The China Edition #1: Alpine White's Growth in the Chinese Market - A Delicate but Sustainable Approach

Amy Weng • September 10, 2024

"The China Edition" series provides insights into Swiss companies that have entered the Chinese market, highlighting their challenges, strategies, and success stories within the world’s largest consumer market.


In this first edition, we explore Alpine White, a Swiss oral care brand founded by brothers Reto and Alexander Wälchli in 2014. Alpine White offers a safer teeth-whitening alternative, developed with Swiss dental experts. By 2021, they have decided to enter the Chinese market, establishing a successful presence on T-Mall Global and key social media platforms like RED, WeChat and Weibo. And they have many more exciting plans to expand in China. This article explores their decision to enter the Chinese market early, the challenges they faced, and the lessons learned along the way.





Navigating the Complexities of the Chinese Market

Entering the Chinese market is not without its challenges. Here are hurdles Alpine White had to navigate:

  • High Competition: The Chinese beauty and personal care market is extremely competitive, with numerous global brands fighting for consumer attention.
  • Sophisticated Consumers: Chinese consumers are well-informed and trend-savvy, making them adept at finding the best products and deals.
  • Dynamic Marketing: The fast-paced nature of trend development in China demands that brands continually adapt their marketing strategies to stay relevant.


Achieving Sustainable Growth in China

To succeed in the competitive Chinese market, Alpine White had a clear strategy to address the challenges they faced. By focusing on key priorities, they built a strong foundation and adapted effectively to the local landscape, ensuring steady progress and growth.


1. Targeting a Niche Market


  • Identifying Market Gaps: Alpine White recognized a gap in the Chinese market for high-quality, specialized teeth-whitening products. By focusing on solutions tailored for sensitive teeth, they addressed a specific need that was not being adequately met.
  • Leveraging Swiss Quality: The brand capitalized on the strong reputation of Swiss-developed products, known for their safety, reliability, and premium quality. This helped Alpine White differentiate itself in a crowded market and appeal to Chinese consumers who value premium products.
  • Consumer Education: Recognizing that introducing a new product category requires building trust, Alpine White invested in educating consumers about the benefits and proper use of their products. This was crucial in fostering understanding and acceptance among their target audience.


2. Identifying the Target Audience


  • Focused Targeting: Instead of competing with large brands for mass exposure, Alpine White adopted a reverse funnel approach. They conducted targeted marketing tests to identify and refine their ideal consumer base.
  • Influencer Collaborations: Partnering with influencers and Key Opinion Consumers (KOCs) who aligned with their brand values, Alpine White was able to build credibility and effectively communicate their brand’s message to the right audience.
  • Long-term Strategy: Understanding that building a loyal customer base takes time, Alpine White committed to a sustained and patient marketing approach.


3. Maintaining an Agile Approach in China


  • Continuous Experimentation: Alpine White embraces a mindset of ongoing learning and adaptation, recognizing that not all strategies will succeed but viewing each attempt as a learning opportunity.
  • Market Response: They keep a close eye on consumer feedback and competitors’ strategies. The brand maintains agility, allowing them to quickly adjust their strategies in response to new developments.
  • Act Quickly: Their ability to respond rapidly and accurately to market changes has been crucial to their success.




Key Takeaways: Why is Alpine White successful in China?


  • Deep Market Knowledge: Alpine White identified a critical gap between existing offerings and consumer needs in China. By addressing the demand for teeth whitening solutions that are gentle on sensitive teeth, they met a significant market need.
  • Innovative Product: By leveraging their Swiss heritage, Alpine White created a high-quality product that resonated with Chinese consumers. The emphasis on Swiss quality helped differentiate their offering in a crowded market.
  • Strategic Use of Social Commerce: In a market where digital presence is crucial, Alpine White excelled by testing various social media (RED, WeChat, Weibo) and e-commerce channels (T-Mall Global, Douyin) to discover what resonated best with their audience. Their agility and willingness to continuously adapt their strategy ensured they stayed ahead of the curve in a fast-evolving digital landscape.


Wrapping up, Alpine White’s success in China highlights the value of a sustainable and strategic approach to market entry. Rather than pouring vast amounts of resources into a single platform or strategy, they adopted a measured, data-driven method. By carefully testing and refining their efforts across various channels, they were able to identify what truly resonated with their target audience. This approach not only minimized risk but also allowed them to build a solid foundation for long-term growth. Alpine White's experience underscores the importance of adaptability, thorough market understanding, and strategic decision-making in achieving success in a competitive environment like China. Their journey offers valuable lessons for other companies looking to enter and thrive in this dynamic market.


At Think East, we help brands build a strong presence in the competitive Chinese market. We evaluate your sector, analyze competitors, and identify what your product needs to succeed. Our team crafts a branding strategy to connect with your audience, boost visibility, and build trust. From refining messaging to choosing the right platforms and collaborations, we offer the expertise needed to thrive in China.


Stay tuned for our next China Edition, and connect with us on LinkedIn or via email—we’d love to hear your thoughts and questions.


See you next time!

Why a Swiss Premium Brand Is Going Offline in China

By Amy Weng • June 22, 2026
In 2024, I wrote about Alpine White, the Swiss oral care brand founded by Alexander and Reto Wälchli, and its early steps into China: a flagship store on Tmall Global, presence on Xiaohongshu, WeChat and Douyin, and a product registration process that was still underway. Two years on, the picture has changed. The brand, sold in China under the name 乐瑞白 (Lè Ruì Bái), now sits in some of the country's most exclusive supermarkets, at 189 RMB the most expensive toothpaste on the shelf. Behind that shift is Ma Shiyu, who leads Alpine White's APAC business. We spoke shortly after this year's China Beauty Expo. What followed was one of the most candid conversations I have had about what it actually takes to build a premium Swiss brand in China: why Alpine White moved from cross-border e-commerce into general trade and physical retail, where the surprising money sits, and what she would tell every Swiss founder before they book a booth at their first trade fair. This conversation is part of the Think East series Swiss Brands in China, spotlighting successful Swiss brands in the world's most demanding consumer market.

The Experience Is The Product

By Amy Weng • June 8, 2026
In China’s luxury market, a flagship now competes with museums, restaurants and pop culture events for the same two hours of a consumer’s afternoon. The brands winning that competition are not playing by European rules. The store has become one of the most contested ideas in luxury. In China, it now carries a workload that many European flagships still do not. It has to sell, of course. It also has to stage a world, generate traffic, travel across social media, and justify why a consumer should spend an hour there before deciding whether to spend anything at all. That shift is visible in Shanghai. Louis Vuitton opened The Louis in June 2025: a 30-meter, ship-shaped structure designed by Shohei Shigematsu of OMA, housing exhibition space, retail floors, and a café on Nanjing Road. Prada turned Rong Zhai, a restored 1918 mansion it has owned since 2011, into a permanent hospitality address with Mi Shanghai Prada Rong Zhai, its first standalone dining space in Asia, with Wong Kar Wai commissioned to design the interior. Penhaligon’s chose Shanghai for its first fragrance exhibition anywhere in the world, in April 2025. The message is consistent: China is not receiving a standard flagship strategy with local adaptations. It is being used as the testing ground for a different, grander format altogether. The timing is not accidental. Bain estimates that China’s personal luxury market fell 17–19% in 2024 and a further 3–5% in 2025, before returning to modest growth in 2026. Chinese consumers still account for approximately 23% of global luxury demand, per Bernstein. In a market like that, brands do not retreat from visibility. They rethink what visibility has to do. What The Consumer Expects Bluebell Group’s 2025 consumer research found that 96% of surveyed mainland Chinese respondents said experiential value now outweighs product ownership in how they define luxury. 46% want immersive, brand-led experiences in store, with staff actively involved in storytelling. The same study found that 92% prioritise the quality of the product over brand name, and 88% say higher prices are justified when the underlying craft is evident. The appetite for theatre is real. So is the demand for substance underneath it. What a luxury space is expected to deliver has changed accordingly. Narrative density comes first: consumers expect an entire world. Social legibility is equally non-negotiable: the space needs to circulate on Xiaohongshu or Douyin, because store traffic and digital visibility now feed each other directly. And in Asia, Bluebell found that in-store service standards are perceived as higher than elsewhere, which raises the baseline for every international brand operating there. The experiential minimum is a moving target. The New Flagships Louis Vuitton's ship is the clearest statement of the new model. The structure spans approximately 1,600 square metres. Entry is managed through the brand's My LV WeChat mini program: even free admission is controlled. The early returns suggest the model works. According to Wen Wei Po, 60% of sales at The Louis come from new clients – a statistic that directly addresses the industry's central question of whether experience-driven flagships merely entertain existing customers or actually expand the customer base. The impact extends beyond the store itself. In its first four months, the exhibition drew over 360,000 visitors, according to Shanghai government data. Daily foot traffic at The Louis has reached 20,000 on peak weekends, and the surrounding commercial district has seen a clear lift: the adjacent Xingye Taikoo Hui mall recorded a 41.9% increase in retail sales during the first nine months of 2025, while other surrounding businesses reported sales doubling. The ship has effectively become an anchor, transforming Nanjing Road into a destination where a luxury flagship now functions as a catalyst for an entire neighbourhood. Prada’s Rong Zhai shows a different register. Commissioning the iconic Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai to design Mi Shanghai Prada Rong Zhai signals where Prada is locating cultural authority in China: not in European craft narrative, but in Chinese creative identity. The space weaves art, architecture, food and time into a single address. It seems quieter than The Louis, but no less deliberate. According to the Prada Group’s full‑year 2025 earnings, Asia Pacific retail sales reached $1.85 billion, an 11% increase year-on-year. This remains the most relevant proxy for Prada’s performance in Greater China, including the period when the Mi Shang Café at Rong Zhai was operational.

Switzerland, Asia and the Future of Executive Education - A Conversation with Jürgen Brücker

By Interview by Amy Weng • May 18, 2026
Jürgen Brücker, CEO of UZH Executive Education, is direct about where the industry stands: a large part of today’s executive education is no longer fit for purpose. His response is UZH Executive Education's Vision 2030, centred around three words: connect, empower, inspire . At Think East, we are interested in how leaders and institutions build stronger bridges between Europe and Asia. We spoke with Jürgen about the future of executive education, Asia’s growing role in global business, and the role Switzerland can play in an increasingly fragmented world.