Once a signifier of luxury or novelty, custom products and services are now within reach of the everyday consumer, thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence, algorithm-led platforms, and the COVID-era digitisation boom. Today, everyone wants to be the main character of their brand experience.

The demand for more authentic online communities is surging in the wake of the pandemic. Soul, a Chinese social media app and ‘virtual social playground’, focuses on building emotional connections through immersive worlds, putting individual interests and personalities first.

Butler cafes – waiters dress as butlers and wait attentively on female patrons – are generating buzz on Chinese social media. While China remains a patriarchal society, the cafes provide an opportunity for women to exert some control over their romantic lives.

Discord is rebranding itself to embrace a more mainstream audience despite its gaming community roots. With major digital platforms under constant scrutiny, people are not only looking for social networks they can trust but ones they can feel comfortable in and in control of.

Why are young people blending age-old herbal treatments with Western wellness? Who’s most likely to pay with digital yuan? And what challenges do ‘leftover women’ face? This Cultural Snapshot uses local stats and case studies to explore the behavioural norms shared by Chinese people in 2020.