Rapha | Rapha's China 3 year roadmap and localised marketing

China strategy, 3 year roadmap and localised marketing

Rapha engaged Hot Pot China for their end-to-end 2024 China launch, starting with our China Blueprint to set a northstar for China success.Prepared with relevant market and consumer insights into China’s growing cycling tribes, we crafted a 3-year roadmap beginning with a localised brand and commercial strategy. The outcome was a 3-phased market entry plan aligned with ambitious yet achievable KPIs for brand and revenue growth.Hot Pot was also selected as Rapha’s retained agency of record for all online and O2O marketing activity.The result?Growth that positioned Rapha at the forefront of the cycling market, placing number 2 for sales among all premium cycling apparel brands within just 3 months, including a Tmall launch that achieved the first month's sales target in

3 days

China Blueprint

Deep consumer insights into China’s dedicated sports cycling community
Localised brand positioning and content to bring core proposition to life for China
Route to market planning and P&L inputs
3-phased market entry roadmap covering KPIs and channel strategy for brand, digital and commercial growth

China Marketing

China social media: full ownership of Rapha China social media channels (Little Red Book, WeChat, bilibili)
Localised production of core “Never Just a Ride” content and campaign for China
Influencer seeding, PR, media buy, community management
Online campaigns driving offline rider communities: rider meet-ups, membership
Key initiative of delivering Women’s 100 ride across China

China Commercial

TP (Trade Partner) selection, set up and contract negotiation
Consulting on channel selection and partnership model for e-commerce initiatives

Chinese social media

We generated more than 1k followers on first day launch
and over 15k+ views with 650 engagements.

Launching on Tmall Pavilion

Achieved first month’s target within 3 days of launch

Rapha Women’s 100

Held in September every year, the Women’s 100 is a global movement of women riding for each other.

As part of Rapha’s China market launch, Hot Pot identified the need to address the small but growing number of female cyclists in China.

As only 5% of the committed road cycling audience, female riders were typically under-addressed by cycling brands in the market, and partnering with Rapha’s offline retail partner, we sought to address this.

Approach and results

Owned content on Rapha’s Little Red Book and WeChat
CTA for sign up and application through digital channels
800 places fully subscribed online within 3 days of campaign go live

Rides held in 14 cities across multiple provinces in China
Cumulatively 80,000km cycled under the Rapha umbrella in one day

A powerful market entry and launch