Douyin’s content ecosystem offers brands a path to adapt to shifting consumer habits, engage users, and drive demand across channels.

Where there are people, there is business. When people change, so does business.

Starting last year, whispers of “business becoming harder” shifted from isolated complaints among individual merchants to a growing societal consensus. Rising traffic costs, declining consumer willingness to spend, and increasingly selective consumer demands all converge on a singular reality: traditional methods and business experience are no longer sufficient.

From the consumer’s perspective, these changes are even more apparent. Industry analyses point to a new era—the age of the “zero consumer.” Today’s consumers are omnichannel shoppers who balance frugality with indulgence and refuse to blindly follow brands. Once-critical assets like brand recognition, channel dominance, and user loyalty are rapidly losing their relevance. The only way to combat this trend is to excel at meeting ever-evolving consumer needs.

This is where Douyin shines. As a platform where content and commerce seamlessly merge, Douyin is uniquely positioned to cater to these shifting demands. Yet, its value as a gateway for brand-driven commerce has often been underestimated.

Content has always been the cornerstone of Douyin’s commercialization strategy. As interest-based e-commerce gained momentum and Douyin strengthened its infrastructure, new commercial opportunities naturally surfaced. This paved the way for the organic rise of the omnichannel concept within the platform—a convergence shaped by both collective industry judgment and Douyin’s own platform dynamics.

None of this is surprising. In an increasingly competitive landscape, businesses—whether actively or passively—are integrating their channel resources to drive collaborative growth.

Since 2020, the consumer goods sector has been grappling with persistent headwinds. By 2022, most entrepreneurs in the space had come to terms with a harsh reality: the traffic and capital dividends that once fueled growth would not return anytime soon.

One former venture capitalist explained it as such: “The rise of a single channel merely proves that there’s potential in a category. True potential is only realized through comprehensive, multichannel growth.”

The challenge, then, lies in effectively activating consumer needs across multiple channels. In today’s landscape, the traditional channel-first mindset no longer works. Consumers are inundated with choices, and capturing their attention requires a different approach. At one point, Douyin’s content ecosystem provided a solution.

Douyin’s commercialization strategy revolves around using content to spark interest—a critical first step to activating demand. Through repeated consumer engagement, interest-driven content not only drives conversions within Douyin’s ecosystem but also influences purchasing decisions across other channels, ultimately achieving omnichannel growth.

Yet, many brands and merchants on Douyin continue to operate with a channel-first mindset, viewing the platform as little more than a marketing tool or advertising channel. This oversimplification reduces Douyin’s value and overlooks its unique strength as a content platform.

So, what exactly is content? For many merchants, content is narrowly defined as videos made for advertisements or scripts written for live streams. But Douyin’s foundation as a content platform reveals a broader reality: everything that happens within Douyin is part of its content ecosystem—a dynamic, interconnected space where interest and commerce converge.

“We often advise brands to take control of three areas: information, operations, and timing. The key to operations lies in leveraging the value of content,” said Wang Yijun, president of Accenture Song for Greater China. Wang emphasized that content is a critical commercial asset.

“As a content platform, Douyin’s value deserves more attention. Content connects to various business areas, influencing every stage of the consumer decision-making process. This presents brands with a unique opportunity to achieve omnichannel growth.” —Wang Yijun, president of Accenture Song for Greater China.

From life experiences and personal interests to purchasing decisions and the transmission of information, all these elements are shaped within Douyin’s content ecosystem. Understanding the full value of content not only unlocks Douyin’s potential but also explains the emergence of omnichannel growth—a strategy where interest-driven engagement seamlessly connects brands with consumers across channels.

Building content pipelines

It’s undeniable that a gargantuan amount of content is created every day on Douyin, capturing the attention of billions of users. Everything is content: trending topics that draw public interest, influencer videos, live streaming sessions, and even product detail pages. What many brands lack, however, is a content pipeline that effectively connects consumers to commerce.

Haidilao, on the other hand, seems to have figured it out. As one of the most frequently discussed restaurant brands today, its viral content and branded topics consistently attract attention across platforms like Douyin and other social media. More importantly, each piece of trending content often translates into significant omnichannel business growth, making Haidilao a brand closely observed by its peers.

“Our secret may be that over a thousand locations across the country actively create content, turning each store into a source of trending topics,” said Wang Miao, Haidilao’s brand director. With over 1,000 outlets and more than 140,000 employees, Haidilao’s expansive network naturally serves as a starting point for content creation and a key touchpoint for customer interaction.

Quality content often drives omnichannel reach and, by extension, business growth. Take last year’s “subject three” phenomenon as an example. A store employee’s impromptu performance celebrating a customer’s birthday went viral on Douyin. Recognizing the content’s potential, Haidilao quickly identified it as replicable. The company initiated internal competitions to encourage employees to build on the trend and simultaneously launched a new butter-based product tied to a talent search content campaign. Within just ten days, this campaign amassed 2.6 billion views and reached peak activity on Douyin.

“Using Douyin’s point-of-interest (POI) anchors, our stores and content align seamlessly. Member data shows a significant increase in new customers during the ‘subject three’ event. Moreover, the buzz didn’t just stay within one niche but spread across the internet,” Wang said.

Douyin’s value as a content platform became clear through this success. Viral brand content amplified trends, trending content boosted the sale of group coupons, and these coupons, in turn, drove offline traffic to Haidilao’s outlets. This synergy formed a self-sustaining content-commerce cycle, fueling growth both online and offline.

Combining content with commerce

Many brands have already acknowledged the ongoing shift in consumer psychology. “Today’s consumers no longer revere big brands or rely on specific channels. The certainty of marketing outcomes has become a challenge,” said Ren Peng, general manager of Leader for Haier China. Ren further noted that modern consumer journeys are no longer linear; instead, they resemble a meandering wilderness.

For durable goods like home appliances, where the decision-making cycle is lengthy, isolated marketing efforts have limited impact when it comes to activating demand or converting sales. “Many consumers who begin exploring products in September may wait until Singles’ Day to make a purchase,” Ren said. To address this, brands must move beyond single-platform transactions and focus on achieving sustainable growth across all channels.

This is why Leader is prioritizing Douyin. On one hand, the brand values Douyin’s scale and reach. With more than 600 million daily active users, Douyin’s strength lies in its interest-based distribution model, which draws highly segmented and targeted user groups. According to Douyin data, 70% of sales inspired by its home appliance content occur off-platform. Leader has effectively leveraged a variety of content formats, such as live streams hosted by brand executives, to engage consumers directly and solidify its brand presence in their minds.

On the other hand, the seamless integration of Douyin’s content and commerce ecosystems creates new opportunities for brands. Leader’s products—such as a camping-friendly coffee maker that can brew up to 60 cups without electricity, or a compact, aesthetically pleasing washing machine ideal for rentals and small apartments—translate complex product features into engaging, relatable content. By showcasing these selling points in ways that align with consumer lifestyles, brands can carve out valuable mindshare for their products.

At its core, the same content that sparks interest on Douyin can drive direct commerce. This includes redirecting viewers to live streams for instant transactions, linking POI anchors to physical stores to boost in-person sales, and increasing conversions across other platforms. By harnessing Douyin’s ability to combine content with commerce, brands can create a comprehensive strategy that activates demand, nurtures engagement, and drives growth across multiple touchpoints.

Reassessing consumers

Lower consumption frequency and weakened purchasing intent—these are the pain points brands face today. Yet, they also represent overlooked blind spots. At times, consumers don’t know what they want until a product is placed in front of them.

Historically, brands have addressed these challenges by targeting specific groups with explicit needs or by focusing on proven demographic segments. While effective, this strategy delivers diminishing marginal returns in a saturated market. Rather than doubling down on already-converted users, brands may benefit more from unlocking untapped potential consumers.

The key to engaging this segment may lie in content. Yin Che, chief investment officer of GroupM China, shared an example from a luxury beauty brand previously managed by the company. The brand adjusted its Douyin marketing strategy in two critical ways:

1. First, it expanded its target audience. By collaborating with Ocean Engine, GroupM reanalyzed consumer characteristics, ultimately doubling the brand’s reach beyond its traditional demographic.
2. Second, it shifted focus to content-driven formats. GroupM discovered that, while content seeding on Douyin effectively inspired consumer interest, the actual purchases often occurred on other channels. “We found that content marketing delivers the highest omnichannel value,” Yin said. Consequently, GroupM allocated over 50% of its budget to content marketing, emphasizing splash ads and influencer collaborations.

According to Yin, this approach aligns with the logic of interest-driven content—it broadens audience coverage. Compared to direct performance advertising, content-based strategies overcome traditional limitations on product categories and brands, attracting secondary segments and driving omnichannel growth through better consumer segmentation.

The synergy between content ecosystems and commerce ecosystems can generate a multiplier effect. Commerce is rational: every business action strives to achieve a proportional return, with variation lying primarily in how much input translates to output. Content, however, is emotional: needs sparked by interest and engagement often carry far greater potential.

A striking example of content’s power is the tourism boom in Harbin earlier this year. It was a quintessential demonstration of content-driven growth. Viral elements—such as breathtaking auroras and budget-friendly morning markets—showcased the local lifestyle in visually captivating ways. These seemingly “ordinary” aspects of daily life were transformed into extraordinary travel experiences for massive audiences.

The initial buzz, triggered by influencer content, was amplified by official engagement. Following a content push from Heilongjiang’s cultural tourism department, the viral success spread across Douyin. This wave of celebratory content prompted participation from 26 provincial and city-level tourism boards nationwide. Each video included POI tags, offering audiences geographic references and providing clear entry points to channel online interest into offline travel.

The results were striking. Without significant advertising or promotional spending, Heilongjiang’s tourism-related content amassed over 2.7 billion impressions. More than 150,000 tourists spontaneously contributed user-generated content. A more tangible outcome: Harbin’s search volume on Douyin tripled to 53.35 million queries, leading to a threefold increase in visitor numbers and a doubling of local merchant orders.

Every instance of interest-driven content planting builds a reservoir of attention and engagement. Brands that rely solely on conversions without effectively nurturing consumers through content will find it increasingly difficult to sustain or revitalize omnichannel commerce.

Evolving alongside consumers

As consumers evolve, so must businesses. Content acts as a critical lens into consumer preferences and behaviors. Actions such as sharing, forwarding, and bookmarking do more than reflect interest—they spark latent purchasing needs. From a long-term perspective, every targeted investment in interest-based content has the potential to bear fruit over time.

However, businesses at different stages of development approach short- and long-term returns with varying expectations. This necessitates strategic flexibility to pivot when required. Companies must avoid falling into the trap of relying on past experiences—such as focusing exclusively on e-commerce tactics or prioritizing content creation without robust conversion mechanisms.

The relationship between content and commerce is not hierarchical but one of proportional alignment. That said, accurately assessing content’s value remains a challenge. Douyin recognizes this and aims to ensure its role as a content platform is not undervalued. In 2023, Ocean Engine introduced an omnichannel product equipped with scientific attribution and measurement tools to help businesses quantify content’s impact effectively.

In industries such as dining, home appliances, fashion, and tourism, between 40–80% of gross merchandise value (GMV) generated through Douyin occurs off-platform. Notably, this figure only accounts for traceable ad touchpoints, meaning Douyin’s true omnichannel value is likely far greater.

This underscores Douyin’s ability to deliver not just incremental opportunities but also exponential potential within its content ecosystem. Cases like Harbin’s tourism boom serve as powerful illustrations of growth driven purely by content.

Douyin’s seeding strategies effectively drive omnichannel conversions. This emerging growth paradigm is more than a solution—it is a structured process that can be deconstructed, analyzed, and replicated. Brands that recognize and reframe the value of Douyin’s content ecosystem stand to unlock its omnichannel potential ahead of the curve, leveraging precise moves to succeed in today’s challenging market landscape.

After all, growth belongs to the future, but execution must occur in the present.

#ContentCommerce #OmnichannelGrowth #ConsumerTrends #DouyinMarketing #InterestDrivenEngagement