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Launching a successful new product in China’s fast-moving market requires more than just great ideas—it demands collaboration, cross-functional alignment, and real consumer validation. Chaoly’s 12-week Tmall Innovation Center Program combines lean startup methodologies with in-market testing to streamline innovation from concept to validation.
Designed for R&D and Innovation teams as well as Marketing and eCommerce professionals, this program not only builds a data-backed business case but also brings key stakeholders on board, aligning teams across China and global HQ. With our growth hackers, venture builders, and designers, we act as an incubator within your organization, ensuring product concepts are market-ready.
By using our Chaoly store within the Alibaba ecosystem, we minimize legal complexities, providing a low-risk path to real-world consumer insights.
The first stage focuses on customer discovery—truly understanding the needs, preferences, and challenges of your target consumers in China. Through our advanced social listening tools and targeted surveys on platforms like WeChat, Douyin, and XiaoHongShu, we capture genuine, in-the-moment insights about Chinese consumers. We supplement this with in-depth interviews, giving us a complete understanding of the functional and emotional drivers that influence purchase decisions.
This phase is tailored to align both HQ and local R&D and Innovation teams by building a data-rich foundation. By surfacing key consumer insights early on, we create alignment among stakeholders and provide the groundwork for a product concept that genuinely resonates with the target market. For example, Philips leveraged our approach to focus on a specific audience, ensuring their product addressed real consumer needs rather than assumed pain points. This early validation ensures that the project is not only viable but also has the internal buy-in needed for later stages.
Once we’ve established a deep understanding of consumer needs, we move into concept development, where multiple product concepts are designed to address those needs. This phase includes creating product mockups and prototypes that are then tested for product-solution fit. Through iterative A/B testing and real-time feedback from our Chaoly store within the Alibaba ecosystem, we refine concepts based on what resonates most with Chinese consumers.
Our approach minimizes risk by keeping the testing contained within our own store, avoiding regulatory hurdles and simplifying the approval process for large corporates. We work closely with both HQ and local teams to ensure each concept aligns with internal objectives and has cross-functional support. Nestlé used this method to validate their product concept, refining their design and positioning based on consumer feedback before moving to a full-scale launch. This phase enables teams to gather critical insights, allowing R&D and Innovation teams to fine-tune concepts while gaining early alignment from stakeholders.
In the third phase, we employ conjoint analysis to identify the ideal combination of product features and price points that appeal most to Chinese consumers. By breaking down a product into its core attributes, conjoint analysis helps determine what truly matters to the target audience and the price they are willing to pay. This provides R&D and Marketing teams with concrete data to build a product that aligns with consumer expectations and maximizes appeal.
This phase serves as a final validation of product-market fit, allowing us to recommend an optimal configuration that blends feature desirability with competitive pricing. This method proved highly effective for Nestlé, as it provided actionable insights on the features and pricing that resonated best with Chinese consumers. By conducting this analysis through our controlled store environment, we offer a streamlined, low-risk pathway to understand consumer preferences and establish a data-backed case for product launch.
A critical aspect of our program is building the internal business case to ensure alignment and buy-in from all stakeholders. Chaoly’s team of growth hackers, venture builders, and designers work closely with your HQ and China-based R&D teams to ensure that everyone is on board, from initial ideation to final product validation. By using our lean startup approach and incubator model, we help large corporates adapt to a more agile and iterative process—essential for competing in China’s fast-paced market.
We understand that securing internal alignment can be challenging, especially in large organizations. Our structured approach helps overcome these barriers by providing real-time insights and a clear, data-backed pathway to success. This program culminates in a validated product concept supported by a comprehensive business case, reducing uncertainty and ensuring a smoother transition from development to market launch. Our experience with Philips demonstrated how early-stage alignment and continuous stakeholder engagement can significantly accelerate the time-to-market and enhance product success.
