commerce through a targeted communication strategy that aims to educate the Chinese consumer on a great variety of Italian wines and their value. We help wineries in the creation and management of dedicated WeChat accounts, through which we tell the story of the winery and its characteristics of production, but not only that.” (Key informant 14)“We made an agreement with the Italian Trade Agency for B2C and B2B … We select a target user, who visits this Italian pavilion page [on the e-commerce marketplace] through an advertising campaign … It’s an education page for the Chinese user about the Italian market and within this page, there are about 300 Italian brands.” (Key informant 20)“On TikTok, there are a lot of short videos introducing different kinds of wine. I think that kind of marketing or way of introducing wine is very efficient because they can reach a lot of different people, who can learn about wine and know wine in any kind of spare time which is very, very convenient. So that is why TikTok is so popular in China for the entry level consumers … For the video part, we focus on the knowledge, we’re teaching knowledge via our public account. So they are more education channels, not sales channels.” (Key informant 24)“The more knowledge about wine, terroirs, firms, the higher the demand, the online search, and then purchase.” (Key informant 26)“I would focus more on the sales volume, the sales record, instead of scrolling all the comments, which is too time consuming now. So if the price is good, the brand that I’m familiar with. First of all, I focus more on the brands that I know.” (Consumer F)
Education of intermediaries	“For us, both the tastings and the wine dinners that are held, as well as the tastings on the occasion of fairs or international activities, such as Decanter Shanghai or VinExpo Hong Kong, could be very important because they allow us to deliver a message that would be very difficult to have only with the bottle on the shelf.” (Key informant 1)“Investing in social commerce and e-commerce platforms can be an important card to play. A real trade war is taking place between Australia and China, and Italy could take advantage of this situation. The appeal of ‘Made in Italy’ is certainly strong in China, but to obtain effective and lasting results, investments are needed in terms of marketing, promotion and training of operators and consumers.” (Key informant 3)“Alongside this B2C campaign for the promotion of Italian wine, we continue with a training campaign called ‘I love Italian wines.’ They involve professionals: importers, distributors, sommeliers, wine connoisseurs and specialized media who are carefully selected.” (Key informant 17)
Swift guanxi educates consumers and affects their purchase decision	“In China, there is the so-called herd effect, it’s very strong … In China, it’s cool if you drink what everyone else drinks or what you may have seen in the advertising on TV or on its social networks, of course.” (Key informant 5)“If you want to talk about creating marketing tools to influence choice and consumption, you absolutely have to communicate with standards and with faces that are within these guanxi circles.” (Key informant 12)“Chinese culture is undeniably connected to the sense of belonging to a group, so I believe that when a KOL or an influencer in general [is involved], a relationship between the user and this influencer is established. … In Chinese society, individuals indeed have a strong cultural need to feel part of a group and to receive approval, seeking recognition around a figure who can be a KOC, a KOL, and this significantly determines the fact that the KOL from whom you feel represented can become a driver for your purchases. In China, it is absolutely essential to work with a KOL because it refers to that human and cultural dimension that is very difficult for us as Westerners to attain without the human intermediation of a person who translates and interprets all that the brand carries with it.” (Key informant 19)
KOLs as an increasing communications and sales channel	“We activate local KOLs rather than national KOLs, so we use key opinion leaders specific to the city or even the province … what we would call micro bloggers who have a smaller follower base but a stronger hold on that small follower base.” (Key informant 7)“In China, KOLs are very effective. They can do a live streaming on TikTok for two hours and they can sell 10,000 bottles of wine; you build up your audience, you have people who are following and you allow people to follow and do what you are recommending.” (Key informant 11)“Since April, we have launched a massive campaign to promote Italian wine on China’s most important social media, using KOLs, KOCs, infographics, small and long videos, live streaming and therefore all the inbound marketing techniques that are now widespread in the Chinese market, without which we say it is difficult to build a storytelling, to engage interlocutors and, above all, final consumers.” (Key informant 17)“I follow a KOL on Bilibili. The KOL introduces a lot of types of wine, then whisky and beer, red wine and also sparkling wine … it’s really interesting for me to have a basic experience of wine. Sometimes they introduce different types of wine, sometimes they go to bars that rank first, so they will give some comments on the wine.” (Consumer B)“Influencers are powerful in all kinds of products. They sell a lot of things online … everything. So I think this channel is more acceptable by young people.” (Consumer C)

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