Worth a staggering $1.2 billion, the Chinese pet-care market shouldn´t be underestimated. SmellMe (闻闻窝), a Chinese startup saw the potential and created a social network solely for China´s pampered pets targeting some of the estimated 33 million households in the country holding a cat or dog. With already 500.000 registered users SmellMe is more than just a gimmick and includes everything from setting up a profile for your pet to an overview of user-rated pet-care places like pet hotels and grooming salons. Even snapping pictures or short videos in order to hook your pet up with someone else’s is possible!
However, this is nothiing new and there are already a couple of other social networks for your pets like “Klooff” (https://www.klooff.com/) with a user base of around 1.5 million in the US or “my social petwork” (https://mysocialpetwork.co.uk/) in the UK.
For some this may sound like a joke but this is already a reality and if you walk along the streets of any city in China, you will see a lot of pampered dogs or even cats. People take good care of their pets and treat them very well, therefore this app could be a new dimension for the pet market in China. We will see what the future brings and if the business model has a longer lasting prospect of success, but for now we can say that 500.00 registered users is quite impressive for a pampered pets social network which launched in 2014.
The website can be found here: https://smellme.cn/
The website is currently in Chinese only so if you can´t read Chinese the page might not be for you! Still, it is definitely worth having quick look at and put your browser’s translator to the test!
Sources:
https://www.techinasia.com/china-social-network-for-pets-smellme/
https://www.cnet.com/news/klooff-like-instagram-for-your-pets/
https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-04/12/my-social-petwork
Written by Kevin Dean Kowalczyk | Intern at InternChina
The relatively unknown city of Zhuhai, located on the southern coast of Guangdong province in China close to Macau and Hongkong and according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences the most livable city in China, is growing and by growing we are talking about a totally new level.
The best possible example for Zhuhai´s growth and potential to move a step closer to the biggest cities like Shanghai or Beijing is the new International Tennis Centre which will host the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai in November 2015. The first stage of the Centre´s development including 5’000 seats and 5 other match courts including a 1’000 seat court and 12 training courts will be completed by September 2015. This enormous $84 million construction will set a new benchmark for China because of its complexity and for Zhuhai because the city will gain worldwide attention.
The first event, announced by the Women´s Tennis Association (WTA), will be held in November 2015 and will repeat annually until 2019. The new tournament will be called WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai which is a singles and doubles competition offering $2.15 million in prize money. According to WTA Chairman & CEO Stacey Allaster:“This brand new event combining great players, a fantastic new stadium, and the magnificent location of Zhuhai is a formula that will make the WTA Elite Trophy a success”.
According to Lydia Long, Zhuhai Vice Major, the city is deeply grateful for making Zhuhai´s dream of joining the WTA family come true. Zhuhai is a beautiful, romantic and dynamic city which is more than happy to warmly welcome the best woman tennis players and tourists from all over the world in order to experience the greatness of Zhuhai themselves.
The Tennis Centre is designed by global sports architects Populous which is a global collective of architects, designers, technical experts and industry veterans. Their aim is to create places where millions of people unite. The firm is also well-known for designing the Wimbledon Centre Court´s moving roof and the recently completed Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne. To win the Zhuhai Tennis Centre Populous took part and won a high profile international competition.
Written by Kevin Kowalczyk | Intern at InternChina
Sources:
WTA: https://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/4202219/title/wta-elite-trophy-to-debut-in-zhuhai