Beyond Difference Counts: Explaining Visual Taxonomies in Chinese Brands’ Overseas Digital Touchpoints: An Exploratory Multi-Market Study

• Ruonan Li

  Jiangnan University

  Author

Cross-market studies of brand interfaces often identify visible differences without fully explaining the design mechanisms behind them. This exploratory study examines the overseas digital touchpoints of three Chinese brands—CHAGEE, POP MART, and 52TOYS—to investigate how product taxonomies, brand narratives, and fulfilment information are organized across markets and languages. A structured comparison of official public-page records identifies three recurring analytical dimensions: identity anchoring, narrative translation, and task-architecture adjustment. CHAGEE’s US, Malaysian, and Singaporean menus illustrate how category counts and semantic groupings vary across markets, while POP MART’s bilingual storefronts reveal differences in fulfilment communication. The 52TOYS catalogue provides a supplementary example of product-format and intellectual-property browsing structures. These findings suggest that interface variation should be interpreted in relation to taxonomy granularity, merchandising, language, and fulfilment requirements rather than being attributed directly to cultural differences. The study proposes an exploratory touchpoint typology and an evidence-led approach that links observed differences to plausible design mechanisms while distinguishing interpretation from demonstrated causation. Its conclusions remain limited by the use of public-page records without synchronized visual captures or user-testing data.

Bick, P. B., & Chiper, S. (2007). Swoosh identity: Recontextualizations in Haiti and Romania. Visual Communication, 6(1), 5-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/147035720701463

Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27-40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027

Chang, H.-J. (2011). Multinationals on the web: Cultural similarities and differences in English-language and Chinese-language website designs. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(6), 1105-1117. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21515

Cyr, D., & Trevor-Smith, H. (2004). Localization of Web design: An empirical comparison of German, Japanese, and United States Web site characteristics. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 55(13), 1199-1208. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20075

Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Levitt, T. (1983). The globalization of markets. Harvard Business Review, 61(3), 92-102.

Li, Y., Karreman, J., & de Jong, M. D. T. (2026). Cross-cultural design: Comparing the visual characteristics of Chinese and Western municipal websites. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472816261460385

McMullen, M. (2022). Localizing graphic design in a global media environment: A visual social semiotic analysis of Vogue. International Journal of Communication, 16, 4523-4542.

Melewar, T. C., & Saunders, J. (1999). International corporate visual identity: standardization or localization? Journal of International Business Studies, 30(3), 583-598. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490084

Pauwels, L. (2012). A multimodal framework for analyzing websites as cultural expressions. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17(3), 247-265. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01572.x

Schreier, M. (2012). Qualitative content analysis in practice. SAGE Publications.

Shi, X.-S., & Xu, W.-J. (2020). Do Chinese brands culturally adapt their overseas websites: Evidence from top Chinese brands' Sino-US websites? Asian Journal of Communication, 30(1), 58-78. https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2019.1709517

Theodosiou, M., & Leonidou, L. C. (2003). Standardization versus adaptation of international marketing strategy: An integrative assessment of the empirical research. International Business Review, 12(2), 141-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0969-5931(02)00094-X

Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.

• PDF

Copyright (c) 2026 Ruonan Li (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.