"The Art of War" is a bestseller overseas! Has "Kuang Biao" become an overseas sales expert?

On the evening of February 1, the hit drama "Kuang Biao" officially came to an end at the beginning of 2023. Topics such as #Kuang Biao's finale# and #Kuang Biao's largest umbrella# dominated the Weibo hot search list, once again confirming the nationwide craze for chasing dramas set off by this drama.

Currently, although the story of the "Knives Out" series has come to an end, the storm swept by "Knives Out" is still going on on the e-commerce platform.

It is learned that at the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit, with its gripping story and everyone's online acting skills, "Kuaishou" has been "high-opening and high-running" and has gained many loyal audiences.

In the cross-border circle, the lines in the series "Crazy" have also been frequently quoted:

Due to the audience's love for the "Knives Out" series, many "Knives Out"-related products have continued to gain attention on e-commerce platforms.

On Taobao , products such as Gao Qiqiang's same bracelet, Dasao's same shirt, Kuang Biao's novel, and "The Art of War" once dominated the Taobao hot search list. Taking "The Art of War" as an example, as of January 31, Taobao provided data on the 30th showing that in the past 7 days, the search volume of "The Art of War" on Taobao increased by more than 80 times year-on-year, sales increased by more than 40 times year-on-year, and the number of people buying books increased by more than 65 times.

JD.com 's search volume and transaction volume for "The Art of War" also soared. According to JD.com's data monitoring, as of January 30, the search volume of "The Art of War" on JD.com increased by nearly 60 times year-on-year, sales increased by nearly 27 times year-on-year, and the number of book buyers increased by more than 50 times year-on-year.

In addition, as the popularity of "Kuang Biao" soared in Taiwan, Shopee Taiwan's official website also launched a number of peripheral products: such as the same earrings as Dasao, the same T-shirt as Kuang Biao, the Kuang Biao novel, etc.

Careful sellers have also observed that many book sellers have labeled the novel "Kuang Biao" and "The Art of War" as "the same as Gao Qiqiang's" and sold them as a bundle.

  ▲ The picture comes from Shopee Taiwan

It is learned that "The Art of War" has appeared many times in the TV series "Kuang Biao". The most impressive one for the audience is that when talking about the reconstruction project of Mang Village, Gao Qiqiang quoted "Be sure to leave a gap when besieging an army, and do not force a desperate enemy." This sentence comes from the seventh chapter of "The Art of War" "Military Struggle". Gao Qiqiang used this to remind his younger brother Gao Qisheng to stop doing things when they are enough, and never force the enemy into a desperate situation, so as to prevent the trapped beast from fighting.

Based on this, many netizens believe that Gao Qiqiang's ability to rise from a fishmonger in Jiuchang Street to a gang leader is closely related to the book "The Art of War". On multiple social platforms , "Reading "The Art of War" and appreciating Qiqiang's life" once became a hot topic on the Internet.

According to a Weibo poll, many netizens said that after watching "Kuang Bi", they couldn't help but "buy" a copy of "The Art of War". Some netizens even jokingly called the villain Gao Qiqiang in the play the best "sales expert".

As of press time, although Chinese people on multiple social media platforms have shared high praise for "Kuang Biao" from overseas people, the TV series "Kuang Biao" has not yet been officially released overseas. It is still unknown whether its popularity can continue to "surge" overseas and drive sales of peripheral products.

However, it is learned that as an important part of China's excellent traditional military culture, "The Art of War" had already occupied a place on overseas e-commerce platforms long before the TV series "Kuang Biao" became popular.

It is learned that on the bestseller list of Amazon's US site, "The Art of War" has long been ranked among the top in categories such as military, history and Eastern philosophy.

If you search the platform with "The Art of War" as the keyword, you can see that there are many types of overseas versions, including translated versions, annotated versions, comics, pocket books, popular science books, etc., covering almost all classes and industries overseas.

Take the business field as an example. Many well-known business people once regarded it as the "business bible". For example, Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Japan's Panasonic, is a fanatical fan of this book. He claimed that employees must recite "The Art of War" carefully and apply it flexibly. Roger Smith, a manager of General Motors in the United States, also publicly stated that "The Art of War" gave him a "strategist's mind" and enabled him to succeed in the business field.

According to the National Humanities and History Journal, in the West, "The Art of War" is often translated as "The Art of War", which shows how highly it is valued in the West.

As of May 2022, "The Art of War" has been translated and published in more than 30 countries and 26 languages, and its popularity has only increased.

Some experts believe that the continued popularity of The Art of War overseas reflects the increasing recognition of China's excellent traditional culture by overseas people. In the new trend of digital trade, this is undoubtedly a great boost for Chinese brands to go global.

Some netizens also pointed out that "The Art of War" itself has a certain popularity overseas. If the TV series can be released overseas, it can be regarded as seizing the initiative and having the advantage of being associated with a popular IP. Its peripheral products may also be expected to sell well.

However, as of now, it remains to be seen whether the products related to Kuang Biao can continue to "surge" on cross-border e-commerce platforms.

A careful reading of The Art of War by Sun Tzu also shows that it has some merits in the cross-border e-commerce industry. For example, "attack when the enemy is least prepared and take advantage of the enemy's surprise" can be understood as sellers taking advantage of their competitors' unpreparedness to seize the market, and "win by using the right strategy and the unusual strategy" can be understood as constantly innovating based on market demand... Both of these are consistent with the principles of operational planning.

We will draw the prize at 16:00 on February 13th

The winner will receive a copy of "The Art of War"