As Chinese social media has created a platform to chat and exchange information, communities for niche demographics such as gamers and fashionistas have sprung up. With rising incomes and standards of living comes a growing interest in childcare. Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) have always been popular in China, with sites such as PCbaby providing a forum for mothers and families interested in sharing their experiences and connecting with others. And now, social media platforms that directly target mothers are becoming popular, as evidenced by the $20 million USD platform LMBang has just raised in funding.
LMBang is a space for mothers to discuss everything, from child-related topics to fashion to celebrity gossip. It’s on web and mobile, and already has 2.6 million daily active users that have taken a liking to LMBang as a place for women to socialize online. Though there are other women-targeted social media sites emerging in China (such as Meet You), LMBang has started off as a go-to place for mothers and this link to motherhood is, perhaps, part of its attractiveness. As with any large social media platform, LMBang presents users who can become powerful players online due to its reach and vast user base that allow users to become very influential. And though the user base is primarily female, that certainly doesn’t present any limitations, as we’ve seen in this case of the extremely powerful “mommy bloggers” and “mompreneurs” of the west.
In addition to growing incomes, this trend reflects the current issues on the minds of Chinese parents: there have been various scandals related to products for children, from contaminated baby formula to toys with lead-based paint. With such a strong link between e-commerce and social media in China, it’s not surprising that in addition to successful platforms like LMBang, e-commerce sites specializing in childcare have cropped up. Online commerce giant Suning has launched its own baby-care section, but specializes in only selling overseas products, which are often deemed safer than domestically produced ones. Miyaobaobei.com, another infant care retailer specializing in imported products, which originally began on Taobao but has now opened its own online site, also snagged $20 million USD in investment.
The subsequent launches of sites for this niche market shows the growing demand in China as families are becoming more knowledgeable about products, wary of domestic goods, and interested in networking with like-minded people. With women constituting almost half of a 1.3 billion population, this increasingly Internet savvy audience represents a significant and powerful audience.
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