Rethinking BLIS’s China Market Entry: Repositioning and a New Growth Strategy

Having a cross-border store established a route to purchase, but it did not establish a focused audience or a compelling market position. After 11 months of client-led operations and monthly sales remaining around 20 units, we revisited the entry strategy itself. The work connected audience selection, credibility, content and distribution so that an existing sales channel had a more coherent demand-building system behind it.

Our analysis identified a dispersed target audience and fragmented product communication. We focused the campaign on families managing children’s tonsil-related concerns, within the broader children’s oral-health conversation. This gave us a clearer context for choosing topics and creators. It was an audience and communication decision; it did not establish a treatment claim for the product.

Origin information alone can remain abstract to a new audience. We worked with New Zealand-based creators on source-oriented content, alongside domestic creators who could introduce the brand in a familiar platform context. These roles complemented each other: one made the origin story more tangible, while the other helped the brand enter relevant conversations. Creator experience and brand credentials still needed to be represented accurately.

We connected creator seeding, Xiaohongshu account operations and Juguang and Chengfeng advertising within a broader conversion approach. Content built recognition and supplied material for distribution; advertising extended relevant reach. Consumers could then convert across channels, rather than through a single designated store. Tmall sales were one reported performance indicator within that wider activity.

A focused positioning still needs repeated execution to build recognition. We established a project SOP alongside material production, account operations and advertising. The strategic value was continuity: more content could be developed around the same direction without treating every post or campaign as an isolated project. Standardisation supported repeatability while creator voices and content formats could vary.

The transferable decision is to diagnose whether growth is constrained by an unclear audience, weak trust or disconnected execution before adding more content and advertising. For BLIS, the response combined a more specific audience, a New Zealand science-and-origin story, creator participation and operational consistency. Another brand would need its own market evidence and product substantiation to determine the right focus.